Faculty
member’s book looks at Howard Cosell
Howard
Cosell and his impact on sports broadcasting and media culture are explored in
the recently released book by Dr. John Bloom.
The book by
Bloom, associate professor of history and philosophy, is his fourth and was
published by the University of Massachusetts Press. There You Have It: The Life, Legacy,
and Legend of Howard Cosell, according to Bloom, “is a biography of the sportscaster who was, during his time, one of the three or four most famous people in the
United States.”
Bloom, who joined
Shippensburg’s faculty in 2004, said his books are outgrowths of his
professional research. “I enjoy writing books that cross over outside of the
academic field and gain some interest among popular audiences as well.” His
other books are A House of Cards:
Baseball Card Collecting and Popular Culture, To Show What an Indian Can Do:
Sports at an Indian Boarding School and Barry
Bonds: A Biography.
His
inspiration for the Cosell book was curiosity. “Those who remember Cosell will
recall that he was a very unusual celebrity, someone who was obnoxious,
opinionated, and not really very good looking. I wanted to understand why he
became a media sensation, and what his fame teaches us about the time period in
which he excelled.”
Bloom said he was able to interview Cosell's broadcast partner Frank Gifford for the book, but wasn't able to talk with the third well-known member of the group, Don Meredith.
“I had fun working on this book, and I hope
that Shippensburg students read it and get a sense of the history of the media
culture that they inhabit today.”