[November 10, 2008]

Gifford's 'Glory Game' offers insider's view

Nov 10, 2008 (Newsday - McClatchy-Tribune News Service via COMTEX) --
Frank Gifford was deeply into writing his book about the so-called "greatest game ever played" when he stood with his son Cody amid swirling confetti in Glendale, Ariz., on Feb. 3, and had a thought: Might the centerpiece of his book, "The Glory Game", now be the second-greatest game ever played?

"I've never seen a game that had that kind of electricity," he said of Super Bowl XLII.
Gifford didn't mind saying so, for several reasons. For one thing, the Giants won this time. For another, he never fully bought the hype about the 1958 NFL Championship Game.

"It wasn't the greatest game ever played," he said. "For God's sake, there were five fumbles (two by Gifford). But it did have some of the greatest players ever. The legend grows over the years."

Most importantly, the soul of the book (released last week) is not the game itself, even though it offers a detailed look at the action, enhanced by interviews with 35 players and Gifford's own 25 to 30 viewings of the game film.

At its heart it is a portrayal of a long-gone era of pro football, one the overtime game between the Colts and Giants helped usher into history.

Players earned a relative pittance, and many lived humbly at the Concourse Plaza Hotel, from which they walked to Yankee Stadium, and later drank together at favored watering holes such as Toots Shor's.

"Our limousine was the D train getting downtown," Gifford said. "It's just a different world now ... But I wouldn't trade places if I could."

Other than prodigious consumption of alcohol, there isn't much salacious stuff here. "I could have been more startling, but there was no need for that," Gifford said.

Still, "The Glory Game" is no dull whitewash. It breathes life into players and personalities who have faded from memory.

Others have tackled the subject, including Mark Bowden's well-written "The Best Game Ever," earlier this year. But Gifford offers an insiders' view.

One of his best stories is of his near fistfight with Sam Huff minutes before the title game over whether backup quarterback Jack Kemp deserved a full playoff share.

Gifford, 78, decided to write the book after his friend David Halberstam, who was starting a work about the Giants of that era, died last year in a vehicular accident en route to interviewing Y.A. Tittle. Gifford quickly embraced the task, and in the process renewed many old friendships.

On Dec. 28, the day the current Giants end the regular season, a half-century will have passed since the epic loss to the Colts. First, they host the current team from Baltimore on Sunday.

Gifford said he spoke recently to Eli Manning, and learned of his interest in the '58 game.
"I told him, 'Maybe 50 years from now, you guys will look at that (Super Bowl) and think about it the same way, and you'll be the one riding around doing interviews,"' he said yesterday, as he rode around Manhattan doing interviews.

"I can't remember a game I went to a few weeks ago, but I can remember almost every detail of that game 50 years ago," Gifford said. "That's the astonishing thing to me."

JETS BOOST NFL NET
Few would have thunk it two months ago, but Jets-Patriots could turn out to be the jewel of the NFL Network's eight-game 2008 slate.

The good news is the network drastically has upgraded its presentation by hiring Giants radio voice Bob Papa to succeed play-by-play-challenged Bryant Gumbel.

Better yet: New York-area viewers who do not have the channel through Cablevision or Time Warner can watch the Channel 11 simulcast.

This is the only Jets or Giants game on the schedule, though, so after Thursday, the channel again goes dark for most local fans.

COO Kim Williams told Multichannel News the network had extensive conversations earlier this year with Cablevision, which owns Newsday.

"Unfortunately, things didn't pan out there," she said.
YES TO KEEP FRANCESA
The YES Network, whose contract to simulcast Mike Francesa's WFAN radio show was to expire after this year, will exercise its right to match an offer from MSG to pick up the show. WFAN and YES have not announced the deal, but industry sources said that should happen within a few days. It is believed to cover five years and be worth more than $2 million per year.

YES simulcast "Mike and the Mad Dog" from the time the network launched in 2002.
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