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Sportscaster Bob Costas said on "The Dan Patrick Show", on June 8, that awarding Caitlyn Jenner the Arthur Ashe Courage Award tended to be exploitative. He thought that there must be someone deserving the award more than the reality TV star.

Commenting on ESPN's announcement that they were going to give the Courage Award to Caitlyn, Bob said, "It strikes me that awarding the Arthur Ashe award to Caitlyn Jenner is just a crass exploitation play. It's a tabloid play." Though he voiced his disapproval of ESPN''s decision, he made it clear that he didn't oppose Caitlyn. "In the broad world of sports, I'm pretty sure they could have found - and this is not anything against Caitlyn Jenner - I'm pretty sure they could have found someone who was much closer to actively involved in sports, who would have been deserving of what that award represents," so Bob said.

While the 63-year-old sportscaster asked to seek alternatives, he still appreciated the former Olympic athlete's courage to come out. "That's not to say that it doesn't take some measure of personal courage to do what Caitlyn Jenner has done, but I think that ever year we look across the landscape of sports, and we find prominent people and kids in high school and amateur athletes who I think more closely fit the description of what they're looking for or should be looking for there," he added.

The "Costas Tonight" host argued that ESPN's decision tended to be popularity-driven as Caitlyn stole the global attention nowadays. "I think this is a play to pump up audience the way lots of things are put on television, to attract eyeballs, not because of the validity, but because of whatever the kind of gawker factor is," so he continued. "It feels like 'let's buy into the 'Keeping Up with the Kardashians' culture' that has overtaken a good part of the cultural landscape. That's a train that's left the station, and you and I can't slow it down no matter how we feel about it."

Last week, Connor Cruise and some people took to Twitter to express their disagreement with ESPN's decision. Some of them argued that Mount St. Joseph basketball player Lauren Hill deserved the award better than Caitlyn. Lauren, who passed away in April, inspired the nation as she stayed playing for her college team while courageously battling an inoperable brain tumor.