Commentaries and Op/Eds
I believe that those of us who have had the benefit of foreign travel have an obligation to share what we
think we know with our fellow citizens. -- William Jefferson Clinton
I believe that those of us who have had the benefit of foreign travel have an obligation to share what we
think we know with our fellow citizens. -- William Jefferson Clinton
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BOOK REVIEW: 'Howard Cosell': How an Ambitious
Brooklyn Lawyer Became a Sports Broadcasting Icon
Published February 4, 2012 by Huntington News Net and February 5, 2012 by
Caribbean News Now!
Reviewed by Rene A. Henry
SEATTLE, Wash. – Howard Cosell. You either loved him or hated him. And some fans did both.
Author Mark Ribowsky does a marvelous job of telling the reader how Howard Cohen, an ambitious
Jewish lawyer in Brooklyn who was first interested in sports radio in the 1950s, became Howard Cosell
and one of the most important figures in American sports.
Ribowsky did extensive research and his book has nearly 30 pages of footnotes and bibliography that
document how committed Cosell was to his wife and daughters, his insecurity and insatiable need for
constant praise and recognition, his massive ego and alcoholism. The reader will see a little known side
of Howard Cosell such as being one of the youngest majors in the U.S. Army when he virtually ran the Port
of New York during World War II.
The author notes that at the height of his career Cosell had the highest Q rating in television and was
always at the top of the lists of America’s most known, most liked and most hated. He tells how Cosell
interacted with virtually every major sports figure during the last 40 years of the 20th Century and
especially his close relationship with Muhammad Ali.
Chapters tell of the on-screen jousting and behind-the-scenes fighting with Frank Gifford and Don
Meredith that made “Monday Night Football” one of the most watched and entertaining sports programs.
Cosell never broadcast a Super Bowl game.
“His legendary insecurity played a role in the resentment and suspicion he had for fellow broadcasters
and especially his fellow ABC broadcasters,” Ribowsky writes. His book says Cosell reveled in the
crowds he attracted walking on the streets of New York and how he craved being with A-list celebrities
that included Frank Sinatra, Johnny Carson, Woody Allen, Paul Anka, Karl Malden, John Lennon and
Warren Beatty.
The book tells of his economic and ratings importance to ABC not only for “Monday Night Football”
but “Wide World of Sports” and boxing and why his drinking problem may have cost him the opportunity to
be on camera during the terror attack on Israeli athletes during the 1972 Munich Olympics. Cosell always
fought anti-Semitism and racism and was a strong defender of the rights of many Black athletes.
One person quoted and cited more often than anyone else throughout the book was Jim Spence, who
Cosell reported to along with Roone Arledge. Spence was #2 to Arledge and at ABC for more than 25
years, the last eight as senior vice president of ABC Sports. Ribowsky liberally used material from
Spence’s 1988 book, “Up Close and Personal,” but never contacted Spence to talk with him.
“I had a terrific professional relationship and a very close, personal relationship with Howard,” Spence
told this book reviewer. “My wife and I had great times with Howard and Emmy and we often dined
together.
“He was amazing. During the Mexico City Olympics in 1968 Howard did his radio shows from our
television studio and as I recall he did four-minute pieces using a stopwatch and without notes or a script.
His commentaries were brilliant and right on the button timewise.
“Later in his career he underwent a metamorphosis and changed as a person,” Spence continued.
“He was one of the most intelligent individuals I ever met. He had everything going for him – a wife and
family he dearly loved, he was an extremely wealthy man, as successful as any sportscaster had ever
been, and better known than anyone in the history of American television sports. His caustic wit never
changed, but he became a very angry man and difficult to work with. It was difficult to comprehend why he
lashed out at everything and everyone was the enemy.
“I believe Howard felt he was under-appreciated and he was not happy as a fulfilled man would be.
Being the most famous sportscaster ever was not enough. He wanted to be more than a sportscaster,”
Spence told me. “He pressed Roone Arledge, when he also headed ABC News, to anchor the evening
network news. He talked about running for the U.S. Senate in New York. He had a sense of frustration
despite his enormous success.”
Since 2004 Spence has been teaching courses at The College of William & Mary in Williamsburg,
Virginia. In the fall he teaches an undergraduate course in television sports and in the Spring, a shorter
version for the Christopher Wren Association directed at people over 55. He said he loves opening his
remarks to the seniors group by saying, “I am fully delighted to have people who have actually heard of
Howard Cosell in class.”
The first time I met Howard Cosell was in the mid-1960s when I was in New York on business and my
good friend Pete Kalison, who worked with him for five years at ABC, suggested we meet at the studio
before having dinner. Pete was going over details with Cosell prior to his local TV sports show and being
Saturday night, handed him a list of football scores. As the program started, Pete nudged me and said,
“Watch this.” Cosell started giving the scores and there was no teleprompter or cue cards. “He had a
photographic memory and could look at anything, read it, and then repeat it back to you word for word, not
just at that moment, but a year later. He never used written notes or references on the air. It was all off the
top of his head,” Kalison said.
After the show the three of us went across the street to Cosell’s favorite bar, Café Des Artistes, and
little did I realize I was having drinks with someone who would become one of our greatest legends in
sports and sports journalism.
“He never forgot a person’s name, even if they met just once for a few minutes,” said Kalison, who had
been in senior management with the New York Yankees before joining ABC and went on to a successful
career as an executive in the computer industry. “He knew the name of everyone who worked at ABC.
“One or two nights a week he would hold court at Café Des Artistes and the who’s who of sports
would come by and join him,” Kalison added. “This included Jackie Robinson, Vince Lombardi, Leo
Durocher and sportswriters Red Smith and Arthur Daley. He was one of the most fascinating people I
have ever known.”
Another good friend of mine, Shelly Saltman, interfaced with Cosell on many occasions. Saltman,
who was president of California Sports and later Fox Sports, worked many world championship boxing
matches. “At the Foreman-Frazier fight in 1971 in Jamaica he broadcast the fight for a 30-day delay and
groused that Roone Arledge, then president of ABC Sports, was wasting time and money because the
fight was a mismatch. It was Frazier’s first fight after beating Ali in Madison Square Garden and Foreman
was a proud, untested Olympic champion. Foreman knocked Frazier out in the second round and when
the fight was rebroadcast Cosell boasted how Arledge and his bosses at ABC had the intelligence to
listen to him and cover the momentous event.”
During the 1984 Los Angeles Olympics, Saltman was Co-Commissioner of Boxing. “In the eyes of
the crews at ringside Howard was the ‘God of the Ring’ and he obnoxiously played the regal role to the
hilt. Whenever he would become too much we looked to his wife Emmy and she would calm him down,”
Saltman added. “He felt he knew everything, was pompous and took himself too seriously.”
In 1977 when I was a founding partner of ICPR, Los Angeles, one of our clients was the World Team
Tennis League which had just signed Björn Borg, then the #1 tennis player in the world. Bob Steiner, the
account executive arranged for a major press conference in New York at the “21” Club. He turned out the
crème de la crème of sports journalists and the room was full when Cosell made his grand entrance. Bob
looked at me and said, “Now we can start the press conference. He just made it a success!” Steiner
went on to be a senior executive for Jerry Buss at California Sports.
“I loved Howard Cosell, I grew up listening to his Sunday night radio show “Speaking of Everything”
and his coverage of Muhammad Ali and the Olympics,” said Greg Aiello, senior vice president of
communications for the National Football League. “His presence on “Monday Night Football” when it was
created signaled that it was a big deal. He was always interesting and entertaining.
“Early in my career when I was assistant public relations director of the Dallas Cowboys I attended
several ABC pre-production meetings,” Aiello continued. They didn’t last long and weren’t particularly
productive. Don Meredith would joke around and not pay much attention. Frank Gifford would ask a few
questions but then call you later to go into depth. And Howard would be Howard. I was sitting next to him
at one meeting and out of nowhere he turned to me and said ‘You’re too big for this.’ I may have been 30
years old at the time. I thought it was very funny and certainly a moment that you remember from a legend
like him.”
As part of his research Ribowsky interviewed a dozen or more people. I was surprised that he did not
contact Jim Spence, Shelly Saltman and Greg Aiello or anyone at the NFL so through his publicist I asked
“Why” and was told that the author was “too busy” to respond to my question. I then asked myself if his
research was as thorough as I thought.
Howard Cosell died in 1995 but could be just the leader that the Knight Commission on Intercollegiate
Sports needs to bring the skyrocketing costs of college football under control. He would tell it like it is.
One appropriate Cosellism is “The importance that our society attaches to sport is incredible. After all, is
football a game or a religion? The people of this country have allowed sports to get completely out of
hand.”
The book cites how Frank Deford, distinguished Hall of Fame sports journalist, once described
Cosell: “Cosell isn’t television. He’s not audio. Howard Cosell is sports in our time. Feel sorry for the
people who turned off the sound. The poor b*******s missed the game.”
I recommend the book for all sports fans.
Selected Op/Eds and Commentaries
To access any of the following, click on the headline ...
Book Review: "Howard Cosell"" How An Ambitious Brooklyn Lawyer Became A Sports Broadcasting Icon,
published February 4, 2012 by Huntington News Network and February 5 by Caribbean News Now!
Howard Cosell. You either loved him or hated him. And some fans did both. Author Mark Ribowsky does
a marvelous job of telling the reader how Howard Cohen, an ambitious Jewish lawyer in Brooklyn who
was first interested in sports radio in the 1950s, became Howard Cosell and one of the most important
figures in American sports. ...
Airlines Feed Diverse Diets, published January 17 by Caribbean News Now! and January 19 by Huntington
News Network
No airline will ever get a Michelin star for its food. But many now are at least making an effort to
accommodate the diverse ethnic, religious and nutritional diets of their passengers. When my editor
learned I was working on this story he responded: “Airline food? That’s an oxymoron!” Before
deregulation, when every ticket was the same price and there were no hidden fees, airlines competed to
provide the very best service and food. ...
Madison Square Garden - Basketball's Capital, published March 7 by Huntington News Network
It's basketball tournament time and teams are competing in arenas throughout the country hoping in a few
weeks to be crowned the 2011 National Collegiate Athletic Association champion. In a by-gone era ...
Colleges Waste Opportunity to Gain Public Support, published by Huntington News Network, February 28,
2011
It's that time of the year again. March Madness. And colleges and universities will continue to
waste millions of dollars of free advertising time they could use to gain the public's support for
higher education. ..
Amtrak, Congress Need to Get With It, published by Huntington News Network, November 23, 2011
I love trains. And, because I love riding trains I wish the senior management of Amtrak, the people
responsible for passenger train service in our country, Congress and some of our governors would just get
their acts together...
How Many Players Does A Football Team Need?, published July 13, 2010 by Huntington News Network
Coaches and administrators who believe a college football team must have 120 players and 85 scholarships
should take a look at the successful winning and competitive team fielded by William & Mary in 1953 with
only 24 players. That season W&M posted a 5-4-1 record with a team that could not even scrimmage
because one of the players was a 118-pound placekicker. Head coach Jackie Freeman’s team lost only once
in its first six games. W&M posted wins over Wake Forest, Virginia Tech, North Carolina State, Richmond
and George Washington and tied a nationally-ranked Navy team. ...
Customer Service Sells for Cruise Lines, published by Huntington News Network, November 21, 2011
Crystal Cruises is another company that is proving my thesis that many people want and will pay more for
customer service. This cruise from New York City to Los Angeles on the company's Crystal Symphony is sold
out and the travelers are proving that even in a depressed economy or recession that they will pay extra for
great customer service ...
More Is Less In Washington, published May 24, 2010 by Jack O'Dwyer's Newsletter and Huntington News
Network
The federal government in Washington, D.C. is overflowing with employees. Departments and agencies
responsible for oversight and enforcement are doing neither these days. And Congressional staffs, paid for
by taxpayers, are larger than ever before. ...
Haiti Needs U.S. Housing Design and Systems Now, published May issue of Automated Builder and published
May 13, 2010 by Caribbean Net News and Huntington News Network
Since the disastrous 7.0 magnitude earthquake on January 12 that devastated Haiti and killed more than
230,000 people, millions of dollars have poured into the country for food, medicine, medical help, and relief.
Today more than two million people are homeless and hundreds of thousands of Haitians are living in 75
tent camps in and around Port-au-Prince. Scores of relief organizations and charity agencies ...
SEC and Congress Knew About Porno Problems November 2008, published by Huntington News Network,
May 1, 2008
The furor in the news about senior employees of the Securities and Exchange Commission watching
pornography instead of doing their jobs is not new news. It was first disclosed in the semi-annual SEC
Inspector General's September 2008 report to Congress that was made public the day after Thanksgiving. ...
Government Spokesmen Are Paid to Speak, published by O'Dwyers Public Relations News, April 30, 2008
Government spokespeople have an obligation to the taxpaying public to speak to the media when asked to
do so. ...
Will People Ever Trust Banks Again?, Published by Huntington News Network September 28, odwyerpr.com
September 29, and Caribbean Net News, September 30, 2009
Banking once was a trusted and respected business. Even after the multitude of bank failures during the
Great Depression of the 1930s and the savings and loan crises of the 1980s and 1990s, bankers were the
pillars of their local communities. What banking and financial institutions need today is a modern-day
George Bailey, the role played by Jimmy Stewart in the 1946 movie, “It’s a Wonderful Life.” He had the
respect and trust ...
Too Much Personal Information on the Internet Could Lead to Identity Theft, published by Caribbean Net
News and Huntington News Network, June 16, 2009
I don’t twit. I don’t even tweet. I un-linked from linked-in. After being Plaxoed, I unsubscribed. I resented
being tagged by Tagged.com. Instead of Facebook, I have my own website. These websites may work for
many people because it is a way to network and stay connected. However, I have found they are very quick
to send out information you may not want others to know. ...
Fight Back When Wronged
This is a three-part series about how to fight back when wronged or maligned, the aspects of libel and
criminal libel, and how the media have double standards of reporting when it comes to athletes,
entertainers and celebrities. Published by Huntington News Network and Caribbean Net News, May 4, 5 and
6, 2009, and Crisis Manager, December 21, 2009.
Part 1 - When wronged or defamed, get an immediate correction
Part 2 - Libel: It's what you say and when and where you say it
Part 3 - Does the media have a double standard when it comes to athletes, entertainers and public figures?
Value of Higher Education a Bargain for West Virginians, published April 29, 2009 by Huntington News
Network
Everybody loves a bargain - especially in tough economic times. West Virginians are very fortunate to have
exceptional education values at two of their great public universities - Marshall University and West
Virginia University....
Ethics, Integrity, Loyalty Needed In Higher Education, published by Huntington News Network, February 19,
2008 and Caribbean Net News, February 20, 2008
Colleges and universities once were considered the bastions of ethics, integrity, loyalty and commitment.
Regrettably, too many presidents and chancellors today no longer embody or practice these qualities when
it comes to intercollegiate sports. Every year football and basketball coaches are proselytized and enticed
to breach their contracts at one institution so they can hopefully produce a championship season at
another. It is greed and to win at all cost. . . .
Writers Guild Missed Great PR Opportunity - Could Learn From Actors, published by Huntington News
Network, O'dwyerpr.com, and Caribbean Net News, January 9, 2007
The Writers Guild of America missed a great public relations opportunity this week when it forced the
cancellation of the annual Golden Globes event. The writers had an opportunity to make a statement, have
the biggest names in Hollywood tell their side of story on television and win big time in the court of public
opinion. Hopefully, the Los Angeles smog will not blur the vision of the members if they are thinking about
creating a boycott or forcing the cancellation of the 80th annual Academy Awards on February 24...
Dubai - The Country Built By American Consumption published by Huntington News Network, May 18, 2007
and Jack O'Dwyer's Newsletter
In the 1930s when Yankee Stadium was built in the Bronx borough of New York City, a sportswriter labeled
it “The House That Ruth Built” in honor of baseball’s Babe Ruth. One visit to Dubai, with its virtually
incalculable wealth and obscene and blatant extravagance, and one could easily call this “The Country
Built By American Consumption.”
Why Can't the U.S. Learn From Other Countries?, published by Jack O'Dwyer's Newsletter and Huntington
News Network, June 18, 2007
I just returned from a six-week trip with stops in Canada, Asia, Indonesia, Europe and the United Kingdom.
Members of Congress and those in the Bush administration in Washington could learn much from some of
the places I visited. It was very discouraging to read editorials and commentaries and see the political
cartoons in newspapers and magazines and listen to television commentators continually criticize the U.S.
for our diplomatic and foreign policy and being in Iraq.
Thank You DMA, For A No Junk Mail List, published by Huntington News Network, January 22, 2008
For years I have complained about getting too much mail I didn’t want. Especially catalogs. Some
companies even sent me two or three identical copies. And, even when I moved to another city they still
found a way to catch up with me and clutter my mailbox. For years I have advocated what I call a “No Junk
Mail Registry.”
It's Time for a 'No Junk Mail Registry' published by Huntington News Network, November 5, 2006
If you're like me, you probably get too much junk mail. And this being a busy time of the year, with
upcoming holidays, you're probably inundated with gift catalogs. ...
Fact or Fiction? Television News, News Magazines and Primetime Dramas, published by Huntington News
Network, July 9, 2006, from an updated and revised guest opinion originally published May 8, 2002 in the
Arizona Daily Star, Tucson
We live today in an information society. The American public is saturated with information from the media
and the Internet. And, it is getting harder and harder to separate fact from fiction. ...
Higher Education Can Take A Lesson From WVU, published by Huntington News Network, May 7, 2006
America's colleges and universities could take a lesson from West Virginia University on the message that
needs to be communicated to the general public. Millions of dollars of free advertising time went to waste
during the recent NCAA "March Madness" basketball tournament. If the NCAA, various conferences and
colleges and universities wanted to win public financial support for higher education, they lost. ...
Mr. Chertoff: Please Get Your Act Together!, published by Huntington News Network, October 17, 2006
Every time I fly, I question whether I am as safe as I was before 9/11 because of all of the confusion getting
to my seat on the plane. I pray that my flight crew and air traffic controllers know what they are doing better
than the security screeners. ...
Who Do You Want Running Your Company?, published by Huntington News Network, March 25, 2006,
If you are a CEO of a company would you want someone not qualified and not associated with the company
to dictate your future? And, if you own stock in a public company, would you want this person telling
management what it should and should not be doing? Unfortunately, this happens every day. It affects the
trade price of public stocks. Individuals in the research departments ...
Television Primetime Now a Market For Issues, published by PR Week, September 2, 2005
For years companies have sought to place their products on primetime television programs and in feature
films. A few seconds of exposure on a popular drama or comedy series can be worth as much as $500,000
based on the cost of a 30-second commercial. ...
Brooklyn Lawyer Became a Sports Broadcasting Icon
Published February 4, 2012 by Huntington News Net and February 5, 2012 by
Caribbean News Now!
Reviewed by Rene A. Henry
SEATTLE, Wash. – Howard Cosell. You either loved him or hated him. And some fans did both.
Author Mark Ribowsky does a marvelous job of telling the reader how Howard Cohen, an ambitious
Jewish lawyer in Brooklyn who was first interested in sports radio in the 1950s, became Howard Cosell
and one of the most important figures in American sports.
Ribowsky did extensive research and his book has nearly 30 pages of footnotes and bibliography that
document how committed Cosell was to his wife and daughters, his insecurity and insatiable need for
constant praise and recognition, his massive ego and alcoholism. The reader will see a little known side
of Howard Cosell such as being one of the youngest majors in the U.S. Army when he virtually ran the Port
of New York during World War II.
The author notes that at the height of his career Cosell had the highest Q rating in television and was
always at the top of the lists of America’s most known, most liked and most hated. He tells how Cosell
interacted with virtually every major sports figure during the last 40 years of the 20th Century and
especially his close relationship with Muhammad Ali.
Chapters tell of the on-screen jousting and behind-the-scenes fighting with Frank Gifford and Don
Meredith that made “Monday Night Football” one of the most watched and entertaining sports programs.
Cosell never broadcast a Super Bowl game.
“His legendary insecurity played a role in the resentment and suspicion he had for fellow broadcasters
and especially his fellow ABC broadcasters,” Ribowsky writes. His book says Cosell reveled in the
crowds he attracted walking on the streets of New York and how he craved being with A-list celebrities
that included Frank Sinatra, Johnny Carson, Woody Allen, Paul Anka, Karl Malden, John Lennon and
Warren Beatty.
The book tells of his economic and ratings importance to ABC not only for “Monday Night Football”
but “Wide World of Sports” and boxing and why his drinking problem may have cost him the opportunity to
be on camera during the terror attack on Israeli athletes during the 1972 Munich Olympics. Cosell always
fought anti-Semitism and racism and was a strong defender of the rights of many Black athletes.
One person quoted and cited more often than anyone else throughout the book was Jim Spence, who
Cosell reported to along with Roone Arledge. Spence was #2 to Arledge and at ABC for more than 25
years, the last eight as senior vice president of ABC Sports. Ribowsky liberally used material from
Spence’s 1988 book, “Up Close and Personal,” but never contacted Spence to talk with him.
“I had a terrific professional relationship and a very close, personal relationship with Howard,” Spence
told this book reviewer. “My wife and I had great times with Howard and Emmy and we often dined
together.
“He was amazing. During the Mexico City Olympics in 1968 Howard did his radio shows from our
television studio and as I recall he did four-minute pieces using a stopwatch and without notes or a script.
His commentaries were brilliant and right on the button timewise.
“Later in his career he underwent a metamorphosis and changed as a person,” Spence continued.
“He was one of the most intelligent individuals I ever met. He had everything going for him – a wife and
family he dearly loved, he was an extremely wealthy man, as successful as any sportscaster had ever
been, and better known than anyone in the history of American television sports. His caustic wit never
changed, but he became a very angry man and difficult to work with. It was difficult to comprehend why he
lashed out at everything and everyone was the enemy.
“I believe Howard felt he was under-appreciated and he was not happy as a fulfilled man would be.
Being the most famous sportscaster ever was not enough. He wanted to be more than a sportscaster,”
Spence told me. “He pressed Roone Arledge, when he also headed ABC News, to anchor the evening
network news. He talked about running for the U.S. Senate in New York. He had a sense of frustration
despite his enormous success.”
Since 2004 Spence has been teaching courses at The College of William & Mary in Williamsburg,
Virginia. In the fall he teaches an undergraduate course in television sports and in the Spring, a shorter
version for the Christopher Wren Association directed at people over 55. He said he loves opening his
remarks to the seniors group by saying, “I am fully delighted to have people who have actually heard of
Howard Cosell in class.”
The first time I met Howard Cosell was in the mid-1960s when I was in New York on business and my
good friend Pete Kalison, who worked with him for five years at ABC, suggested we meet at the studio
before having dinner. Pete was going over details with Cosell prior to his local TV sports show and being
Saturday night, handed him a list of football scores. As the program started, Pete nudged me and said,
“Watch this.” Cosell started giving the scores and there was no teleprompter or cue cards. “He had a
photographic memory and could look at anything, read it, and then repeat it back to you word for word, not
just at that moment, but a year later. He never used written notes or references on the air. It was all off the
top of his head,” Kalison said.
After the show the three of us went across the street to Cosell’s favorite bar, Café Des Artistes, and
little did I realize I was having drinks with someone who would become one of our greatest legends in
sports and sports journalism.
“He never forgot a person’s name, even if they met just once for a few minutes,” said Kalison, who had
been in senior management with the New York Yankees before joining ABC and went on to a successful
career as an executive in the computer industry. “He knew the name of everyone who worked at ABC.
“One or two nights a week he would hold court at Café Des Artistes and the who’s who of sports
would come by and join him,” Kalison added. “This included Jackie Robinson, Vince Lombardi, Leo
Durocher and sportswriters Red Smith and Arthur Daley. He was one of the most fascinating people I
have ever known.”
Another good friend of mine, Shelly Saltman, interfaced with Cosell on many occasions. Saltman,
who was president of California Sports and later Fox Sports, worked many world championship boxing
matches. “At the Foreman-Frazier fight in 1971 in Jamaica he broadcast the fight for a 30-day delay and
groused that Roone Arledge, then president of ABC Sports, was wasting time and money because the
fight was a mismatch. It was Frazier’s first fight after beating Ali in Madison Square Garden and Foreman
was a proud, untested Olympic champion. Foreman knocked Frazier out in the second round and when
the fight was rebroadcast Cosell boasted how Arledge and his bosses at ABC had the intelligence to
listen to him and cover the momentous event.”
During the 1984 Los Angeles Olympics, Saltman was Co-Commissioner of Boxing. “In the eyes of
the crews at ringside Howard was the ‘God of the Ring’ and he obnoxiously played the regal role to the
hilt. Whenever he would become too much we looked to his wife Emmy and she would calm him down,”
Saltman added. “He felt he knew everything, was pompous and took himself too seriously.”
In 1977 when I was a founding partner of ICPR, Los Angeles, one of our clients was the World Team
Tennis League which had just signed Björn Borg, then the #1 tennis player in the world. Bob Steiner, the
account executive arranged for a major press conference in New York at the “21” Club. He turned out the
crème de la crème of sports journalists and the room was full when Cosell made his grand entrance. Bob
looked at me and said, “Now we can start the press conference. He just made it a success!” Steiner
went on to be a senior executive for Jerry Buss at California Sports.
“I loved Howard Cosell, I grew up listening to his Sunday night radio show “Speaking of Everything”
and his coverage of Muhammad Ali and the Olympics,” said Greg Aiello, senior vice president of
communications for the National Football League. “His presence on “Monday Night Football” when it was
created signaled that it was a big deal. He was always interesting and entertaining.
“Early in my career when I was assistant public relations director of the Dallas Cowboys I attended
several ABC pre-production meetings,” Aiello continued. They didn’t last long and weren’t particularly
productive. Don Meredith would joke around and not pay much attention. Frank Gifford would ask a few
questions but then call you later to go into depth. And Howard would be Howard. I was sitting next to him
at one meeting and out of nowhere he turned to me and said ‘You’re too big for this.’ I may have been 30
years old at the time. I thought it was very funny and certainly a moment that you remember from a legend
like him.”
As part of his research Ribowsky interviewed a dozen or more people. I was surprised that he did not
contact Jim Spence, Shelly Saltman and Greg Aiello or anyone at the NFL so through his publicist I asked
“Why” and was told that the author was “too busy” to respond to my question. I then asked myself if his
research was as thorough as I thought.
Howard Cosell died in 1995 but could be just the leader that the Knight Commission on Intercollegiate
Sports needs to bring the skyrocketing costs of college football under control. He would tell it like it is.
One appropriate Cosellism is “The importance that our society attaches to sport is incredible. After all, is
football a game or a religion? The people of this country have allowed sports to get completely out of
hand.”
The book cites how Frank Deford, distinguished Hall of Fame sports journalist, once described
Cosell: “Cosell isn’t television. He’s not audio. Howard Cosell is sports in our time. Feel sorry for the
people who turned off the sound. The poor b*******s missed the game.”
I recommend the book for all sports fans.
Selected Op/Eds and Commentaries
To access any of the following, click on the headline ...
Book Review: "Howard Cosell"" How An Ambitious Brooklyn Lawyer Became A Sports Broadcasting Icon,
published February 4, 2012 by Huntington News Network and February 5 by Caribbean News Now!
Howard Cosell. You either loved him or hated him. And some fans did both. Author Mark Ribowsky does
a marvelous job of telling the reader how Howard Cohen, an ambitious Jewish lawyer in Brooklyn who
was first interested in sports radio in the 1950s, became Howard Cosell and one of the most important
figures in American sports. ...
Airlines Feed Diverse Diets, published January 17 by Caribbean News Now! and January 19 by Huntington
News Network
No airline will ever get a Michelin star for its food. But many now are at least making an effort to
accommodate the diverse ethnic, religious and nutritional diets of their passengers. When my editor
learned I was working on this story he responded: “Airline food? That’s an oxymoron!” Before
deregulation, when every ticket was the same price and there were no hidden fees, airlines competed to
provide the very best service and food. ...
Madison Square Garden - Basketball's Capital, published March 7 by Huntington News Network
It's basketball tournament time and teams are competing in arenas throughout the country hoping in a few
weeks to be crowned the 2011 National Collegiate Athletic Association champion. In a by-gone era ...
Colleges Waste Opportunity to Gain Public Support, published by Huntington News Network, February 28,
2011
It's that time of the year again. March Madness. And colleges and universities will continue to
waste millions of dollars of free advertising time they could use to gain the public's support for
higher education. ..
Amtrak, Congress Need to Get With It, published by Huntington News Network, November 23, 2011
I love trains. And, because I love riding trains I wish the senior management of Amtrak, the people
responsible for passenger train service in our country, Congress and some of our governors would just get
their acts together...
How Many Players Does A Football Team Need?, published July 13, 2010 by Huntington News Network
Coaches and administrators who believe a college football team must have 120 players and 85 scholarships
should take a look at the successful winning and competitive team fielded by William & Mary in 1953 with
only 24 players. That season W&M posted a 5-4-1 record with a team that could not even scrimmage
because one of the players was a 118-pound placekicker. Head coach Jackie Freeman’s team lost only once
in its first six games. W&M posted wins over Wake Forest, Virginia Tech, North Carolina State, Richmond
and George Washington and tied a nationally-ranked Navy team. ...
Customer Service Sells for Cruise Lines, published by Huntington News Network, November 21, 2011
Crystal Cruises is another company that is proving my thesis that many people want and will pay more for
customer service. This cruise from New York City to Los Angeles on the company's Crystal Symphony is sold
out and the travelers are proving that even in a depressed economy or recession that they will pay extra for
great customer service ...
More Is Less In Washington, published May 24, 2010 by Jack O'Dwyer's Newsletter and Huntington News
Network
The federal government in Washington, D.C. is overflowing with employees. Departments and agencies
responsible for oversight and enforcement are doing neither these days. And Congressional staffs, paid for
by taxpayers, are larger than ever before. ...
Haiti Needs U.S. Housing Design and Systems Now, published May issue of Automated Builder and published
May 13, 2010 by Caribbean Net News and Huntington News Network
Since the disastrous 7.0 magnitude earthquake on January 12 that devastated Haiti and killed more than
230,000 people, millions of dollars have poured into the country for food, medicine, medical help, and relief.
Today more than two million people are homeless and hundreds of thousands of Haitians are living in 75
tent camps in and around Port-au-Prince. Scores of relief organizations and charity agencies ...
SEC and Congress Knew About Porno Problems November 2008, published by Huntington News Network,
May 1, 2008
The furor in the news about senior employees of the Securities and Exchange Commission watching
pornography instead of doing their jobs is not new news. It was first disclosed in the semi-annual SEC
Inspector General's September 2008 report to Congress that was made public the day after Thanksgiving. ...
Government Spokesmen Are Paid to Speak, published by O'Dwyers Public Relations News, April 30, 2008
Government spokespeople have an obligation to the taxpaying public to speak to the media when asked to
do so. ...
Will People Ever Trust Banks Again?, Published by Huntington News Network September 28, odwyerpr.com
September 29, and Caribbean Net News, September 30, 2009
Banking once was a trusted and respected business. Even after the multitude of bank failures during the
Great Depression of the 1930s and the savings and loan crises of the 1980s and 1990s, bankers were the
pillars of their local communities. What banking and financial institutions need today is a modern-day
George Bailey, the role played by Jimmy Stewart in the 1946 movie, “It’s a Wonderful Life.” He had the
respect and trust ...
Too Much Personal Information on the Internet Could Lead to Identity Theft, published by Caribbean Net
News and Huntington News Network, June 16, 2009
I don’t twit. I don’t even tweet. I un-linked from linked-in. After being Plaxoed, I unsubscribed. I resented
being tagged by Tagged.com. Instead of Facebook, I have my own website. These websites may work for
many people because it is a way to network and stay connected. However, I have found they are very quick
to send out information you may not want others to know. ...
Fight Back When Wronged
This is a three-part series about how to fight back when wronged or maligned, the aspects of libel and
criminal libel, and how the media have double standards of reporting when it comes to athletes,
entertainers and celebrities. Published by Huntington News Network and Caribbean Net News, May 4, 5 and
6, 2009, and Crisis Manager, December 21, 2009.
Part 1 - When wronged or defamed, get an immediate correction
Part 2 - Libel: It's what you say and when and where you say it
Part 3 - Does the media have a double standard when it comes to athletes, entertainers and public figures?
Value of Higher Education a Bargain for West Virginians, published April 29, 2009 by Huntington News
Network
Everybody loves a bargain - especially in tough economic times. West Virginians are very fortunate to have
exceptional education values at two of their great public universities - Marshall University and West
Virginia University....
Ethics, Integrity, Loyalty Needed In Higher Education, published by Huntington News Network, February 19,
2008 and Caribbean Net News, February 20, 2008
Colleges and universities once were considered the bastions of ethics, integrity, loyalty and commitment.
Regrettably, too many presidents and chancellors today no longer embody or practice these qualities when
it comes to intercollegiate sports. Every year football and basketball coaches are proselytized and enticed
to breach their contracts at one institution so they can hopefully produce a championship season at
another. It is greed and to win at all cost. . . .
Writers Guild Missed Great PR Opportunity - Could Learn From Actors, published by Huntington News
Network, O'dwyerpr.com, and Caribbean Net News, January 9, 2007
The Writers Guild of America missed a great public relations opportunity this week when it forced the
cancellation of the annual Golden Globes event. The writers had an opportunity to make a statement, have
the biggest names in Hollywood tell their side of story on television and win big time in the court of public
opinion. Hopefully, the Los Angeles smog will not blur the vision of the members if they are thinking about
creating a boycott or forcing the cancellation of the 80th annual Academy Awards on February 24...
Dubai - The Country Built By American Consumption published by Huntington News Network, May 18, 2007
and Jack O'Dwyer's Newsletter
In the 1930s when Yankee Stadium was built in the Bronx borough of New York City, a sportswriter labeled
it “The House That Ruth Built” in honor of baseball’s Babe Ruth. One visit to Dubai, with its virtually
incalculable wealth and obscene and blatant extravagance, and one could easily call this “The Country
Built By American Consumption.”
Why Can't the U.S. Learn From Other Countries?, published by Jack O'Dwyer's Newsletter and Huntington
News Network, June 18, 2007
I just returned from a six-week trip with stops in Canada, Asia, Indonesia, Europe and the United Kingdom.
Members of Congress and those in the Bush administration in Washington could learn much from some of
the places I visited. It was very discouraging to read editorials and commentaries and see the political
cartoons in newspapers and magazines and listen to television commentators continually criticize the U.S.
for our diplomatic and foreign policy and being in Iraq.
Thank You DMA, For A No Junk Mail List, published by Huntington News Network, January 22, 2008
For years I have complained about getting too much mail I didn’t want. Especially catalogs. Some
companies even sent me two or three identical copies. And, even when I moved to another city they still
found a way to catch up with me and clutter my mailbox. For years I have advocated what I call a “No Junk
Mail Registry.”
It's Time for a 'No Junk Mail Registry' published by Huntington News Network, November 5, 2006
If you're like me, you probably get too much junk mail. And this being a busy time of the year, with
upcoming holidays, you're probably inundated with gift catalogs. ...
Fact or Fiction? Television News, News Magazines and Primetime Dramas, published by Huntington News
Network, July 9, 2006, from an updated and revised guest opinion originally published May 8, 2002 in the
Arizona Daily Star, Tucson
We live today in an information society. The American public is saturated with information from the media
and the Internet. And, it is getting harder and harder to separate fact from fiction. ...
Higher Education Can Take A Lesson From WVU, published by Huntington News Network, May 7, 2006
America's colleges and universities could take a lesson from West Virginia University on the message that
needs to be communicated to the general public. Millions of dollars of free advertising time went to waste
during the recent NCAA "March Madness" basketball tournament. If the NCAA, various conferences and
colleges and universities wanted to win public financial support for higher education, they lost. ...
Mr. Chertoff: Please Get Your Act Together!, published by Huntington News Network, October 17, 2006
Every time I fly, I question whether I am as safe as I was before 9/11 because of all of the confusion getting
to my seat on the plane. I pray that my flight crew and air traffic controllers know what they are doing better
than the security screeners. ...
Who Do You Want Running Your Company?, published by Huntington News Network, March 25, 2006,
If you are a CEO of a company would you want someone not qualified and not associated with the company
to dictate your future? And, if you own stock in a public company, would you want this person telling
management what it should and should not be doing? Unfortunately, this happens every day. It affects the
trade price of public stocks. Individuals in the research departments ...
Television Primetime Now a Market For Issues, published by PR Week, September 2, 2005
For years companies have sought to place their products on primetime television programs and in feature
films. A few seconds of exposure on a popular drama or comedy series can be worth as much as $500,000
based on the cost of a 30-second commercial. ...
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