Bob Costas, the well-known NBC Sports anchor from New York, will be taking a break from the Olympic coverage tonight to recover from his eye infection as he allows Today Show host Matt Lauer to fill in for him during his recovery process. This year, Costas has been having it rough in Sochi, where all of his time on screen has been behind glasses with a visible eye infection. Now, it’s time for Lauer to take the spotlight in Costa’s stead.

According to Today.com, Costas announced today (Tuesday, February 11th) that he will be taking the day off and bringing in Lauer from “the bullpen” during Costas’ day of rest. In a phone conversation between Costas and The Today Show, Costas stated the following:

“Reluctantly, I was trying to throw a complete game here, but I think we’re going to have to go to the bullpen, and I don’t know if you’re aware of this or not, but you’re Mariano Rivera, at least tonight. Let’s hope it’s only tonight. I’m walking around, I might as well be playing ‘Marco Polo.’ I have no idea where I am.”

At the start of the Olympics in Sochi, Costas knew that his eye infection would be receiving a lot of attention, and according to The Huffington Post, early on Thursday, Costas offered a statement regarding his condition:

“I have no choice to go all ‘Peabody and Sherman’ on you for the next couple of nights since I woke up this morning with my left eye swollen shut and just about as red as the old Soviet flag. According to the NBC doctors here, it’s some kind of minor infection which should resolve itself by the weekend. If only all my issues would resolve themselves that quickly, but that’s another story.”

To have a little bit of fun with Costas’ eye situation, a Twitter account has been set up called “Costas Eyeballs” and it is rapidly acquiring followers from all around the world:

Why's everybody always pickin' on me #SochiProblems

— Bobby Eyeballs (@CostasEye) February 7, 2014

We do hope that Costas’ eye condition improves and that he returns back to the anchor seat of the 2014 Sochi Olympics really soon, because he does bring quite a lot to the table in reporting the Olympic happenings to the viewers.

Image via YouTube