Monday, January 16, 2012
No Holds Barred: Mark Ribowsky on the Relevance of Howard Cosell

On this edition of No Holds Barred, host Eddie Goldman speaks with Mark Ribowsky, author of the new biography Howard Cosell: The Man, the Myth, and the Transformation of American Sports.
Howard Cosell was not only a "cultural icon", a highly insecure and (thus) highly pompous man, and an always controversial sportscaster, but also a pioneer in developing independent sports journalism and critiques of the powers-that-be in the world of sports. Although he eventually became a major part of the sports establishment through his decades of work for the ABC television and radio networks from the 1950s through the 1980s, his main legacy is that he strove to "tell it like it is" and stand up for what he believed was right in sports.
We spoke with Mark Ribowsky by phone Monday afternoon about his important new book and the legacy of Howard Cosell. Before Cosell, he argued, sports broadcasting was "a forum for Ken dolls to parrot the company line". After Cosell, who passed away in 1995 at the age of 77, in sports, and particularly in what passes today for sports journalism, "people have gotten way too soft".
This book provides an important and critical analysis of the life of one of the pioneers of sports journalism, and is a must-read for all those, journalists or not, who stand for truth and justice in the world of sports and in the world in general.
You can play or download No Holds Barred here. You can also download No Holds Barred here. If one link does not work, please try another. The show is in MP3 format, so may take some time to download.
No Holds Barred is also available on mobile phones and iPads through Stitcher.
Also, No Holds Barred is available through iTunes.
The No Holds Barred theme song is called "The Heist", by Ian Carpenter.
No Holds Barred is free to listen to and is sponsored by:
ONE Fighting Championship. ONE FC is Asia's largest and most prestigious mixed martial arts event. ONE FC features the best Asian fighters and has initiated the ONE Asia Partnership Network, which includes most of the major MMA promotions and MMA gyms in Asia. For more information, go to their web site, at ONEFC.com.
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American Top Team. Whether you're a beginner or a champion, train with the champions in Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu, boxing, wrestling, grappling, and mixed martial arts at American Top Team. Check out their web site at http://americantopteam.com/.
The American Sambo Association, which is committed to becoming the premier association in the U.S. dedicated to the advancement of Sambo. Sambo is a form of sport, self-defense, and combat established in the former Soviet Union during the early twentieth century. For more information, go to ussambo.com.
Labels: Ali, boxing, Eddie Goldman, Foreman, Frazier, Howard Cosell, journalism, Mark Ribowsky, media, MMA, No Holds Barred
Tuesday, June 08, 2010
No Holds Barred: Charles Farrell on Cotto-Foreman and the Decline of New York

On this edition of No Holds Barred, host Eddie Goldman once again speaks with our correspondent Charles Farrell about a bad boxing matchup with bad attendance in a big ballpark, and which was brutally blemished by bad officiating, bad announcing, and bad reporting, held in a big "hick town" known as New York.
That, of course, refers to the June 5 fight between Miguel Cotto and Yuri Foreman held in the new Yankee Stadium in the Bronx, New York. Cotto won by a TKO after referee Arthur Mercante finally stopped the fight in the ninth round, after Mercante refused to stop the fight one round earlier when the corner of Foreman, who was by then hobbling around on one leg, tried to end it by several methods.
We spoke Monday night and present our lengthy and cutting critique here in its entirety. We not only analyzed the many bad points of this fight and its promotion, but also tied it to the overall decline of New York, the home of many of the guilty parties in this debacle. We didn’t spare anybody, the promoters, HBO, the officials, and the media included. And as our guest philosopher, Jerome Lester Horwitz, explained, "Truth is stranger than fiction."
You can play or download No Holds Barred here. You can also download No Holds Barred here. If one link does not work, please try another. The show is in MP3 format, so may take some time to download.
The No Holds Barred theme song is called "The Heist", by Ian Carpenter.
Make sure to visit the official boxing forum for No Holds Barred, the MySpace Boxing Forum.
No Holds Barred is free to listen to and is sponsored by:
BJJMart.com, your premier source for all Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu gear, videos, books, and much more.
American Top Team. Whether you're a beginner or a champion, train with the champions in Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu, boxing, wrestling, grappling, and mixed martial arts at American Top Team. Check out their web site at http://americantopteam.com/.
Bragging Rights Corner, for news and always independent opinion about the sport and business of boxing. Check out their web site at http://www.braggingrightscorner.com.
FightBeat.com, for news, results, interviews, and free exclusive videos from the worlds of boxing and mixed martial arts.
That, of course, refers to the June 5 fight between Miguel Cotto and Yuri Foreman held in the new Yankee Stadium in the Bronx, New York. Cotto won by a TKO after referee Arthur Mercante finally stopped the fight in the ninth round, after Mercante refused to stop the fight one round earlier when the corner of Foreman, who was by then hobbling around on one leg, tried to end it by several methods.
We spoke Monday night and present our lengthy and cutting critique here in its entirety. We not only analyzed the many bad points of this fight and its promotion, but also tied it to the overall decline of New York, the home of many of the guilty parties in this debacle. We didn’t spare anybody, the promoters, HBO, the officials, and the media included. And as our guest philosopher, Jerome Lester Horwitz, explained, "Truth is stranger than fiction."
You can play or download No Holds Barred here. You can also download No Holds Barred here. If one link does not work, please try another. The show is in MP3 format, so may take some time to download.
The No Holds Barred theme song is called "The Heist", by Ian Carpenter.
Make sure to visit the official boxing forum for No Holds Barred, the MySpace Boxing Forum.
No Holds Barred is free to listen to and is sponsored by:
BJJMart.com, your premier source for all Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu gear, videos, books, and much more.
American Top Team. Whether you're a beginner or a champion, train with the champions in Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu, boxing, wrestling, grappling, and mixed martial arts at American Top Team. Check out their web site at http://americantopteam.com/.
Bragging Rights Corner, for news and always independent opinion about the sport and business of boxing. Check out their web site at http://www.braggingrightscorner.com.
FightBeat.com, for news, results, interviews, and free exclusive videos from the worlds of boxing and mixed martial arts.
Labels: boxing, Charles Farrell, Cotto, Eddie Goldman, Foreman, No Holds Barred