There were a lot of colorful characters in sports back in the day. Cosell, Ali, Joe Namath, Bill Lee, Mark Fidrych… I’m sure I’m forgetting a few. It was sort of like a crazy parade, and Cosell didn’t seem so out of place amongst all of it.
Cosell was one of the smartest sports announcers of his time. His commentary (he did a daily show on WABC radio) was astute and clever. He was great at boxing and pretty good at football and I always liked him.
He did suck at baseball, though. I remember once he criticized a guy who was out at the plate, saying he had taken too big a turn at third. It was a perfectly normal turn, but Cosell evidently thought he could have made a right angle turn instea.
I enjoyed Howard Cosell’s announcing and highlights unabashedly, particularly when he and Don Meredith got into it, and more particularly when Don Meredith was drunk. Which was a often.
Howard was equally notorious for imbibing during a broadcast.
Read his books and tell me he wasn’t an original and unique voice in sport. He was also a lawyer.
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Couldn’t stand him. If I watch an old boxing match on Youtube and he’s doing commentary I immediately mute it.
Slightly related. I do like this meme.
https://i.imgflip.com/1ufdeg.jpg
Nice photo.
HC was pretty good in those Odd Couple episodes.
As long as I can read them and not HEAR that original and unique voice.
I enjoyed him for both boxing and football; don’t know that I ever saw a baseball him with him. But it was his coverage during the Olympics I will always remember best. Not good memories but etched into my brain.
+1
Well put…very zen-esque.
I agree with jaycat with regard to the colorful characters in sports back in the day.
Even more, though, was the fact that Cosell became The Guy You Always Watched Because You Hated Him. I recall watching Monday Night Football every week, because even though Cosell was irritating, you wanted to keep watching so he’d give you more reasons to hate him. He never failed to disappoint; whether it was through misunderstanding the rules of the sport, an argument with another sportscaster, or some other reason.
Cosell never misunderstood the rules of the game. He was a Yale educated lawyer. People disliked him because he was an articulate Jewish New Yorker who completely went against the sportscaster stereotype. His positions on player rights and corruption in boxing were not popular in his day but became accepted in later times. He was well ahead of his time.
Didn’t know he had kids.
Cosell earned his degree from New York University.
His daughter Hillary has followed his legacy by becoming a sports producer and a writer.
I’m the type who normally roots for villains anyway, and Cosell was definitely the dark lord of announcers.
I liked his chemistry on MNF with Frank Gifford and Dandy Don Meredith. Giff would be as neutral as Switzerland while Cosell and Meredith would be exact opposites: erudite vs folksy, serious vs droll, academic vs hands-on.
I remember one game where a ball carrier evaded all the tacklers and effortlessly strode into the endzone. Meredith said “He was tip toein’ through the tulips!” Cosell said “Ah yes, Nick Murphy and his six-string guitar.” Meredith replied “I was thinking of Tiny Tim myself.”
In another game, both teams were scoring huge. The final turned out to be something like 56-49, and Cosell was ecstatic. “Without any doubt or uncertainty whatsoever, this has been the greatest game of Monday Night Football ever presented. Wouldn’t you agree Giff?” Giff, never showing any bias in his playcalling, replied “Uhhhh, without a doubt, it’s what one can expect from Monday Night Football.”
I could just listen to them, not watch the game, and be just as entertained.
Yanno, it was possible to think he was an arrogant ass who was both ignorant and apathetic about most of the sports he tried to announce *without *being anti-Semitic or anti-intellectual.
Youtube has a really great set of clips showing Ali’s & Cosell’s time together.
It kind of hit me in the feels there at the end.
Well yes…but he made a picturesque figure when he was out walking his pet rat.
I’ll never forget a home-made bedsheet banner they showed on a Monday Night Football game that said, “Will Rogers Never Met Howard Cosell!” Hilarious.