Health crisis for Mary Lou Retton

watch the Game 2 broadcast sometime, it will make you squeamish. 'Second-hand embarrassment', as the kids call it.
A guy playing Hamlet with the bases loaded - only Howard.

 

I forgot that I have the Cosell book that got him removed in 1985 on my bookshelf. Picked it up at a used book sale for a dollar. I should crack that open sometime.

 

Oh that hurts

 

Al’s told the story a few times about Howard waking up in the morning, putting on the toupee and yellow ABC jacket, and sitting in the hotel lobby reading the paper. He was an attention whore.

 

Billy Welu was an all-timer on on bowling. Much better than Burton Jr. That is not a slam of Burton Jr. Welu was that good. He committed suicide at age 41.

 

Fire up Chips!

He came to campus to sign copies of his autobiography and was friendly.

Two summers ago when I went to the UK, I made a point to get to the All-England Club. Wore my CMU T-shirt while touring Centre Court in his honor.

 

I did not know that about Welu until now. Looks like it was covered up. I just remember he was no longer on the telecasts, which we regularly watched. My mother worked at the alleys that hosted the Bay Area stop on the winter tour and I loved that the pros were bowling on the same lanes I did in youth league.

 

Yeah, he also did it the year before on Chris Chambliss' pennant-winning home run. I always felt bad for Jackson about that; he could have had some signature calls for us to savor, but instead we get his partner yelling "IT'S GONE" for no good reason.

I always did like the story, which I've heard told by both Michaels and Bob Costas, of when Costas introduced himself to Cosell, inducing the reply "Oh yes, you're the one who likes to rhapsodize about the infield fly rule!"

And the Michaels story of the 1984 ALCS reminds me of another flap with Roy Firestone when Cosell was a guest on "Up Close." They started what Firestone probably envisioned as a respectful debate about something, but Cosell started getting more and more belligerent as the conversation went on. After they finished the ep and the cameras were off, Cosell snapped at Firestone, "That's the end of our friendship!" I guess Howard just loved burning bridges.

And finally, best wishes to Mary Lou in her recovery.

 

It was covered up at the time . I learned about it when I checked on Wikipedia before my post. One of the Wikipedia footnotes was the New York times obituary which reported as apparent heart attack.

 

I read somewhere that Cosell considered running for office after he left ABC?

 

I was too young to realize at the time, but seeing some of these highlights decades later, Cosell stepped on a lot of calls.

I find Cosell fascinating. I respect him for sticking up for the 1968 black olympic athletes when it definitely wasn't cool to do. But he became a bitter old man, like a lot of old men do.