My best friend is Shirley Feeney
The best in all the land
Whenever we're in trouble
We face it hand in hand
We laugh when we are happy
We cry when we are sad
We talk when we are lonely
Just to know her makes me glad
If I had one wish in life
I know what it would be
I'd have Shirl as my best friend
For all eternity
("Laverne & Shirley," season 5, episode 16 - "The Beatnik Show")
For the record, Laverne & Shirley became the most-watched American television program by its third season, and was nominated for two Golden Globe Awards and a Primetime Emmy Award in 1979.
“Don’t touch me,” i’ll beat your brains out.” - Howard Cowell speaking to Muhammad Ali.
I recently wrote a series of stories entitled, "Sports Announcers I Grew Up With." On March 15th of this year, I paid tribute to the late Howard Cosell. His style of hard news-like reporting transformed sports broadcasting. His distinctive voice, accent, cadence, etc. were a form of color commentary all their own. He admitted being arrogant, among other things, and he wore a toupee. Those things were all Muhammad Ali needed to rib Cosell. Ali loved to tease Cosell about his toupee and always threatened to remove it from Cosell's head. Of course, Cosell never let him do it.
According to sportswriter Dave Kindred, the relationship between Ali and Cosell made for some of the best theater in American sports. Whether the pair were discussing an upcoming title fight or the state of modern society, their conversations always sizzled.
In Kindred's "Sound and Fury: Two Powerful Lives, One Fateful Friendship," he wrote the following:
"They should never have met. Ali and Cosell lived in parallel worlds, separated by the sociological barriers of age, race, religion, education, and geography. But greater forces were at work. For most of twenty years, the fighter and the broadcaster appeared together on national television so many times that they became a de facto comedy team, Ali & Cosell."
"[They] were different. It was real. No scripts, no rehearsals, no let's-shoot-that-scene-again. What television viewers saw was the most famous man on Earth talking with the most famous television star in America."
"The fighter forever titillated spectators with pantomimed threats to lift the broadcaster's hairpiece and once said, "Cosell, you're a phony, and that thing on your head comes from the tail of a pony." To a Cosell scolding of "You're being extremely truculent," the defiant child Ali replied, "Whatever 'truculent' means, if that's good, I'm that."
"It made Ali & Cosell must-see TV. At the dawn of television's dominance of popular culture, they were both the creators and beneficiaries of sudden fame never before available. Both profited from the work, for without Ali engaging his liberal social conscience, Cosell would never have found his truest voice; and without the embrace of Cosell and the American Broadcasting Company when other networks wanted nothing to do with him, Ali could have been dismissed as a cultural-fringe aberration."
"Only the rare journalist stood with him, though, and only Cosell did it on national TV. Cosell defended Ali's right to his religion, his right to oppose induction into the army, and his right to work while appealing his conviction for refusing the draft. He did it at the risk of his reputation and his livelihood in a business — television — not famous for principled stands that might offend advertisers. He did it, too, Cosell often said, despite thousands of hate letters he received."
"Ali & Cosell worked because the men brought...to their television audiences, love and hate, racism and tolerance, fear and courage, idealism and compromise. Cosell loved Ali, the rebel with a belief, and Ali loved Cosell, the cranky old white guy brave enough to stand with him in the storm.
"One was Beauty, one was the Beast, and we never quite knew which was which."
There is a special place in my heart for the radio and TV sports announcers I grew up with. From ABC's Wide World of Sports to roller derby and wrestling, and everything in between, sports was a big part of my life growing up. At my house, we watched on TV whatever sport was 'in season,' especially on Saturday's. If there was a sports event on radio, we listened to it. I was very blessed to grow up with many now-legendary voices and characters.
One of my favorite voices, Brent Musburger, went to work for CBS TV in 1973, doing play by play for NFL and NBA games, the US Open, college basketball and football, the Masters and the World Series on radio. In 1990, he went to work for ABC, hosting Monday Night Football, as well as broadcasting college basketball and football. Presently, he does play-by-play for college basketball. His past record includes broadcasting the Little League World Series, Rose Bowl, World Cup, NASCAR, Indianapolis 500. He presently works for the SEC Network.
There is a special place in my heart for the radio and TV sports announcers I grew up with. From ABC's Wide World of Sports to roller derby and wrestling, and everything in between, sports was a big part of my life growing up. At my house, we watched on TV whatever sport was 'in season,' especially on Saturday's. If there was a sports event on radio, we listened to it. I was very blessed to grow up with many now- legendary voices and characters. Today, I want to pay tribute to Howard Cosell.
Howard Cosell was widely known for his blustery, cocksure personality. He called himself, "Arrogant, pompous, obnoxious, vain, cruel, verbose, a showoff." But, he was more than that. As an attorney, one of Cosell's clients was the Little League of New York. In 1953, he was asked to host a show on WABC featuring Little League participants. Three years later, he left the law field to become a full-time broadcaster.
Howard Cosell's style of hard news-like reporting transformed sports broadcasting. His distinctive voice, accent, cadence, etc. were a form of color commentary all their own.
Cosell covered some of boxing's biggest matches during the 1970s and early 80s. His most famous call came in the 1973 championship bout between Joe Frazier and George Foreman. When Foreman knocked Frazier to the mat in the first round, Cosell yelled out “Down Goes Frazier! Down Goes Frazier! Down Goes Frazier!" It became one of the most quoted phrases in sports broadcasting history. Cosell rose to prominence covering Muhammad Ali, who loved to tease Cosell about his toupee and threatened to remove it from Cosell's head. Of course, Cosell never let him do it.
In 1970, ABC hired Cosell as commentator for its new program, Monday Night Football. His inimitable style ushered in an era of more colorful broadcasters. For the decade of the 1970s, no television personalities were more in the spotlight than the ABC broadcast team for Monday Night Football. In the photo above, left to right, is Don Meredith, Howard Cosell and Frank Gifford.
Cosell also worked the Olympics for ABC. He covered the Palestinian terror group Black September's mass murder of Israeli athletes in Munich at the 1972 Summer Olympics.
The way Cosell introduced himself on the air was in itself, an epic event. If you never heard him it's hard to really desbribe it. His accent, his cadence, his serious style of delivery...all were right there in his opening line at the beginning of his broadcast. Four simple words, yet profound and now legendary...
