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'That 'little monkey' gets loose doesn't he?'

posted 12 years ago by inventorr
2 replies | jump to latest

I found the movie Monday Night Mayhem a fascinating behind-the-scenes expose of what was going on with the key personalities.

I also found it interesting that the producers chose to include the 1983 incident when Howard Cosell said "That little monkey gets loose doesn't he" about Redskins player Alvin Garrett.

FOR THE RECORD: Before I continue with this discussion, it has already been proven that these comments had nothing to do with racism. Howard Cosell was a strong civil-rights supporter of all athletes including Curt Flood, Jackie Robinson, Hank Aaron, Arthur Ashe, Muhammed Ali, and John Carlos/Tommy Smith (1968 Olympics) among others, his own grandchildren. From my research on him, he appears to have been quite a humanitarian with a strong social conscience.

I lived overseas several years during that time period so I actually didn't know about that '83 little monkey comment until I saw it in the movie. I was surprised because I only knew about one of the earlier comments from the mid to late seventies when he said "Look at that little monkey run." In searching the Internet, I found that many people under 50 years of age haven't even heard about some of the earlier little monkey comments.

I was so curious about this after watching the movie, that I decided to research his comments as well as the public response to them. It turns out that the public didn't even react, while the print media went ballistic on Cosell.

It turns out that there were at least FOUR of these little monkey comments over the years, including one about Atlanta Braves second-baseman Glenn Hubbard in 1982.

With my curiosity peaked, I am attempting to accurately document the three separate "little monkey" comments Howard Cosell made during NFL football games from 1970-1983, because current references on the Internet to "Look at that little monkey run!" are somehow incorrectly associated with former Washington Redskins player Alvin Garrett in 1983.

There were THREE separate "little monkey" comments made by Cosell during NFL football games, (not just one or two).

#1. "You know that little monkey... again, the theory was that he was too small for pro football." - August 29, 1972 K.C. Chiefs vs. N.Y. Giants preseason HOF game (re: Mike Adamle)

#2. "Look at that little monkey run!" (Unidentified player, game, punt or kickoff return?)

#3. "That little monkey gets loose doesn't he." - September 5, 1983 Dallas at Washington (re: Alvin Garrett)

If anyone knows the correct details of the game and player of comment #2 above please respond here.

[–] SoonerSaint 9 years ago

"#2. "Look at that little monkey run!" (Unidentified player, game, punt or kickoff return?)

This was in reference to Joe Washington of the Redskins. Cosell's own grandchildren said he often referred to them as "monkeys". He considered it a term of endearment. Ironic that today all the controversy is over the name "Redskins".

Fools and fanatics are always so sure of themselves, and wiser people are full of doubts

[–] duaneincali 9 years ago

I agree cossell meant nothing racial. BUT, it is a term that has been used to negatively identify black people not only in america but world wide. thus i think it is legitimate for a network to tell an announcer to not use that term.
my dad use to call us 'house apes', if we were being too bothersome indoors. we are white. no prob. but one would not call a black athlete an ape, nor house ape or anyting resembling it. this is not PC, it is not using terms that have already been used by others in a deragatory way.