By host Anthony Brooks

For more than twenty years the great boxer Muhammad Ali, and the flamboyant broadcaster Howard Cosell, provided one of television’s best live acts. It was must-see TV, built on a partnership of opposites: Ali, the young, black male Adonis of unimaginable athletic ability, and Cosell, the older, Jewish, toupee-wearing smart guy.

They fed off each other, entertained a nation and redefined their professions. In his new book about this unlikely team, Dave Kindred writes, “Before Ali sports was a slow dance. After, it was rock and roll. Before Cosell, TV sports was reverential. After, it was a circus.”

This hour On Point: Dave Kindred on the “Sound and Fury” and the friendship of Ali and Cosell.

Guests:

Dave Kindred, sportswriter and author of “Sound and Fury: Two Powerful Lives, One Fateful Friendship”

Jack Beatty, On Point News Analyst, senior editor at The Atlantic Monthly

Jill Cosell, daughter of Howard Cosell

Rasheda Ali, daughter of Muhammad Ali and author of the new book “I’ll Hold Your Hand So You Won’t Fall: A Child’s Guide to Parkinson’s Disease”