That video's awesome. I love the announcers. I can't believe anyone ever actually talked like that, they sound like characters in Dick Tracy. And the commercials were great also, razor ads haven't really changed in 35 years
Howard Cosell and "Dandy" Don Meredith were absolute geniuses. Meredith was a joker but he was so good at it that you never got bored of it... Today, you hear announcers try to be funny but they don't grab you. Either they don't grab you or you grow tired of their sense of humor rather quickly.. Meredith had incredible "timing" and originality, and he didn't over do it. He was so eloquent and perfect with his humor during a football game. It was uncanny. No one has come close to being a such a good color commentator since.
The way they can bring drama to a game was unprecedented. I mean, the score could be 30-10 in the 4th quarter and they had that uncanny ability to keep you channeled. Cosell could make a Pro bowl game look like the best game of the season. Hell, just youtube 1978 pro bowl and listen to him say how he knows the players, knows their pride saying that they will give it their all etc etc.. Even mentioning that there is a "rivalry' between the conferences.. Come on, we ALL know that players don;t care about the pro bowl-- but with Cosell, YOU WATCHED anyway. Because he had the ability to draw you in with his fairy tale story-telling abilities..
Speaking of stories, the guy had a story for every possible surprise in a sporting event, or if something unexpected happened to HIM......... Take a look at this post bout interview after Larry Holmes defeated Spinks.. Fast forward to about 5:20 when Gerry Cooney (who was the #1 ranked challenger at the time) comes over to Holmes... There was a scuffle between Holmes and Cooney where Cosell received an accidental elbow coupled with a bloody mouth.
Look how composed and professional he is. he didn't run and cut off the camera (to go to commercial) like you would see today (if that were to happen to an announcer on live TV).. You didn't see him upset or disgruntled.....
No, Cosell was cool calm and composed, even reciting a phrase he heard from Dan Rather at a convention when he said "it's all in a day's work". LOL .. And he went on and conducted the interview unphased by the elbow to his mouth.. That's professionalism. I loved the guy. He was absolutely awesome to listen to. He made sporting events feel like you were a part of them. Made you feel like you were one of the players involved in the game.... Personality, charisma, flamboyance-- sometimes he was bigger than the game itself. Anyway, this is the vid of that-
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OWeUTRXt1Gw
At 5:45 when he says "Well here we go AGAIN", and say it in a way that only he can say it. haha
That's just a small example. The only reason I am throwing that one up there is because there just aren't many youtube's of him.. There were thousands of Cosell moments. But that's a small taste..
ps- Before people start thinking that I am an old man talking about these greats of the 70's (although I did get into football as a young kid in 1981 and remember Cosell well) -- What I did was I bought a bunch of VHS tapes of monday night football games online somewhere a few years ago.. I bought two at first. And I enjoyed & loved the broadcasts so much that I bought about 20 more soon thereafter. It helped get me through the offseasons as I used to watch a game a week.. I figured that I can learn about the history of the game by watching these older games (as football does have a tremendous history), and just as importantly, be entertained like never before while doing so with such unprecedented announcers.
