Cosell alienated nearly everyone he worked with. He knew nothing about sports at all. He had a broad vocabulary and that was about it. Why do you think he would get so upset when his coworkers would call him out for not knowing the game? Cosell was a paranoid mental midget. He couldn’t stand it that people that actually played the game they were commenting on would dare to upstage him. There’s a reason his career ended the way it did and it isn’t because he knew sports. He didn’t.
He was the leading sports broadcaster in the United States for decades. But he knew nothing about sports? Got it. You've added nothing to the discussion. Cosell found it ridiculous when athletes with no experience in broadcasting were given premiere broadcasting assignments over established fellow broadcasters. 99.9 percent of those athletes failed. That's why most networks today have two, three and four former boxers on a broadcast team with actual broadcasters, and it takes years for one of the former fighters to get any good, if they ever do. Because most, even now, have zero broadcasting experience. Fans today complain still about boxers who are terrible boxing announcers. "Nice STICK. Go DRE. He ain't in my pound-for-pound." ... isn't exactly stellar boxing commentary. Cosell was simply sticking up for his colleagues who lost work. That was well documented throughout his career. He made his point clear. Name a boxing commentator on television today or EVER who was a former fighter who did the blow-by-blow during a live broadcast? I can't think of a single one in more than 70 years of live boxing on TV. Leonard had Tim Ryan and Barry Tompkins. Foreman and Roy Jones had Jim Lampley. Andre Ward and Tim Bradley have Joe Tessitore. Sean O'Grady had Al Albert. Bobby Czyz had Steve Albert. And those were boxers who were kept on for a while because they tended to be MILES better at color commentary than most every other boxer who tried who was given the gig. But none of those boxers ever called a whole fight by himself on television. Hell, Rocky Marciano needed a script to call old fights even though he knew the outcome beforehand on his Main Event show, and they still had to do take after take. It isn't easy.
Much talk about poor Howard’s toupee being knocked off, here it is with some background info from the late Scott LeDoux:- This content is protected
I just found this on Cosell. I thought it was kind of interesting. Cosell was born Howard William Cohen. His parents were Polish, Jewish immigrants. In the late 1940s he changed his last name to Cosell. That was really an Americanization of his name. His parents name was Kozel. An Ellis Island clerk had recorded it as Cohen when they entered the country. About the same time, Cosell met a girl he wanted to marry. She was a Gentile. When he told his mother he was going to marry her she told him she was going to kill herself. Cosell told her "Go Ahead, Mother".
He brought excitement. People tuned into MNF to see what Howard would say. In the early 80s there wasn't a bigger star in America. He was liked by some and really disliked by some but they all tuned in..
I still remember the night that Howard Cosell announced the murder of John Lennon on Monday Night Football in 1980.
Cosell was arrogant enough to try and speak to Angelo Dundee while he was tending to Ali between rounds during one of his world title fights! I think it was either the Lyle fight or the Young fight.
Yeah, very similar to Ali in that regard. There was the mutually exclusive love or hate audience and then there was also the love/hate held per individuals - but it was always Howard laughing all the way to the bank with well sustained celebrity and profile. Love him or hate him, or both….there he was.
He could be a douche but I enjoyed listening to him. He was very articulate and good at providing dramatic tension.
