Who has watched every Super Bowl?

[Parallax]

The three man booth was originated on MNF, if you listened to games back then they sounded more radio news type, and with air time and screen time they had to have fill as well, Howard was great at that.

Now that you mention it, that sounds right. I'll have to find some old broadcasts to watch.

 

[RiverDog]

That's funny. I was a child when he (Cosell) was broadcasting so stuff like that was way over my head. I remember his distinctive style, which was very New York. I grew up in New York so it felt familiar, even though, looking back, he dripped with arrogance at times. I imagine it must have rubbed people in other parts of the country the wrong way, unless they just dismissed him as a sort of clown. Someone with his manners and speaking style would never get air time today. The media was once New York centric but is now distinctly middle American. Way less colorful in my opinion but also less offensive.

Howard did have a bit of arrogance to him. He was sort of a snob. He used to like to try to impress people with his Wall Street vocabulary, which led to some entertaining banter from the good ole country boy Don Meredith. Howard would say something like "he has a high threshold of pain", and Meredith would reply "Howard, can't you just say he's tough?" That part was very amusing as Meredith always got the last word.

But having Cosell in the booth was a key part of the success of the early MNF because he was a person people loved to hate and would tune in so they could complain about him. He could also hype a game like no other, make a game between two 2-8 teams sound like it was a prelude to the Super Bowl. Same with the Halftime Highlights. The way he narrated it, every player was a HOF'er. He once dubbed Patriots tight end Russ Francis as "all world". Francis was a 3-time Pro Bowler, good but not HOF good.

As @chris98251 noted, MNF had 3 man broadcasting guys in the booth back then, with two color commentators, ie Meredith and Cosell, along with the play-by-play Frank Gifford. Nowadays, they've taken out the 2nd color commentator and replaced him with a sideline babe...oops, I mean reporter.

 

[chris98251]

The knee always the knee.....

 

[Threedee]

I didn't know enough to know that the Jets had no chance in that game. LOL. I just remember that picture of Namath calm and cool poolside on a lounger just a few days before the game, and then, of course, the tunnel picture running off the field. I liked Namath a lot because he threw "the bomb" a lot, probably why he didn't have a high completion percentage.

...

Funny thing about Broadway Joe is that he succeeded Daryl Lamonica, who was only known for the long ball. By comparison, the Jets must have viewed him as very toned down.