Without Howard Cosell, Who Will Tell It Like It Is?

American Thinker.com ^ | April 25, 2021 | David Keltz

[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.

[MarvinStinson]

Howard CoSELL was a piece of human garbage.

What he knew about boxing he could write on the head of a pin, and still have room for his name and address.

He was the main cog in the left wing sales machine for media created fraud Ali.

Cosell was a drunk. His wife would call Cosell's immediate boss at ABC, Jim Spence, at the start of Monday night football games when she tell that her husbamd was drunk from his first few sentences, and beg Spence to get CoSELL back to his hotel room safely after the game.

The clueless writer of the above crap article selling shill CoSELL repeats the quote with false implications from Cosell, "Frazier is down. Frazier is down."

Joe Frazier fought Ali three times, a total of 41 rounds and Ali never knocked Frazier down. Meanwhile Frazier knocked media sales product Ali down flat on his back in the 15th roubd of their first fight, and also in the 11th round of that same fight.

Frazier WAS knocked down by George Foreman later in his career.

Part of the sales pitch for media product Ali is to repeat the CoSELL line, "Frazier is down" from the from the Frazier-Foreman fights, which the ignorant, knowing Frazier and Ali fought, assume refers to the Frazier-Ali fights.

IN THE REAL WORLD :

'ALI IS DOWN. ALI IS DOWN"

[fso301]

My dad says he couldn’t stand Kosell.

[OrangeHoof]

Cosell was an icon in his day as the most beloved and reviled person in sports. He was profoundly Jewish and liberal. But he did have a talent for stating or asking the questions the rest of the sports world tried hard to avoid.

Before Cosell, most sports figures were treated by tv as if they were gods. They were beyond criticism. In his second Monday Night Football telecast, he had a live TV pre-game interview with Johnny Unitas, the Tom Brady of his generation. Cosell openly suggested that Johnny U.’s skills had eroded and that he might be “all washed up”. A stunned Unitas stammered through a denial that he was washed up but the question was all over the media in the following weeks.

One wonders how a “woke” Cosell would do at ABC/Disney today and whether he could ever endure the “little monkey” controversy again when he referred to a Black receiver for the Redskins as one while reviewing a great play, “Look at that little monkey run!”

[SimpleJack]

[Incorrigible]

I only clicked on this thread to post that exact image! LOL!

[OrangeHoof]

I remember when “feminists” were riding high and could get away with SAYING ANYTHING then Rush introduced the term “feminazi” and took them all down permanently and more than just a few pegs! Over time, they became almost irrelevant.

It was Bill Clinton that exposed the rank hypocrisy of the feminists. They stood by the Sexual Predator In Chief because he kept abortion legal and lost all credibility doing so.

Remember Clinton signed the sexual harassment law which included defining sexual harassment as when a male in a position of power exploited an underling for sexual services - exactly what Bill did with Monica Lewinsky - yet the Femtards all stood with Clinton and made fools of themselves.

[logician2u]

Opinionated, unflappable, self-centered were just three of the least-damaging invectives Howard Cosell absorbed in his career.

Love him or hate him, his voice was unmistakable even as it came through those little three-inch speakers on portable TV's that die-hard sports fans carried out to the patio along with their beer and snacks.

Most memorable for me was the long and booming introduction Cosell did for Frank Sinatra's come-back concert at Madison Square Garden, The Main Event, way back in 1974.

Sinatra had taken a year off and was having some difficulty hitting the right notes, allegedly due to laryngitis.

The audience of 20,000 fans didn't care.

But Rex Reed wrote a scathing review that would have been just short of starting a war by today's overly-sensitive media standards.

Howard Cosell, who most likely couldn't sing a note, nevertheless had a voice well-suited for his chosen profession.

[Chad C. Mulligan]

Southern fans hated Howard. A story went around that a particular rural bar in Georgia ran a lottery during the week. The money bought a cheap TV set. This was placed at one end of the bar. On Monday the winner sat at the other end, and the moment Cosell came on he would raise his shotgun and blow the TV away. I believe it.

[xkaydet65]

And Dandy Don wasn’t a half bad TV actor with his frequent appearances on Police Story.

[dfwgator]

Remember, Howard was the one who tried to foist The Bay City Rollers as the “next Beatles.”

[dfwgator]

Best Cosell moment....

From “Bananas”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z1QVthvDhPo

[Lagmeister]

Howard made Don 'complete dunce' Meredith and Frank 'dunno the down and distance' Gifford look good in the booth by setting them up with lines.... Cosell would arrive Saturday morning at the next Monday night location and do all the events with the local celebrities while Dandy Don and Frank would show up 5 minutes before broadcast each Monday. Howard did the Monday Night halftime clips on Sunday night all by himself. Cosell negotiated all the program profits with the NFL and his sports influence was vast: his color commentary during the Orioles World Series victories was legendary.

Howard was often a king maker and defender of the individual - as with Curt Flood (free agency), Ali (due process) Jacki Robinson (all legal matters) - and groups like the Boy Scouts.

Howard walked away from Monday Night Football as well as boxing for personal reasons, giving up millions in doing so.

[dfwgator]

Cosell would be disgusted with the state of Corporate Sports today.

[Lagmeister]

The biggest disgust would be the Chicom money influence, followed by the NFL, MLB etc. veto power over announcers and commentary. No wonder most of what you hear during a telecast is that each player on the field is, “One of the best at his position” or the constant prattle telling you what you just saw.... Hint: that ain’t color commentary.... All the result of what Cosell would say is, “The Jockocracy.”

[dfwgator]

Although Howard, would have been on board with Black Lives Matter, he was very liberal.

[Cen-Tejas]

.........outstanding point!!!! Agree.