Howard Cosell

[BillB]

For those of you who remember him, what are your views on Cosell?

I could take him or leave him. I didn't hate him like a lot of people did.

I did get tired of his love affair with Ali. That got a little old.

[RockyJim]

I miss Cosell doing the fights...I can't stand Jim Lampley!!!

[salsanchezfan]

Hated him. He was just a big enough asshole too, to actually think he was bigger than the game (whatever gae he happened to be announcing that day), and in Ali's case, that he sort of created what Ali became.

From many sources I've read (Alex Wallau, for one) he was an insufferable son of a bitch who was as nasty as one could get, and had a Jesus complex to boot. Just a reprehensible human being.



That said..................."Down goes Fray-zhuh! Down goes Frayzhuh!"


But no............he sucked.

[natonic]

Originally Posted by BillB

For those of you who remember him, what are your views on Cosell?

I could take him or leave him. I didn't hate him like a lot of people did.

I did get tired of his love affair with Ali. That got a little old.

You pretty much summed up my feelings. Take him or leave him. I recognized he was on Ali and Leonard's jock way too much and that he could make assinine statements and often was out of touch with the action in front of him. On the other hand, he did bring a presence to an event and made it seem bigger. One thing I wonder. I loved the Tim Ryan/Gil Clancy team, and even Marv Albert/Ferdie Pacheco calls. Did Cosell leaving allow those teams to ascend? I tend to think the other networks were showing fights anyway and those guys were good. But maybe they got a bit more of the spotlight after Cosell left. If so, I think Cosell leaving was a net positive.

[Senor Pepe']

I met him years ago in Pound Ridge, New York (where he lived, when outside of New York City).

He was all-right when I met him, but he did show an edge of bitterness. Kind of like
the same way Dan Rather has become.

Seemed like he could not get a grip or understanding, on why Sports Television was leaving him behind.
He felt, they owed him something.

[BillB]

Originally Posted by Senor Pepe'

I met him years ago in Pound Ridge, New York (where he lived, when outside of New York City).

He was all-right when I met him, but he did show an edge of bitterness. Kind of like
the same way Dan Rather has become.

Seemed like he could not get a grip or understanding, on why Sports Television was leaving him behind.
He felt, they owed him something.

ABC got rid of Cosell when he wrote his book trashing Gifford, Meredith and Al Michaels. I think it was 1985. Michaels had already refused to broadcast with him because of his drunkenness on the air.

[Skins]

I thought Cosell was pretty good doing boxing. Actually have Arguello-Escalera II in my DVD player right now, Cosell doing the fight. Thought he was great on Foreman-Lyle. A little too fawning on Ali or Leonard fights, trying to let everybody know that he was personal friends with both, but on the whole I always thought he as pretty good. By the way, I agree with RockyJim about Lampley. Can't stand him, always trying to put some new catch phrase out there, or show what a great vocabulary he has. His new word is "craft" , has to use it at least 10 times a show, as in a fighter is working on his craft. Get rid of him and Buffer and I will be a happy man

[Diagoras]

Fuck him.

He was one of the reasons Boxing went PPV.

After Duk Kim's death at the hands of the ultra popular Mancini, there was a slew of negative publicity about Boxing.

Cosell decided to join the bandwagon & called for a ban on Boxing along with the AMA (American Medical Association). On his weekly and very popular journalistic sports show called Sports Beat on ABC, Howard Cosell was especially fond of having the likes of Dr. George Lundberg, Dr. Joseph Boyle, and the rest of them calling for a Boxing ban.

He was also a big SRL cheerleader & as you know Leonard retired due to a detached retina in Nov of 1982. Cosell tells the world how digusted he is with the sport the next month during a fight and announces that he's done with it (of course the hypocrite that he was, he couldn't stick to his word).

Ali was also being paraded around as a sympathetic figure & a product of the evils of Boxing.

Polls conducted back then found widespread support for a ban on Boxing.

It burns me that all these do-gooders helped get rid of 15 rounders & got headgear into am Boxing.

If any of you guys have any doubts, here is an old newspaper article which has him advocating abolishing Boxing:

[Only registered and activated users can see links. ]

So to repeat, FUCK THAT POS.

[Diagoras]

A lot of people might be too young to remember or know about these things, but if you walk to hardcores from the old days they should remember.

It was no empty threats either, comissions like NJ were seriously considering a complete ban.

A lot of people think that promoters got greedy & think that's why Boxing went to premium channels & PPV but that doesn't tell the whole story.

After Leonard's retirement numbers began tanking with all the negative publicity about Boxing, that was when Boxing moved to premium channels and PPV.

People here hanker for the "good old days" of Boxing on network TV because many are too young to remember the kind of shenanigans that network channels pulled with Boxing for ratings (anyone remember Ed Too Tall Jones trying to Box?).

Boxing fans today have more Boxing available to watch than at any point in history, all you need to do is get on youtube or find a stream. In the good old days you had to drive to a close circuit show or before that listen in on the radio, the network days were mere blips in history. Before the Mancini-Kim fiasco, Boxing went off network channels for a while due to the negative publicity when Benny Paret died on national TV, it lasted until Ali came along.

I am going OT but if you don't believe, research for yourself, the old news reports about Cosell's shenanigans about a Boxing ban are available online, I only posted one.

[jowcol]

Originally Posted by Skins

I thought Cosell was pretty good doing boxing. Actually have Arguello-Escalera II in my DVD player right now, Cosell doing the fight. Thought he was great on Foreman-Lyle. A little too fawning on Ali or Leonard fights, trying to let everybody know that he was personal friends with both, but on the whole I always thought he as pretty good. By the way, I agree with RockyJim about Lampley. Can't stand him, always trying to put some new catch phrase out there, or show what a great vocabulary he has. His new word is "craft" , has to use it at least 10 times a show, as in a fighter is working on his craft. Get rid of him and Buffer and I will be a happy man

With everything else going on nowadays, IMO Howard trumps it all!
Sure, he was an egomaniac but he loved the sport. I remember him from back on Saturday afternoons in the 60's on Wide World of Sports. He set the table on what was to come, and called the fight. In love with himself YES, but he truely loved the sport.
I have fond memories of Howard from the sixties but maybe a bit of my defense of him has to do with the fact that boxing was 'purer' in those days without 4-5 champs in every division, which is now every 3-4 pounds!
I pretty much give a thumps up to Howard. (Patterson-Ellis)
"Most pundits have told me that Ellis, in order to be impressive, has to end this fight quickly and decisively, OH, a good exchange from Floyd! Ellis cut over the right eye!!!
His Frazier-Quarry 1 commentary was great.
With all his bad points, I give Howard a resounding thumbs up!
He made my childhood.

[ThinBlack]

I liked him.A bit of a character, but you can kind of tell, he's full of himself.Gave certain fights that big stage.

[smitty78]

Originally Posted by Senor Pepe'

I met him years ago in Pound Ridge, New York (where he lived, when outside of New York City).

He was all-right when I met him, but he did show an edge of bitterness. Kind of like
the same way Dan Rather has become.

Seemed like he could not get a grip or understanding, on why Sports Television was leaving him behind.
He felt, they owed him something.

[ame]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HuDUnKPyzww[/ame]

[Saintpat]

IMO he was both the best and worst -- there came a point in his career where he became jaded and bitter and spouted nothing but negativisms, but he did make events. When Howard was there, it told the sporting world it was big. Now, nothing makes boxing feel big.

[cuchulain]

Originally Posted by BillB

For those of you who remember him, what are your views on Cosell?

I could take him or leave him. I didn't hate him like a lot of people did.

I did get tired of his love affair with Ali. That got a little old.

He usually gave me a very bad case of heartburn on the asshole.

[Senor Pepe']

Started out a a 'second-rate' Union Lawyer in Manhattan, New York City in 1940

Did his part in World War II, and entered the service in 1941, in the Transportation Corps.

After the war, in 1945 (age 27) opened a 'law practice' in Brooklyn.

His 'one-man law practice' went nowhere fast.

Tried to move on to 'ambulance chasing', where he would squeeze 'Brooklyn store shop owners'
for a few hundred bucks, for his 'fake' clients, who would falsely claim an injury on
the store owners property.

Rather than go to court, the 'store owners' would cough up $250 (Howards going rate)
to settle the case.

Cosell would keep $125, and give his 'phony client' the other $125.

Here is where the local New York Shop Owners coined the phrase, 'Howard the Fraud'

But as time went by, the 'store owners' got wise to 'Howard the Fraud', and started
calling his bluff.

In 1950, his 'shilling law practice' was labeled 'The Worst One-Man Law Firm in New York'