Ebersol was disappointed with the opening game's poor quality of play. Even longtime NBC sportscaster Bob Costas joined in the mocking of the league. Ebersol purposely allowed Costas and other NBC Sports veterans to opt out of the network's coverage of the league (hence with the exception of former "NFL on NBC" analyst Mike Adamle, its coverage was helmed mostly by younger unknowns and professional wrestling figures), and Costas in particular did not like McMahon's approach to the sport. In an appearance on "Late Night with Conan O'Brien" in February 2001, after the league's second week of play, Costas joked: "It has to be at least a decade since I first mused out loud, 'Why doesn't somebody combine mediocre high school football with a tawdry strip club?' Finally, somebody takes my idea and runs with it." Costas interviewed a defiant McMahon for an episode of his HBO show "On the Record" as the league was in decline, an interview that the 2017 documentary "This Was the XFL" portrayed as being an omen of the league's collapse.