Generally, we tend to think of political news as “fake.” However, sports can be just as slanted as any other area
of life. In 1973, Howard Cosell, who was well-known for years as being a commentator on Monday Night Football,
along with Frank Gifford and Don Meredith, wrote his autobiography with a title not unexpected—Cosell. Known for
“telling it like it is,” he strove for accuracy in his live reporting and in the written word as well. A few times in the book,
he clearly takes issue with sports writers that present opinion pieces when they ought to be reporting.
Cosell had become so well known that the writer, Joe McGinniss, was assigned to do a piece on him and therefore was
with him for an entire week. McGinniss had already written the best seller, The Selling of the President (1968),
and would later write three true crime novels that were made into television miniseries: (Fatal Vision, Blind Faith, and
Cruel Doubt). McGinniss listened to a speech that Cosell made at a luncheon and complimented him on it. Cosell told
McGinniss he wouldn’t believe the way the speech would be reviewed in the Chicago papers the next day. McGinniss
seemed skeptical that Cosell would be treated unfairly. Later, someone handed Cosell an advance copy of the story,
which was titled, “BIG BAG OF WIND,” or words to that effect. Both he and McGinniss read it. The “reporting” bore
little resemblance to the speech actually given, let alone the way in which the material had been presented. McGinniss
admitted that Cosell’s prediction was correct: “It’s hard to believe what they do to you,” he observed (72-73). The sports
editor of the Chicago Tribune met Cosell at the stadium for the Monday night game. He complimented him on his
speech and mentioned he had assigned a man to cover it. McGinniss said they had already read it and that it was “a
far cry from what Howard said and how he said it” (74). The sports editor was genuinely shocked. He evidently read it
and pulled it out of the paper before publication because it did not appear the next day or any subsequent day.
Everyone acknowledges the greatness of Vince Lombardi, but that fame did not prevent the sports media from
reporting inaccurately concerning him. One “writer” said that Lombardi had abused his wife in front of a thousand people.
First of all, almost everyone had left the field, according to Lombardi’s wife. Although he did yell at her from a distance to
move her car, it actually turned into a humorous incident, which the “reporter” failed to note (111). When Cosell interviewed
Lombardi while he was coaching the Washington Redskins, he made his one and only public statement about sports writers:
“I know what they’re writing, and I know it’s not true” (114). The fact is that reporters, “journalists,”
and politicians do not consider themselves bound by the truth. Only Christians do.