Here Are 3 Great NFL-Related Odd Couple Episodes

Happy Odd Couple Day!

That’s right, you know what we’re talking about:

“On November 13th, Felix Unger was asked to remove himself from his place of residence… That request came from his wife.”

There have been many iterations of The Odd Couple, from stage to screen to television. The movie version with Jack Lemmon and Walter Matthau was a classic, but it’s hard to top the original TV series that aired on ABC from 1970-75, starring Tony Randall as Felix and Jack Klugman as Oscar.

As the show gained popularity, it featured some notable guest appearances. And having one of the main characters be a successful sportswriter made it easy to incorporate big names from the sports world into storylines.

There was the episode where they tried to set up Oscar’s secretary, Myrna (Penny Marshall). One of the potential suitors is a European placekicker played by former Miami Dolphins kicker Garo Yepremian. Appropriately, the only English word he speaks is “Kick!”

In “That Was No Lady,” Felix falls for a woman he thinks is single. Turns out she’s married to a jealous pro linebacker played by Alex Karras. This was three years after Karras retired from the NFL and one year before his memorable turn as Mongo in “Blazing Saddles.” (Karras, of course, went on to play a not-so-tough guy as the dad in ‘80s sitcom “Webster.”)

Howard Cosell appeared twice in the series. In the final season, Oscar hired real-life comedian Jack Carter to write him some good Cosell insults (thus the episode title, “Your Mother Wears Army Boots”). But it was Cosell’s first appearance, in 1972, that was among the best Odd Couple episodes ever.

In fact, three episodes with NFL cameos are among the best in the series. Here they are:

“Big Mouth” (air date, Sept. 22, 1972) – The first of two appearances by “Monday Night Football” play-by-play man Howard Cosell. This one establishes the feud between Cosell and Oscar, and it also features a cameo – at least in highlight form – from Roger Staubach.

The episode includes two visits to the “Monday Night Football” booth. The first time, Felix suggests to Cosell that there are some things he can do to fix his nasal twang, to which Cosell fires back: “That nasal twang is the single most identifiable voice in broadcasting!”

The second visit comes during a Cowboys-Giants game, and Cosell aims to embarrass Oscar by handing him the mike to call a play. When Oscar freezes, Felix grabs the mike and pretends to be Oscar, proceeding to make one of the greatest play-by-play calls in football history:

“Staubach takes the snap from center. He fakes a handoff to Duane Thomas elegantly and fades back to pass. He’s looking for a receiver. He can’t find one. He’s scrambling… He’s scrambling with the dexterity of a lizard. … And now he looks to run with it himself. And he’s stopped cold at the line of scrimmage. No gain on the play! … No gain, but a lesson for us all. And what is that lesson? It is the lesson that is the message of all sports. Try, try again. For all men, no matter what their race, creed or color (looking at an African-American in the booth), no matter who they are, more than money is the love of fair play… And speaking of fair play, this is Oscar Madison signing off and reminding you that a quitter never wins and a winner never quits.”

Cosell then takes back the mike and says, “Ladies and gentleman, I’ll recap the three plays you just missed right after this announcement.”

Here’s the full episode (skip to the 22-minute mark to see Felix’s play-by-play)

“Felix’s First Commercial” (Nov. 3, 1972) – Felix gets to direct a commercial, but only if Oscar can get his friend, NFL star Deacon Jones, to be in it. And Deacon will only do it if Oscar can be in the commercial with him.

(Full disclosure: I once interviewed Jones for NFL.com, I think around 2002 or so. When I got him on the phone, I prefaced the interview by telling him that I was a big Odd Couple fan and his appearance on the show was one of my favorites. “Goddamit!” said Deacon. “I’m in the Pro Football Hall of Fame, one of the most feared pass rushers in football history, and all anyone wants to talk to me about is when I was on the Odd Couple and the Brady Bunch.” I think he was half-kidding, not sure. My instinct was to say I didn’t really want to talk about his appearance on the Brady Bunch, but instead I skipped the whole thing and went straight into football questions.)

Watch a clip from the episode

“Take My Furniture, Please” (March 9, 1973) – Felix sets out to redecorate the apartment. The whole episode is so great that Bubba Smith’s cameo is almost an afterthought. Smith, playing himself, is in Oscar’s office for an interview when Felix shows up seeking Oscar’s approval on samples of their new drapes. As a precursor to his future comedic work in the “Police Academy” movies, Smith is great as football-star-turned-interior-decorator -- “I’ve tackled that color before,” he says.

When asked about his formal dining area, Smith deadpans, “I just did mine in blue and white, trimmed in gold. Looks great and the chicks love it.”

Here’s the full episode (go to the 9-minute mark to see Bubba’s part)

Sad State of Web Editing

It was a Friday morning, and I was putting the finishing touches on a manuscript about NBA star Kevin Durant. This was for a youth publication -- 9,000 or so well-crafted words geared toward high school-aged kids.

It was for a series of books being written about the Golden State Warriors’ triumphant 2016-17 season, in which they defeated LeBron James and the Cleveland Cavaliers to win the NBA Championship. Durant’s story was of particular interest. He was already an established superstar last summer when he signed a free-agent contract to join the Warriors, who had already been to two straight NBA Finals without him, winning it all in 2015.

Durant received plenty of criticism for signing with Golden State, but he played through it, helped his new team recapture the title, and was named MVP of the Finals.

Anyway, I was just browsing the web in search of some information for one last sidebar when I came across the following headline:

Kevin Durant recants Golden State Warriors’ season, title run in new video

Wait, what?

The longest chapter in my manuscript is all about “that championship season.” All that work I put into detailing the events that led to winning the title … Durant is disavowing it?

How was this not front-page news?

Of course, a quick perusal of the article confirmed what I really thought: The person who wrote that headline doesn’t know what “recant” means.

From the Merriam-Webster dictionary:

Recant: to withdraw or repudiate (a statement or belief) formally and publicly

The Warriors’ season and title run doesn’t qualify as a statement or belief, so the headline wouldn’t make sense even if there were some weird, negative angle. No, it was simply a story about this video in which Durant was looking back on last season.

Reflecting.

Reminiscing.

Recounting.

Yes, that’s what the headline was supposed to be: Kevin Durant recounts Golden State Warriors’ season, title run in new video.

Should we give the editor the benefit of the doubt? Maybe he or she meant to write “recounts” but misspelled it. Autocorrect -- not having any context -- changed it to “recants.” Of course, then it’s just a terrible editing job.

I know what you’re thinking… It’s way too easy to pick on digital media outlets for their shabby writing and editing skills. But there are two aspects of this egregious error that really stick out:

For starters, this likely wasn’t just a careless typo or bad grammar. It wasn’t a millennial who thinks text shorthand – like thru instead of through -- is okay for headlines. No, this was a vocabulary-related offense. It was just ironic that the wrongly used word completely reversed the intended meaning of the headline.

On top of that, it should be noted that this story was originally published on a major media site that actually employs writers and editors. Because my intent is not to shame any particular source, there’s no need to call them out here. But make no mistake, the headline was not written by a blogger in a basement.

That said, you can easily find the source by dropping that headline into your browser. And therein lies another problem. If you Google that headline you’ll find the original source – plus a dozen other blogs and/or newsfeeds that picked it up. Some are clearly feeds that automatically pick up the original headline, but a few are blogs created by humans who lazily re-ran the original headline and didn’t think there was anything wrong with it.

Either way, it’s a sad state of affairs. And it’s not simply a matter of us grumpy old journalism school grads making too big a deal out of grammar and spelling (and vocabulary, for crying out loud).

Last week, I was talking to a buddy of mine who is an NFL reporter for a major sports website. His work is read by millions. Recently, his boss asked him to add a new person to the distribution list when he emails stories to the desk. It was the new editorial intern, he was told, and there’s a chance the intern might be the one editing your story.

Good for the intern, I guess. At most major sports sites, the editorial intern might get to edit wire stories or game recaps. But the only set of eyes on the NFL insider’s news stories?

I repeat, It’s a sad state of affairs.

And that is a statement I will not recant.