[DeFault User]

Watching Don Meredith deflate Cosell’s pomposity was the best feature of the show for me. Howard knew everything about everything and would proclaim it loudly.

The genius of the show was having Meredith and Gifford in the booth, two athletes who knew the sport and could offer real opinions and commentary. Frank Gifford was slow to correct Howard and was more interested in providing the accurate play by play, but Don Meredith was there to have fun.

It was basically Monday Night Football with the Three Stooges: Howard was Moe, Frank was Larry and Don was Curly.

[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.