Howard Cosell is cooler than you, of that there’s no debate. It doesn’t matter who you are or what you’ve done, it’s part of Plato’s universal truth. ESPN had some time to kill in 1981 and turned to Cosell who systematically BURNED THE ENTIRE DRAFT TO THE GROUND ON LIVE TELEVISION.
SB Nation selects... Howard Cosell drops the mic
Plan to ask for Howard Cosell’s opinion? This should be fun.
James Dator has been covering a wide range of sports for SB Nation for over a decade, with a special focus on the NFL.
“Pete Rozelle should win a Tony award, an Emmy award and an Oscar award for creating the most overrated, over-propagandized annual event in American sport.”
Watching and listening to Cosell should make you mad. No, not because he slams the event we all hold so dear, but because his epic rant doesn’t include “C’mon man!” or some other tired phrase that passes for broadcasting these days, nor does it need a highlight package over the top to keep you interested. Cosell doesn’t speak at a quick pace or rattle off one hundred things in 10 seconds, but he remains totally captivating.
Imagine something like this happening today, you can’t. Nobody would be allowed near the microphone to disparage the shield like Cosell does and we love him for it.
