Turn out the lights; the party's over

SPORTING GOODS

Don Meredith (the second player placed in the Cowboys' Ring of Honor) has died. He's probably better known, however, for his broadcast career when he, Frank Gifford, and Howard Cosell dominated Monday night television in the 1970s.

A nice recap of his career can be found here, but perhaps the most famous of all his stints in the booth occurred at Franklin Field in Philadelphia when

On November 23, 1970, announcer Howard Cosell was apparently drunk during a nationally televised broadcast of the Eagles-New York Giants Monday Night Football game. After throwing up on color commentator Don Meredith's cowboy boots shortly before halftime, Cosell left the stadium and took a taxi back to New York City. Meredith and play-by-play announcer Keith Jackson made little mention of his departure during the second half. Later, denying drunkenness, Cosell claimed that he had been dizzy from running laps around Franklin Field's track before the game with track star Tommie Smith.

What's left out of this narrative is the fact that immediately after Cosell's vomiting, Meredith said to him in that delightful drawl (into a live mic and without irony), "Howard, why do you always do that to me?"

Requiescat in pace.