FoundSF

Historical Essay

by Matt Sieger, February 27, 2021

Bay Area sports fans either loved Lowell Cohn or hated him.

The now-retired sports columnist for the San Francisco Chronicle and the Santa Rosa Press Democrat had a way with words. Those words could inflame readers but always kept their attention. Whether or not you agreed with Cohn, you had to admire his style, wit, courage and ability to peel back the layers of his subject and get to the heart of the matter.

In his appropriately titled, recently published memoir, Gloves Off: 40 Years of Unfiltered Sports Writing, Cohn doesn’t just publish his previous columns. Instead, he gives us 64 short, highly readable chapters on the many Bay Area sports personalities he covered as well as insights into his craft.

He states, “Writing a column, writing anything, means the writer is not allowed to be boring. Not for a single paragraph or sentence or clause. Not even for a word. How a writer achieves this not is the writer’s primary business and challenge and joy. Writing lives on the not.”

No one would ever accuse Cohn of being boring. He riled up many an athlete and reader. But he always made his reasoning clear.

Cohn was also so effective because of his objectivity. He was not a fan of any team or athlete.

“When people understood that I didn’t care if a local team won,” he writes, “they would ask why I wrote sports. What was the point? And I said I liked to write about sports, understood that world, simple as that… and I loved bringing up a subject to start a discussion or an argument among readers.”

Cohn admits that his chief love, even above sports, is writing.

“When people ask what I like about my job, I say the writing,” he states. “They are always disappointed, want me to say I’m in love with sports. I am in love with sports, but I love writing more. I could write about a glass of water if it came to that.”

Lowell Cohn

Photo courtesy of KNBR

Cohn will probably offend some more readers and athletes in this book. He is not a fan of Colin Kaepernick, for example. He writes: “Disclaimer: My view of Kaepernick may be skewed because I know him and don’t like him.”

Cohn goes on to say, “Simple question for Colin Kaepernick, a mere two-word sentence: Why then? He had been a mixed-race person all his life facing things a mixed-race person faces and, all of a sudden, six years into his NFL career it dawned on him that there are monstrous injustices in the American system.”

Cohn’s conclusion: “He dissed the anthem because he wanted attention. Strictly my interpretation. I freely admit that.”

Cohn was also no fan of Barry Bonds. He described a scene in the Giants clubhouse where reporters were crowded around Bonds’ locker and, without saying a word, Bonds used a bat to herd them away and make a path for himself.

“His meaning was clear,” writes Cohn. “We were cows or goats or pigs, four-legged subhuman, and we didn’t deserve the rudimentary politeness and consideration you would accord a human being.”

Cohn writes about Michael Jordan’s last game in Oakland during his final farewell tour and how Jordan refused to do an interview after the game in the interview room, instead forcing a horde of reporters to gather around his locker. Then Jordan proceeded to give the interview in practically a whisper, making it impossible for the majority of the reporters to capture his words.

Cohn writes, “And I looked at Jordan and thought so much of this man is image, packaged, made up. Sure, he may be a good person to those close to him. How would I know? But he isn’t acting like a good person now. He’s being mean for no reason. To exert power. To disappoint people who came to celebrate him. Why would anyone do that?”

Cohn mentions many local and national sports figures he did like: Bill Walsh, Steve Young, Vida Blue, Dusty Baker, Floyd Patterson, Jim Harbaugh.

At least in some cases, the feeling was mutual. Young wrote the foreword to the book, stating, “But in the end, we were better because of Lowell. There’s always a need for a voice like that. It’s important. Nothing is worse than internal marketing… It’s when we’re telling each other that we’re all great and everything is fine. That didn’t happen with Lowell. As a truth seeker, he wouldn’t allow it.”

Harbaugh wrote in the afterword, “You are a man I truly respect because of your principles and convictions. Your passion and work ethic are at the highest level, your sense of humor and dry wit were appreciated.”

All those characteristics are in full display in this book and, like him or hate him, readers will be fascinated as Cohn shares his insights into people like Reggie Jackson, Tim Lincecum, Baron Davis, Al Davis, Bruce Bochy, Billy Martin, Billy Beane, Randy Moss, Steve Mariucci and many others.

Cohn lives up to his own standard: NOT boring.

Matt Sieger, now retired, is a former sports reporter and columnist for The Vacaville Reporter, where this article first appeared. He is the author of The God Squad: The Born-Again San Francisco Giants of 1978.