There was a time when many reporters were content to give just entertainment to the public. Cosell believed that sports needed to be changed. Richard Lapchick viewed Cosell as a seminal figure in the industry. “While people may have wanted the escape sports provided, they also needed to hear the principles he spoke about” (Shapiro, 1995). Some of Cosell’s former colleagues admired his ability to elevate any event he covered into a major story.
One of those former colleagues, Herb Granath, said that Cosell at one point was the most influential figure in all of sports. Granath worked with Cosell and others in the early days of “Monday Night Football”.
Although Cosell was known as being an aggressive sports broadcaster with a gusty and cocky
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personality, he still reflected on the era in which he became a sportscaster. Cosell said, “Great changes in technology were coming; an increase of leisure time; the exodus to the suburbs to escape from the great cities. The whole pattern of society was changing, and sports would become even more important” (Bloom, 2010). It was then when Cosell saw an opportunity to insert himself into radio and television, but there were still a lot of critics that were against Cosell and how he was portrayed in the media. Cosell’s Critics: Howard Cosell was criticized a lot throughout his career for his play-by-play commentary. Cosell was loved by some, disliked by others, but ignored by no one in his industry. He was criticized until the moment he died. One of the biggest things that Cosell was criticized for during his career was how outspoken he was about issues with boxing. According to the biglead.com, “Multiple fighters had died in the ring in the months before the Larry Holmes and Randall Cobb fight, and Cosell’s disgust for the officiating in this match came through loud and clear on the broadcast” (Glasspiegel, 2015). The match seemingly pushed Cosell away from boxing commentary for good in late 1982. Longtime newspaperman Dave Kindred said “With MNF, Cosell was the perfect broadcaster,” in Sound and Fury, which was a biography of both Cosell and Ali. Many people believe that only Cosell could do what he did. After Cosell had left Monday Night Football, Tony Kornheiser wrote in the Washington Post, “Without Cosell, televised sports might ever have come out of the furnished basements and into the family rooms, out of the desert wasteland of the weekend afternoon and into the teeming marketplace of prime time.” Cosell made it into an event and something for the viewers to look forward too.
Cosell was criticized by several people, but the best thing that he had on his side was the relationship with Mohammed Ali. Everything that Cosell did with Ali, nobody could ever be able to change the way we do news like him.
How Cosell changed the way we do news?
Howard Cosell changed the way we do news today because he was always looking for the best opportunities that were available for him. Terry O’Neil, former executive producer at NBC sports and executive with ABC News who began his broadcasting career as an ABC Sports researcher assigned to Howard Cosell, said that the changed made by Cosell was epic and cosmic.
“He’s the one guy who made it possible for the people who followed him to tell the truth. None of us could have made the attempt without him. Howard Cosell was the father of real journalism in televised sports" (Shapiro quoted O’Neil, 1995).
Cosell truly changed the way news was done in the sports industry. It wasn’t just his relationship with the athletes, but the way he spoke of them and how he always told it like it is. “I say it like it is!” is one of the most popular catchphrases that Cosell used throughout his career. The fact that he always told it like is it made the audience always wanting
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more. Cosell’s got out of the business: Throughout Cosell’s career, he’s always had strong opinions that impacted his presence on television. Cosell decided on the air that he would no longer announce boxing matches. He later called for an end to the sport altogether. Cosell also made an equally dramatic departure from Monday Night Football where he took a lot of criticism about the comments to describe Alvin Garrett. After all of the fame that Cosell had received with prize fighters and football, ABC television left him doing interviews and commentary on the radio as his career. Frank Deford suggested in People that Cosell started to become a heavy drinker after his wives, Emmy, death. Cosell explained that “Emmy’s my life ….I go nowhere without her. I wouldn’t do ‘Monday Night Football,’ I wouldn’t travel, I wouldn’t cross the Triboro Bridge without Emmy” (Deford). Emmy Cosell died from a massive heart attack in 1990 that would cause Howard Cosell to withdraw from the public eye while his health began to fail. Cosell had several minor strokes along with heart and kidney diseases with Parkinson’s which all were part of the reason for his cause of death, Cardiac Embolism. Howard Cosell changed the way sports news, play-by-play, and interviews are done. Opening up a much larger market for those in the current era of sportscaster, at least for the last 30 years or so. Cosell’s Impact on the News Business: Howard Cosell had an impact on a number of Medias. Cosell started his rich career with his first sports-oriented radio show on an ABC affiliate, WABC. According to Covil, “Radio is the one media that has had the greatest impact on sports and the audience. There is no other form of the media that covers the different levels and varieties of athletics more than radio” (n.d). Radio has the capabilities that other media cannot match and the first connection is formed between the broadcasters and audience. Cosell shined during his era as a sportscaster because there was only three main stations and he was able to take on a huge role with ABC. The impact he left allowed him to become one of the most talked about sportscasters of his era which gave him appearances on daily talk shows like Saturday Night Live, Sonny and Cher, Letterman, and “Speaking of Everything.” “Speaking of everything” was Cosell’s own show that expanded beyond sports talk. It started on the radio just like most of Cosell’s career, but in his last years he hosted it as a television talk show which he first talked about with David Letterman. From his first days of radio in the 1950’s to his fame on “Monday Night Football,” Cosell was voted the most popular and most disliked sportscaster in America.
The New York Times said that “he tended to be loved and loathed for the same undisputed characteristics: his cocksure manner and his ebullient, unqualified immodesty” (Thomas, 1995). Cosell accepted this and let it fuel him to achieve a much better career. There are several sportscasters today who have felt the same way Cosell did when it came to the criticism of their on-air personalities like Skip Bayless and Stephen A. Smith.
How did Cosell change the way news was done:
Of course, Cosell left an everlasting impact on future sportscasters and the audiences that follow them. However, the biggest thing that he changed was his interaction with the big name athletes. Cosell rose to fame covering Cassius Clay. He was actually the first sportscaster to call Mohammad Ali by that name in an interview after a boxing match.
Cosell was a frequent victim for Ali’s one-liners. It is what made their relationship great. A converted Muslim, Mohammed Ali, and a Jewish sports reporter from Brooklyn, Howard Cosell, were not likely to have ever been talked about that much in the media, especially during those times. Cosell was always there to support Ali even when he refused to be inducted into the
military. Their friendship was more than just interviews and meetings; they pushed each other to be better and never stop fighting for what they thought was right. Cosell went on record to say that he was right to back Mohammad Ali, even though it caused him major hostility. In an ABC News article, Claiborne and Shapiro said that “Both Cosell and Ali played their roles to perfection, Cosell as the pompous commentator, and Ali had just the needle to puncture that pomposity” (2016). There were very much sincere respect amongst the two, especially when Ali felt insulted by others. Of course, the biggest way Cosell changed the news was with the most impactful speech that many people still remember 20 plus years later which was the one he gave in honor of Mohammad Ali’s 50th birthday. Michael Rosenthal said, “One of Cosell’s fondest memories was the birthday speech to Ali. ‘All of the years, all of the time together, I’ve enjoyed them,’ Cosell said. ‘You’re a very special man. With a very special meaning to all of the American people. I congratulate you. It’s my honor. Your name is Mohammed Ali” (2010). With this friendship between athlete and sportscaster, it helped Cosell set the framework for others to follow. Even without the technology we have today, Cosell was able to make an impact which many others have followed. Like Arlin, Cosell started his sportscasting career with baseball and advanced it even forth with all the different sports. How Society changed because of Cosell Society in sports has changed because of how Cosell got people talking about him and everything he has done. We all know how Cosell gave the news of John Lennon’s death during a “Monday Night Football” game between the Patriots and Dolphins. Cosell had also made comments about African American football players looking like little monkey’s running. He even had an opinion on O.J. Simpson and how he can kill which Cosell was describe Simpson’s moves on the field. Cosell said, “O.J. has an uncanny instinct for sensing when to make the move, and when to make the cut. He can kill you with a head fake, he can kill you with the swiftness of his legs and the ability to be in a direction at any single second. He also kills you with his variation of speed.” The way Cosell just spoke his mind and let the words come out explains why society had changed because of Cosell. If that would have been the case than Cosell never would have been the man we know today. “An example would be his famous call of the initial knockdown in the first Joe Frazier-George Foreman fight-‘Down goes Frazier! Down goes Frazier! Down goes!” (Rosenthal, 2010). That was the night that George Foreman won the heavyweight championship, but it was Cosell’s words that stand out. Those words have come around again recently in the 2016 MLB Home Run Derby after Todd Frazier, the reigning champion, lost to Giancarlo Stanton. Chris Berman, one of the biggest criticized sportscasters currently, said those words that everyone has once heard, “Down goes Frazier!”
Herb Brooks was an incredible leader. He was a coach with a vision, a vision that led a group of college kids to beat Russia, considered one of the greatest sports momen...
It wasn’t just when the news was delivered but also how it was delivered. It had an influence because of the great personalities of Dick Smyth, Lee Marshall, Grant Hudson and others who dramatically and entertainingly delivered the news. They reported the news “dramatically” and with the “same energy as disk jockeys had snappy writing with alliterations, and a lot of short sound bites.” They were deejays without music. This dynamic combination of news reporting made for an amusing news report; that not only captured the audience, but also kept them tuning in.
Ali proved to be a strong-willed individual that did leave a huge impact on America, but what impact had increased as time continued and his faults have been somewhat forgotten. Those believing that Muhammad was more of a hero than Jackie Robinson most likely feel that Ali’s action of standing up against the United States government, when he was drafted, was an act of courage and bravery. The main reason why Ali didn 't wish to go to war in Vietnam was because he believed he shouldn 't be fighting for a country that ultimately didn 't support his own people within its own borders. Ali has developed into a figure of courage after the time that his happened. In the 1960s when this originally happened, Ali had more enemies as a result of his religious and social views and ideas than fans. Today we see that what he did may be considered heroic, but back when it actually occurred, Ali was seen as a nuisance to America. He was spreading word and influencing people to act against their own country in a time of war. Since Muhammad Ali’s retirement from boxing the course of time has faded criticism of Ali and left mostly just the positive parts of his life and career. As a society we’ve buried the controversial side of Ali’s existence in our minds and history simply remembers his greatness as an athlete. Robinson had an impact on
...orts. He set firsts for some things and re-iterated others. He is still a very large contributing influence in the football world today. He is currently a NFL analyzer. He is very smart and knowledgeable. But he didn't get to where he is now without struggle. Power and fame almost ruined him. Yet he was able to bounce back and use his experience to learn from and shape his future and create a positive outcome. He made it positive not only for himself but for others as well. He set his goals and was determined. One thing
In the speech “What it takes to be number one” by Vince Lombardi convinces players that winning is the only option through the uses of diction, appeal and pathos/ethos, in hopes to win more. His purpose of the whole thing was to show what it takes to be number one through his perspective.This speech was a big eye opener to the players in the locker room because it was coming from a legend who played the sport and is very well- known for playing and coaching. The strong use of emotion throughout the the speech it's very
But Robinson's legacy was not made on boxing alone. He was one of the first African-American athletes to become a major star outside of sports. With his flashy pink Cadillac convertible and his Harlem nightclub, Sugar Ray was as much a part of the New York scene in the forties and fifties as the Copa and Sinatra.
“Soul of the Game.” Sporting News, 2000. http://www.sportingnews.com/features/jackie/ TIME. The. Great People of the 20th Century. New York: Time Inc.
Although Jackie Robinson was not the best African-American baseball player of his time, his attitude and ability to handle racist harassment led the way for the rest of his race to play Major League Baseball, amongst other sports. Being accepted into professional sports also helped African-Americans become more easily accepted into other aspects of life. Jackie's impact in the world for the black population is enormous.
Without Jackie Robinson entering the game of baseball, there may have not been a Muhammed Ali, Arthur Ashe, Magic Johnson, Michael Jordan, or even Tiger Woods. Of course the possibility of another African American taking the throne and leading the fight for African rights through the game of baseball is justified but Jackie’s timing in the movement was impeccable. So impeccable, that it empowered others to stand up in a time of oppression. “All of us had to wait for Jackie,” said pitcher Joe Black. Joe Black says it well, Jackie Robinson is more than an African American baseball player, he was the beacon of light that sprouted the growth of blacks in the game of baseball, and sports nationwide. Even President’s gave credit to Jackie’s accomplishments. President Ronald Reagan stated, “He struck a mighty blow for equality, freedom and the American way of life, Jackie Robinson was a good citizen, a great man, and a true American champion.” Once his career was over, he did not quit pushing for Black American success. He became a vocalist for Black rights and became an analyst for major league baseball. He was hired by ABC to go on television for miscellaneous things and was the first Black vice president of an American corporation, Chock Full O’ Nuts, and helped establish the Freedom National Bank. Jackie also joined the board
Russell was unique in the sense that he was one of the few athletes to coach and play for the same team at the same time. And more than that, he did it successfully. For the last three years as a Bos...
In the film (A Jackie Robinson Story) Branch Rickey, manager of the Brooklyn Dodgers at the time, tells Jackie that he does not want a player who is strong enough to fight back, but a player who is strong enough to not fight back. He wanted Jackie to focus solely on playing the game and not on what the fans had to say about him. Rickey also knew that Jackie would be strong enough to not fight back or get angry when the fans started yelling at him. I think that because Jackie was so strong in his character and stood up for himself and other people of color that he was very successful by the end of his career. Hank Greenberg, the first major Jewish superstar, was highly respected among his fellow Jews however he was not accepted by Americans during this time. Although he was almost always ridiculed every time he stepped up to bat, Greenberg continued to pursue his dreams of being a Major League baseball player. As a Jew, Greenberg participated in many Jewish holidays and religious practices. Some of these practices were required for Greenberg to attend given his religion but because all other baseball players were not Jewish, or practicing the same Jewish holidays that he was, they would not have the conflict of dealing with said holidays. Sometimes baseball games and Jewish holidays would
“Be more concerned with you character than your reputation, because your character is what you really are, while your reputation is merely what others think you are.” These words of John Wooden are just a few out of many wise quotes millions of people, not just athletes, are inspired by today and likely will continue to be inspired by for a very long time. Basketball fans and experts consider John Wooden as one of, if not, the greatest coaches of all time. Much of his success is a result of his beliefs and coaching system. Knowing the background of Coach Wooden’s playing and coaching career plays a significant role in understanding how he practiced his beliefs with his teams and how his philosophy and success intertwined to set a precedent for the remainder of collegiate basketball.
Wertheim, L. (1998). A Curious Career Phil Jackson Has Gone From Cloistered Child to Free- Spirited Player to Championship Coach. Somehow it all Seems to Fit. Sports Illustrated, 36.
From the time he was a little boy, Jackie Robinson was a likeable individual who tried to better himself and society. He demonstrated traits of extraversion, openness to experience, agreeableness and conscientiousness, but not neuroticism. Robinson's array of traits allowed him to succeed in life and pave a path for future members of the African American race. As he once boldly put it, "The game had done so much for me, and I had done so much for it" (134).
Cassius Marcellus Clay Jr. later known as Muhammad Ali, was a black boxer, and was proud of it. Many African Americans were ashamed of their color, but Ali was different. He was the first boxer to win the Heavyweight Championship 3 different times. He had a great personality and was liked by the people. During his life, he made big decisions that changed the course of his life completely. Muhammad Ali's journey through life was a great inspiration for African American people, but Ali himself deserves the admiration of everyone.