Somehow, the last post reminded me of a great line from Randall "Tex" Cobb, who was a mediocre heavyweight boxer back in the day. But a hard man to knock down. Late in his career, which would have been the early 80s, Cobb was fighting Larry Holmes. Cobb was totally outclassed.
It was a good enough fight going in, that Howard Cosell was doing the commentary. Never did like Howard on anything, maybe especially boxing. Cobb used about every trick in the book to go the distance, while likely never winning a round. He held and stalled and made the fight into something the didn't look much like boxing.
And Cosell ragged on Cobb the whole fight, probably 15 rounder. And as the fight was wrapping up, Cosell got surprisingly outspoken, even for him. He said the whole thing was a travesty, what Cobb did was disgraceful, pro boxing was as well and he would never broadcast a professional boxing match again. It was a promise he lived up to.
Cobb was a mess afterward, but made it through 15. But Cobb kept his wit. Later in his career he did a little acting.
Some scribe asked him if he'd heard that Cosell swore he'd never broadcast pro boxing again. Cobb replied: "My gift to boxing.... I'd go another 15 with Holmes if I thought it would get Cosell off of Monday Night Football."
