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intelligence, integrity and ambition and
televised sports' primary function as
escapist entertainment.
Cosell coveted a seat in the Monday
Night Football booth from the outset,
but fretted that ABC Sports honcho
Roone Arledge wouldn't give it to him.
"Maybe they can't put a Jew from
Brooklyn in prime time," he told his
wife, Emmy (Patti Lupone).
Although it directly acknowledges
Cosell's Judaism just a couple of times,
Monday Night Mayhem creates a fasci-
nating portrait of the naivete of a bril-
liant urban Jewish intellectual.
Cosell, whose catch phrase was "I tell
it like it is," loved substance and contro-
versy. As depicted here, he volunteered
to "wear the black hat" while Dallas
Cowboy quarterback-turned-broadcaster
Don Meredith became a fan favorite
with his aw-shucks Texas act.
But Cosell wasn't prepared for the
over-the-top hatred he inspired in a
large segment of the viewing audience.
Although viewers will surely wonder,
Monday Night Mayhem doesn't bother to
explore if Cosell tapped into a reservoir
of anti-Semitism, anti-intellectualism or
antipathy for the East Coast media elite.
For his part, Cosell (played by John
Turturro with equal measures of pom-
posity; bitterness and self-pity) didn't
care what the source of the enmity was.
He just took it personally, although he
couldn't and wouldn't alter his approach.
"I'm out there all alone," he confided
to his wife. "I don't see how I can con-
tinue to do this."
Nonetheless, Cosell aspired to a larger
stage. During the 1972 Munich
Olympics, he lobbied Arledge for a shift
at the anchor desk after the attack on
Israeli athletes. (Arledge stuck with an
exhausted Jim McKay, whose profound-
ly sorrowful and dignified coverage was
the only aspect of that tragedy that was
beyond reproach.)
And after Arledge was put in charge
of ABC News, Cosell presented himself
as a potential anchor on par with Walter
Cronkite. Obviously, Cosell's skills and
ego weren't satisfied by professional
sports, despite its overweening presence
on the American landscape.
That frustration, coupled with
Arledge's hubris and Emmy's insistence,
led to Cosell ambivalently stepping away
from Monday Night Football in 1983.
The outspoken Cosell, who died in
1995 at 77, was the first sportscaster to
examine American society, especially
racism, through the lens of sports.
Unless you count media stars like Larry
King or Barbara Walters — whose focus
often is on celebrity over substance —
there hasn't been a high-profile Jewish
TV commentator since Cosell. 1-1
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Monday Night Mayhem premieres
9 p.m. Monday, Jan. 14, on TNT
Check your local listings for addi-
tional screenings.
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The marathon invites scripts from
people living outside Michigan, and this
year, three Jewish friends from New
York will be having plays produced.
Although their characters in these short
works are not Jewish, they have written
Jewish roles into other theater pieces.
Robin Rothstein's play, Down for the
Count, performed at at 4 and 11:10
p.m., follows two close friends coming
to terms with one's fatal illness.
Rothstein, who studied play writing at
the University of Pennsylvania, has been
an actress and teacher.
Seth Kramer's play, Speak Now, is
about a bride confronting doubts about
her marriage only moments before she is
about to take her vows. Curtain rimes
are noon and 7:30 p.m.
Kramer, who has been writing since
high school, has had his work per-
formed by the Actors Theatre of
Louisville, Stella Adler Studio in New
York and Pegasus Players in Chicago.
He also organizes productions of short
plays, asking writers to create works
with the same setting.
Rich Orloff's play, Class Dismissed,
explores the ramifications of a professor-
student relationship and will be staged
at 2 and 9:30 p.m. Orloff, who has
taught at Oberlin College, has had other
works performed in the area through
readings at the Jewish Ensemble Theatre
and a staging at the Purple Rose Theatre
Company in Chelsea.
"I've been writing plays since Hebrew
school, where I dramatized portions of
the Torah," Orloff says. "I also did a
comic revue, Oy.', a collection of 12
sketches about Jewish life in New
York. "
❑
Play by Play runs noon-mid-
night Saturday, Jan. 12, at the
Performance Network, 120 E.
Huron, Ann Arbor. $40 full
day; $20 half day; $5 per hour.
(734) 663-0681. Web site:
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11 am - 10pm
Saturday:
11 am - 11pm 4 pm - 11pm
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