Posted on 04/25/2021 5:45:18 AM PDT by Kaslin
Anyone who grew up watching sports in the 1950s, 60s, 70s, and 80s certainly remembers Howard Cosell, the legendary ABC sportscaster, who died twenty-six years ago this week, on April 23, 1995 at the age of 77. The Jewish lawyer turned broadcaster from Brooklyn, with the nasally voice was famous for his polysyllabic vocabulary and known for his memorable lines that he used to revolutionize the industry at a time when sports announcers were mostly predictable and mundane.
To this day, the three words, “Down Goes Frazier,” could very well be one of the most famous sports lines ever uttered.
For thirty plus years, Cosell’s ubiquity, insights, and color commentary drove “ABC’s Wide World of Sports” to the top of the ratings for boxing, baseball, and "Monday Night Football," where he served from 1970 to 1983.
But Cosell who was defined by his trademark phrase, “telling it like it is,” and lived by the credo, “What's right isn't always popular, what's popular isn't always right,” was one of the most polarizing and controversial figures of his era.
The controversy for Cosell began when he was one of the few sports journalists who began referring to Cassius Clay as Muhammad Ali. Cosell was also among the only prominent reporters who defended Ali from the harsh treatment by the press and the boxing commission, after his refusal to serve in the Army during the Vietnam War on April 28, 1967.
(Excerpt) Read more at americanthinker.com ...
Rush Limbaugh is the great loss.
I remember Cosell doing Monday Night Football (when it was fun to watch). A bar had a contest every Monday to win a brick, when Howard came on the TV the winner got to throw the brick thru the TV Tube.
Or Jimmy the Greek! Screwed by the woke joke pukes of the day.
The man who used a stage name and wore a hairpiece, “telling it like it is.”
Could care less about sports now. Do need need a “woke” announcer to tell us meaningless drivel about some dumb jock?
i care about the sports. its the leagues that need to die.
...Don Meredith
"LOOK AT THAT LITTLE MONKEY RUN..!!".. And that was the end of Howard Cosell....
Referred to Alvin Garrett as a “little monkey” and was cancelled.
* Monday Night Football never was the same since he left
* Boxing is now a joke but it was watchable and enjoyable when he did the announcing
* Baseball was still Americas past time when he was announcing Monday Night Baseball(Yes I know he did color commentary but you get the point)
No, he was not perfect but at least he was an old school liberal. But he was a good commenter on all matters of sports and I used to love his "Speaking of Sports" radio spots on New York radio in the 70s. From what I have read, he spent the last decade or so of his life bitter and detached from everybody. He burned all of his bridges out of shear anger and spite and got rid of whatever friends he had. In the bitter end he was an angry old recluse who died alone. Sad.
He was one of the earlier victims of wokeness.
Turn out the lights. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CtGxusvUT3k
When Frank, Dandy Don, and Howard did Monday Night Football, those were the glory years of the NFL. I hate what the NFL has become.
The Greek was the second victim of political correctness....Patton being the first.
In the bitter end he was an angry old recluse who died alone. Sad.”””
Shit, at this point that’s my AMBITION.
If this is true....jeeze I feel bad for you.
No. Cosell would be a soldier in the Woke Army of sports journalists today. No doubt.
Another broadcast blowhard. Don’t miss Cosell at all. At one point he considered a run for The Senate to represent Ohio. I think politics would have been his true environment.
Actually, Jimmy the Greek was fired 5 years after Cosell was forced to resign but I get your point. What they did to him was criminal. What he said about slaves being bred to produce the biggest and strongest field worker was historically true. It may be disgusting but it was historically accurse.
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