Bob Costas: What NBC Olympic host was doing as eye infection healed

Walking at night, sitting in dark rooms and watching Syracuse basketball — these are just a few of the fun things NBC Olympics host Bob Costas did while recovering from an eye infection that knocked him off the air last week.

Costas was set to return to NBC’s Sochi coverage Monday night after an unplanned week off because of viral conjunctivitis, which made his eyes red and his vision blurry and light-sensitive.

“The worst three days of it I was primarily in a darkened room,” Costas, 61, told reporters earlier Monday during a conference call. “There were other times when just to kind of break the monotony I would go downstairs for a little while to the restaurant of the hotel or at night walk out on the terrace attached to the room just to get a little fresh air.”

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NBC also got his hotel room hooked up with the network’s feed as well as a few other American outlets.

“I’ll confess that at one point I caught the last minute of Syracuse vs. North Carolina State and turned away from Olympic coverage for a second to see my alma mater pull another miracle,” Costas said. Syracuse, where Costas attended college, squeaked out a 56-55 win against North Carolina State on Saturday.

Costas says he’s well enough to get back to work now, although he’s not 100%.

“The redness and swelling were pretty bad ... but the light sensitivity and the blurriness is what made it impossible for me to go back on the air,” he said. “There’s still some redness there. I’m better than I was but not as good as I’d like to be.”

What do you think of Costas’ return?

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