Howard Cosell
(Monday Night Football Host )

Howard Cosell exited the Monday Night Football® booth in 1983 when he declared that the NFL had become "a stagnant bore." Two years later, Cosell wrote his autobiography, I Never Played the Game, in which he bitterly criticized many of his ABC colleagues. In 1988, he returned to television with his own show, Speaking of Everything, in which he discussed a variety of topics and interviewed a cross-section of guests. Delivering poor ratings, Speaking of Everything was soon cancelled. Around the same time, his nationally syndicated sports column was cancelled by the New York Daily News. But Cosell continued to have an outlet for his commentary on his daily ABC radio show, Speaking of Sports. Cosell's life radically changed when his beloved wife Emmy died in 1990. Two years later, he retired after having cancer surgery, and he largely disappeared from public life, spending most of his time in his New York apartment. In April 1995, Cosell died.