Frank Gifford, 1930-2015

Discuss the NHL, NFL, CIS, NCAA, Lacrosse, Soccer, Baseball, Basketball, Motorsports, Golf, Rugby, Amateur Sport, Curling, Wrestling ... Whatever Sport or Leisure activity you like!

Moderator: Team Captains

Post Reply
User avatar
sj-roc
Hall of Famer
Posts: 7539
Joined: Thu Oct 14, 2004 2:39 pm
Location: Kerrisdale

Former NFLer, PFHOFer and former longtime MNF commentator Frank Gifford passed away this morning just one week shy of his 85th birthday. Yahoo Sports has more:

http://sports.yahoo.com/blogs/nfl-shutd ... 23777.html
Sports can be a peculiar thing. When partaking in fiction, like a book or movie, we adopt a "Willing Suspension of Disbelief" for enjoyment's sake. There's a similar force at work in sports: "Willing Suspension of Rationality". If you doubt this, listen to any conversation between rival team fans. You even see it among fans of the same team. Fans argue over who's the better QB or goalie, and selectively cite stats that support their views while ignoring those that don't.
User avatar
WestCoastJoe
Hall of Famer
Posts: 17721
Joined: Mon May 22, 2006 8:55 pm

That is too bad. Classy guy. Before the time of anybody here, methinks. Huge football hero in New York back in the day. USC alumnus.

Kind of boring as an announcer, IMO. Don Meredith nicknamed him something like: "Straight ahead Frank."

RIP.
John Madden's Team Policies: Be on time. Pay attention. Play like hell on game day.

Jimmy Johnson's Game Keys: Protect the ball. Make plays.

Walter Payton's Advice to Kids: Play hard. Play fair. Have fun.
User avatar
Toppy Vann
Hall of Famer
Posts: 9789
Joined: Sat Jul 23, 2005 12:56 pm

I was a huge fan of greats like him as a kid as we'd get the NFL games Sunday afternoons.

He was a class guy - as the owner said - the face of the NY Giants and he took the blame for two fumbles in the greatest game ever vs the Balt Colts. These two and the Bears, Rams and 49ers were my teams. Hey, I'm a football fan more than a just a local BUT in those days no one thought the CFL sucked as we loved the game and didn't worry get our panties in a twist over the NFL vs. CFL like younger ones today.

Frank Gifford was fun on the Monday night. Wasn't it his crew that when satellite TV came in they didn't at first know that satellite viewers could hear them during the TV breaks and one of them complained that 'If they want better broadcasts, why don't they give us better games (than this) - words to that effect.

He did have one public message up when he got caught by Kathy Lee cheating with a flight attendant but it sounded after he learned his lesson and their marriage seemed good.
"Ability without character will lose." - Marv Levy
Post Reply