(Brian Tuohy put it on his site. Bruce Collins gets credit for finding it, and a hat-tip from me.)
Two relevant quotes:
Cosell was asked about Don Meredith, and bristled at the concept that he had "excoriated" Meredith, feeling he was misrepresented. In explaining himself (about 1:49):
"Philisophically, I had great agreement about the game with Don Meredith. I didn't think the games were very important in the sweep of Life."
(Emphasis mine.)
And then Cosell, as only Cosell can or ever could, went off on Sports Fan Syndrome in Americana -- in words that, frankly, are even more true today than when he said them in 1985...
"I heard some of these people up here [as he began to point at the audience at the (CORRECTION, hat-tip to my anonymous friend) Studio 6A at the RCA/GE Building at 30 Rock that day -- he did not go to the Ed Sullivan until he moved to CBS] boo when I said something adverse to the National Football League. I want you people to listen to me. There comes a point in time when you've got to look at yourselves, every one of you, and you've got to wonder about a country where, on the same day in this great city [New York City], a man could be rendered a standing ovation, after (under immunity) admitting he played the game of baseball snorting cocaine, and got a standing ovation when he came back...
And then, in the same great city, 55,000 more people stood and booed the National Anthem of the greatest nation-friend that this country has ever had, the nation of Canada. And, in both cases, it was motivated by the fans wanting their team to win. When that happens in our country, something's out of whack, and I want each and every one of you to know."
So, predictably, they applaud him -- even though he was just spending the last 45 seconds reaming the sports fans (many of whom within that very same audience in the Ed Sullivan Theatre that day!) a new asshole, as only Howard Cosell could.
In his day, Howard Cosell was universally reviled by his peers and the fans. To wax nostalgic about him, in a loving an affectionate way, would be to put it gently, disingenuous!
ReplyDeleteI'll never forget the evening in Philadelphia when Flyers fans bood and jeered O Canada on the very same day 12 dead Canadian soldiers where repatriated after being killed by a US fighter pilot who had disobeyed orders and fired on a training mission in Afghanistan. You stay classy Philadelphia.
ReplyDeleteCosell was a sanctimonious fraud.
ReplyDeleteThere are many who believed as such, DAN.
DeleteWhy are you one of them?
(Not flaming you -- I want to hear what your reasons are.)