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Dueling Sports commentators

G

Garrett

This weekend while I was flpping through 2 non-paid programs that were on, I happened to come across a sporting event where a couple of the commentators seemed to be having a brief dis-agreement (I can't remember the event but it was on NBC).

Anyway, that got me to thinking, has there ever been a national telecast where the two commentators got into it? I mean really got into it?
It can be any kind of sport. Has this ever happened? How bad was it? When did it happen?
 
> Anyway, that got me to thinking, has there ever been a
> national telecast where the two commentators got into it? I
> mean really got into it?
> It can be any kind of sport. Has this ever happened? How bad
> was it? When did it happen?
----------
If you have ever seen Hockey Night in Canada...'nuf said. McLean and Cherry beat any pair I've ever seen from the States.
 
> > Anyway, that got me to thinking, has there ever been a
> > national telecast where the two commentators got into it?
> I
> > mean really got into it?
> > It can be any kind of sport. Has this ever happened? How
> bad
> > was it? When did it happen?
> ----------
> If you have ever seen Hockey Night in Canada...'nuf said.
> McLean and Cherry beat any pair I've ever seen from the
> States.

It wasn't a genuine dispute, but during the Howard Cossell era, Cossell and Don Meredith would engage in a running ersatz dispute over a variety of points during a Monday Night Football game. About as bad as it ever got would consist of Cossell spouting opinions in his highly academic manner and Meredit would reply in his inimitable Texas drawl, "Now Ha'ard that's not true." And they would proceed to banter back and forth on the point, which no doubt was well planned in advance. It did, though, hold people's attention.

The bit was designed to mix play-by-play with some low humor--and it worked. But it sounds as if what took place on NBC was a bit more serious and intense.

People used to say, "Cossell, bless him, he's OK but he talks funny."
>
 
Since myself, and probably most of the board is US based, I can't say I know anything about Hocky Night in Canada and no, I have not seen McLean or Cherry.

So, an you elaborate on this?

> > Anyway, that got me to thinking, has there ever been a
> > national telecast where the two commentators got into it?
> I
> > mean really got into it?
> > It can be any kind of sport. Has this ever happened? How
> bad
> > was it? When did it happen?
> ----------
> If you have ever seen Hockey Night in Canada...'nuf said.
> McLean and Cherry beat any pair I've ever seen from the
> States.
>
 
> It wasn't a genuine dispute, but during the Howard Cossell
> era, Cossell and Don Meredith would engage in a running
> ersatz dispute over a variety of points during a Monday
> Night Football game. About as bad as it ever got would
> consist of Cossell spouting opinions in his highly academic
> manner and Meredit would reply in his inimitable Texas
> drawl, "Now Ha'ard that's not true." And they would proceed
> to banter back and forth on the point, which no doubt was
> well planned in advance. It did, though, hold people's
> attention.
>
> The bit was designed to mix play-by-play with some low
> humor--and it worked. But it sounds as if what took place
> on NBC was a bit more serious and intense.
>
> People used to say, "Cossell, bless him, he's OK but he
> talks funny."
> >
>
Thanks for reminding me of that!! As a kid, I remember those "disputes" and they were amusing as Hell! Cosell and Dandy Don were like oil and water - complete opposites in every way. Quite entertaining and quite unlike anything else on TV at the time.

Remember the guy at the Houston Astrodome who gave the camera the finger on live TV? I think the Oilers were down something like 28 points. After a brief stunned silence, Meredith says (in a sarcastic tone) "I think he means we're number one!" Great stuff!

That threesome of Cosell, Dandy Don and Frank Gifford will ultimately go down as the most memorable of all time!
 
> > It wasn't a genuine dispute, but during the Howard Cossell
>
> > era, Cossell and Don Meredith would engage in a running
> > ersatz dispute over a variety of points during a Monday
> > Night Football game. About as bad as it ever got would
> > consist of Cossell spouting opinions in his highly
> academic
> > manner and Meredit would reply in his inimitable Texas
> > drawl, "Now Ha'ard that's not true." And they would
> proceed
> > to banter back and forth on the point, which no doubt was
> > well planned in advance. It did, though, hold people's
> > attention.
> >
> > The bit was designed to mix play-by-play with some low
> > humor--and it worked. But it sounds as if what took place
>
> > on NBC was a bit more serious and intense.
> >
> > People used to say, "Cossell, bless him, he's OK but he
> > talks funny."
> > >
> >
> Thanks for reminding me of that!! As a kid, I remember
> those "disputes" and they were amusing as Hell! Cosell and
> Dandy Don were like oil and water - complete opposites in
> every way. Quite entertaining and quite unlike anything
> else on TV at the time.
>
> Remember the guy at the Houston Astrodome who gave the
> camera the finger on live TV? I think the Oilers were down
> something like 28 points. After a brief stunned silence,
> Meredith says (in a sarcastic tone) "I think he means we're
> number one!" Great stuff!
>
> That threesome of Cosell, Dandy Don and Frank Gifford will
> ultimately go down as the most memorable of all time!
>
Gifford was cast as the peace maker of the group but Cosell and Meredith out talked him everytime.

Also remember a baseball game rain delay long, long ago in which Pee Wee Reece and Dizzy Dean were vamping for time while the cameras took shots of anything to keep a picture on the screen. The camera panned past a couple kissing under an umbrella, reverse panned and held on the shot, at which time Pee Wee ad libbed a comment that I won't repeat here but it had to do with who was kissing whom and when. The audio for two or three minutes was of Dean laughing so hard in the background that Reece didn't even attempt to say anything else.

Rare moments from the memory banks of live TV.
 
> > > It wasn't a genuine dispute, but during the Howard
> Cossell
> >
> > > era, Cossell and Don Meredith would engage in a running
> > > ersatz dispute over a variety of points during a Monday
> > > Night Football game. About as bad as it ever got would
> > > consist of Cossell spouting opinions in his highly
> > academic
> > > manner and Meredit would reply in his inimitable Texas
> > > drawl, "Now Ha'ard that's not true." And they would
> > proceed
> > > to banter back and forth on the point, which no doubt
> was
> > > well planned in advance. It did, though, hold people's
> > > attention.
> > >
> > > The bit was designed to mix play-by-play with some low
> > > humor--and it worked. But it sounds as if what took
> place
> >
> > > on NBC was a bit more serious and intense.
> > >
> > > People used to say, "Cossell, bless him, he's OK but he
> > > talks funny."
> > > >
> > >
> > Thanks for reminding me of that!! As a kid, I remember
> > those "disputes" and they were amusing as Hell! Cosell
> and
> > Dandy Don were like oil and water - complete opposites in
> > every way. Quite entertaining and quite unlike anything
> > else on TV at the time.
> >
> > Remember the guy at the Houston Astrodome who gave the
> > camera the finger on live TV? I think the Oilers were
> down
> > something like 28 points. After a brief stunned silence,
> > Meredith says (in a sarcastic tone) "I think he means
> we're
> > number one!" Great stuff!
> >
> > That threesome of Cosell, Dandy Don and Frank Gifford will
>
> > ultimately go down as the most memorable of all time!
> >
> Gifford was cast as the peace maker of the group but Cosell
> and Meredith out talked him everytime.
>
>My favorite Gifford-Meredith-Cosell story revolves around
the fact that Cosell, in his words, "never played the game,"
was never an athlete. One night the Giants and Cowboys were
on, and both teams were playing so badly the game resembled
a sandlot pickup game.

Cosell: I must say, gentlemen, that neither of your respective
teams is showing me much tonight.
Meredith: Ha'ard, at least we HAVE respective teams.
>
> Rare moments from the memory banks of live TV.
>
 
> Since myself, and probably most of the board is US based, I
> can't say I know anything about Hocky Night in Canada and
> no, I have not seen McLean or Cherry.
>
> So, an you elaborate on this?
----------
Cherry is very well known for being politically incorrect and going on long rants. There is a video clip out there from 1987, not from HNIC but from CBC Sports Saturday where Don Cherry and Brian Williams are having a bitter argument regarding a fight between Russia and Canada in a World Juniors match - a fight provoked by the Russians. Williams thought it was a black mark on Canadian hockey that this had taken place, but Cherry struck back with a long rant about how Canadians don't take abuse from others. After Williams made his retaliation Cherry gave Williams a rather rude look. You'd have to see the clip to know what I'm talking about...I have only a snippet of this on tape from the CBC 50th anniversary special, and apparently there is a lot more than I have seen on the tape. If you get ESPN Classic Canada, this game, known as the Piestany Punch Up, might show up from time to time. Read http://oilfans.com/forum/index.php?t=tree&rid=0&th=14108&mid=135096

Cherry since then has gone on many rants, including his well known one about how only Europeans would wear hockey visors, which stirred up a lot of controversy. It has been said that Cherry would never last two weeks on American television because of the amount of controversy he routinely gets himself into.

So, it isn't necessarily with McLean that Cherry gets in a duel with, he just gets himself in duels with any commentator.<P ID="edit"><FONT class="small">Edited by mjlarochelle on 07/26/05 01:04 AM.</FONT></P>
 
Cherry and McLean got into a disagreement about the Iraq war (Cherry for, McLean against) that led to both men being reprimanded by CBC management.
 
Harry Caray and Steve Stone got into an argument about something - I don't remember what - while killing time during a rain delay on WGN years ago.
 
It has been said
> that Cherry would never last two weeks on American
> television because of the amount of controversy he routinely
> gets himself into.

Whoever says that has never heard of Ted Leitner, who was at one time play-by-play for the San Diego Charger, San Diego Padres, hosted a radio show and was a San Diego TV Sportcaster simultaneously. Those days have come to an end however. But Ted is very controversial. He refuses to show hocky highlights, uses no script what so ever, and likes to rant about whatever...
 
I have to butt in and say if you're going to mention the MNF trio of Gifford-Cosell-Meredith, you have to remember that they barely got along off screen. Cosell thought the two of them were idiots; Gifford got along with Meredith, just barely; and Meredith was counting the days until he could do something else.

A much better three-man team was the late-70s Dick Enberg-Billy Packer-Al McGuire crew on NBC college basketball. Enberg had it all over Gifford on play by play; Packer hadn't become tiresome and McGuire was funnier than Meredith.
 
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