When VERSUS becomes NBC Sports Network starting January 2nd, 2012, a familiar face & voice that's been synonymous with the "Peacock" for some 3 decades will have quite a presence on the soon-to-renamed outlet.

NBC Sports Group has announced that 22-time Sports Emmy Winner Bob Costas will be hosting quarterly town halls and a new monthly sports interview series on the soon-to-be renamed NBC Sports Network.

"Costas Tonight: Live From" is a new monthly town hall sports talk series in which Bob and a panel of experts will discuss important sports issues in front of a live audience. The first of these shows airs February 2nd, live from the Repertory Theater in Indianapolis. "Costas Tonight: Live From the Super Bowl" will feature a panel of NFL stars & newsmakers focusing on the state of the league, along with a preview of Super Bowl XLVI & a rewind of storylines from the NFL season. Dates & topics for other "Costas Tonight: Live From" town hall shows will be revealed as the year progresses.

As for "Costas Tonight", the new interview series debuts in the Spring of 2012 on NBCSN. In the tradition of Bob's old late night show "Later" that aired in the early '90s, "Costas Coast to Coast" and his defunct HBO shows "On the Record" & "Costas Now", Bob will conduct one-on-one interviews with the biggest stars & newsmakers from the worlds of both sports & entertainment. Although a specific airdate has not been announced yet, the new show will air Thursday nights.

Bob will continue his current roles with NBC as host of "Football Night in America", some 90 minutes before "Sunday Night Football". He'll also host NBC's pregame coverage of Super Bowl XLVI February 5th in Indianapolis and serve as one of the studio hosts for NBC's Summer Olympic coverage in London for a 9th time in his career. He'll also continue his work with MLB Network as a PBP voice and host of "Studio 42" from the network's home in Secaucus, NJ.

What exactly is the contribution Costas makes to the Sunday night football program? They fly this fucking wiener out to every game so he can give us a 2 minute soliloquy at the start and end of each game. He's not in the booth for the call so what's the point of adding the faux gravitas of a midget to the telecast?

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Back off, Warchild. Seriously.

NBC had the best studio show for the first season, and then chipped and tinkered with it so much (angry Olbermann editorials, ersatz 1997 Sportscenter, Tiki Barber off in a glassed-in room away from the grown-ups) until somehow we were left with Dan Patrick, Tony Dungy, and Rodney Harrison stringing together useless thoughts and Bob Costas giving impassioned editorials while hoping the wind won't blow his rug off.

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Yea, Bob can go away. Maybe the MLB Network, doing the intro to the tape of the 1979 All Star Game.

Any soapbox opportunity is one too many.