You could always bet on Beano

Beano Cook (right) with author-historian John D. Lukacs at now-demolished Pitt Stadium, showing the final score of the Panthers’ final game there, a 37-27 victory over Lukacs’ Irish in November 1999. (John D. Lukacs)

LAS VEGAS — Howard Cosell burst into Beano Cook’s Manhattan office, shook his head at the messy desk and coffee stains on Cook’s tie and unleashed the staccato speech pattern familiar to millions of TV viewers.

“You-my-friend, you are the human [bleep-ing] personification of an unmade bed!”