Glenn remembers legendary NFL broadcaster Frank Gifford

August 10, 2015

WRITER

Legendary NFL broadcaster Frank Gifford passed away over the weekend at 84 years old. On radio Monday morning, Glenn delivered a touching tribute to Frank Gifford and shared an incredible story of what Frank did for fellow broadcaster Howard Cosell when Cosell was on death's door.

Below is a rush transcript of this segment, it may contain errors:

GLENN: So yesterday morning, I heard that Frank Gifford died. And I was -- I was glad for him. But I was sad for Kathie Lee and the children.

Kathie Lee Gifford is a good friend of mine. And Tania and I were quite sad yesterday. The -- I went over to Kathie Lee and Frank's house. Oh, this must have been about four years ago. And we had dinner together. And I had never met Frank before. And I hope I'm not telling things out of school. Am I? Jeffy, should I not?

JEFFY: I couldn't find it anywhere.

GLENN: Okay. He was just getting old. And he had a hard time, you know, remembering some things while he was telling it. And I watched him -- I watched him struggle with his memory. And it was tragically sad. Tragically sad. And Kathie Lee was so graceful with it and so unbelievably loving. And Frank, Frank brought me into his office. His trophy room. And I wish the guy -- I wish you guys would have been with me. Because it didn't mean anything to me. But it was award after award after award after award.

JEFFY: Just the Hall of Fame NFL is all.

STU: A legend.

GLENN: And I didn't know anything about -- I know he played for the giants. And I knew he was part of Monday night football. But I didn't know anything else about his career because I don't follow football. But watching him in the room telling the stories of what football used to be like. Then we sat down to dinner, and I talked to him about Monday Night Football. And this man affected our culture.

I remember Monday Night Football with my father. I remember the sound of it and the -- I just -- Monday night in my house was Monday Night Football. That was like that for 70 percent of the country.

When they talked about the debate being the biggest debate ever, being this huge thing. That had a 24-share.

PAT: It had a 16-share.

GLENN: Sorry. Sixteen-share.

Think how big. Everybody was talking about that. Every Monday night, Frank Gifford and Howard Cosell and Don Meredith had a 70-share.

PAT: Yeah. The 16-share means that 16 percent of American TVs are tuned into that event at that moment. This is 70 percent of all TVs tuned into Monday Night Football.

GLENN: This is 70. Okay. So he was telling the story and he said, Glenn, wherever we went, we changed the conversation for two days. Everybody was talking about Monday Night Football, what was going to happen that night. And everybody talked about what we said the day before.

Nobody that is alive today has that kind of experience. Nobody.

So here's a guy who lived a life that no one has lived. Just a rare, rare person.

I talked to him a little bit about Howard Cosell. And I said, what was he like? He said, not a nice person. Not a nice person. He said, nobody really liked Howard. And he said, it was tragically sad. He said, Howard, when he was -- when he was kicked off of television, it was because he said something like, look at him he runs like a little monkey or something. Something like that.

PAT: Yeah.

GLENN: And Howard, apparently, according to Frank, did not mean it this way at all.

PAT: Not a racist guy.

GLENN: No, he's not.

PAT: Best friends with Muhammad Ali. How racist -- you know, Muhammad Ali loved him.

GLENN: He said when that happened -- he told me the story of when that happened and the times -- he started telling stories about Monday Night Football. And the times that they would drink during the commercials. And he said, we were drunk almost every single Monday night.

PAT: You're not kidding.

GLENN: No. No. He said they were hammered. The hosts.

PAT: Like Frank and Howard and Dan and Don were hammered?

GLENN: He said they were hammered.

STU: We have to try that on this show.

GLENN: Yeah. He said, every Monday night, we were hammered. He said, however, there was one night that we were more hammered than usual. And he said -- I don't remember which one of them threw up in a garbage can at their feet on the air. And the cameraman just -- one of them was talking and kind of gave a sign like, I think I'm going to hurl. So they switched over to someone else. And he said, we could hear. I don't know if Americans could hear it. He said, but we could hear him vomiting, he was so hammered.

STU: Oops.

GLENN: And he said, so the night that this happened, he said, you know, it's a live broadcast with 70 percent of all televisions listening and watching. And he said -- so there's constant arguing in our ears and telling us what to do and where to go and everything else. And he says, it's local and it's New York. And he said, and Howard said, what he said. Look at him he's running like a little monkey or whatever. And he said, everything became totally silent. He said nobody said anything. Nobody on the floor. Everybody's eyes just looked at Howard like, good God Almighty, man, what did you just say? And he said, then finally the silence was broken by somebody in our ear that said, go to commercial now!

He said, we went to commercial. And New York just went nuts. And said, Howard, you have to apologize. You have to -- you know, and Howard didn't understand what he said. He said -- he's like, I'm a friend of Muhammad Ali. He said, I'm the best friend to some of the biggest athletes in America. And I made them

STU: And his defense was something like that, he called his kids monkeys. His grandkids monkeys because they ran very fast. And that's what he was trying to get across.

JEFFY: Right.

GLENN: At that time, because Howard was not a likable person, nobody -- nobody talked to him.

STU: Nobody defended him. Nobody had his back.

GLENN: Nobody defended him. He was completely alone. So he tells me as Howard is getting close to dying. He's really on death's doorstep. He calls and leaves a message for Frank and says, Frank, I don't understand. And he's crying. I don't understand what happened to all my friends. I don't understand. Not knowing that he didn't have any friends. He just had people that were glomming on to him because he was Howard Cosell. And he said, I don't understand what happened. He said, I'm alone. Nobody will talk to me. I'm dying, Frank. Will you please come and visit me?

He almost didn't, and Kathie Lee said, it's the Christian thing you do. You got to do it. He said, he was a horrible guy to me. You know, and a horrible guy to everybody. But he did. And Frank told me, it was the best thing he ever did. He said, he went and he talked to him and sat with him. And he said he cried and cried and cried and didn't know -- really didn't understand. He went and visited him every week until he died. And nobody -- nobody knew what was going on. But even Howard's family didn't come to visit him. And it was in the end, just Frank Gifford, that went and did the right thing and comforted a man who was in his last days.

I am truly sorry for the loss of Frank Gifford because of his family. His family is wonderful. His wife is remarkable. Just a remarkable woman. And Frank Gifford was one hell of a guy.

Featured Image: NEW YORK - MARCH 25: Former professional football player Frank Gifford attends the Broadway opening of "Come Fly Away" at the Marriott Marquis on March 25, 2010 in New York City. (Photo by Mike Coppola/Getty Images)

Could China OWN our National Parks?

Jonathan Newton / Contributor | Getty Images

The left’s idea of stewardship involves bulldozing bison and barring access. Lee’s vision puts conservation back in the hands of the people.

The media wants you to believe that Sen. Mike Lee (R-Utah) is trying to bulldoze Yellowstone and turn national parks into strip malls — that he’s calling for a reckless fire sale of America’s natural beauty to line developers’ pockets. That narrative is dishonest. It’s fearmongering, and, by the way, it’s wrong.

Here’s what’s really happening.

Private stewardship works. It’s local. It’s accountable. It’s incentivized.

The federal government currently owns 640 million acres of land — nearly 28% of all land in the United States. To put that into perspective, that’s more territory than France, Germany, Poland, and the United Kingdom combined.

Most of this land is west of the Mississippi River. That’s not a coincidence. In the American West, federal ownership isn’t just a bureaucratic technicality — it’s a stranglehold. States are suffocated. Locals are treated as tenants. Opportunities are choked off.

Meanwhile, people living east of the Mississippi — in places like Kentucky, Georgia, or Pennsylvania — might not even realize how little land their own states truly control. But the same policies that are plaguing the West could come for them next.

Lee isn’t proposing to auction off Yellowstone or pave over Yosemite. He’s talking about 3 million acres — that’s less than half of 1% of the federal estate. And this land isn’t your family’s favorite hiking trail. It’s remote, hard to access, and often mismanaged.

Failed management

Why was it mismanaged in the first place? Because the federal government is a terrible landlord.

Consider Yellowstone again. It’s home to the last remaining herd of genetically pure American bison — animals that haven’t been crossbred with cattle. Ranchers, myself included, would love the chance to help restore these majestic creatures on private land. But the federal government won’t allow it.

So what do they do when the herd gets too big?

They kill them. Bulldoze them into mass graves. That’s not conservation. That’s bureaucratic malpractice.

And don’t even get me started on bald eagles — majestic symbols of American freedom and a federally protected endangered species, now regularly slaughtered by wind turbines. I have pictures of piles of dead bald eagles. Where’s the outrage?

Biden’s federal land-grab

Some argue that states can’t afford to manage this land themselves. But if the states can’t afford it, how can Washington? We’re $35 trillion in debt. Entitlements are strained, infrastructure is crumbling, and the Bureau of Land Management, Forest Service, and National Park Service are billions of dollars behind in basic maintenance. Roads, firebreaks, and trails are falling apart.

The Biden administration quietly embraced something called the “30 by 30” initiative, a plan to lock up 30% of all U.S. land and water under federal “conservation” by 2030. The real goal is 50% by 2050.

That entails half of the country being taken away from you, controlled not by the people who live there but by technocrats in D.C.

You think that won’t affect your ability to hunt, fish, graze cattle, or cut timber? Think again. It won’t be conservatives who stop you from building a cabin, raising cattle, or teaching your grandkids how to shoot a rifle. It’ll be the same radical environmentalists who treat land as sacred — unless it’s your truck, your deer stand, or your back yard.

Land as collateral

Moreover, the U.S. Treasury is considering putting federally owned land on the national balance sheet, listing your parks, forests, and hunting grounds as collateral.

What happens if America defaults on its debt?

David McNew / Stringer | Getty Images

Do you think our creditors won’t come calling? Imagine explaining to your kids that the lake you used to fish in is now under foreign ownership, that the forest you hunted in belongs to China.

This is not hypothetical. This is the logical conclusion of treating land like a piggy bank.

The American way

There’s a better way — and it’s the American way.

Let the people who live near the land steward it. Let ranchers, farmers, sportsmen, and local conservationists do what they’ve done for generations.

Did you know that 75% of America’s wetlands are on private land? Or that the most successful wildlife recoveries — whitetail deer, ducks, wild turkeys — didn’t come from Washington but from partnerships between private landowners and groups like Ducks Unlimited?

Private stewardship works. It’s local. It’s accountable. It’s incentivized. When you break it, you fix it. When you profit from the land, you protect it.

This is not about selling out. It’s about buying in — to freedom, to responsibility, to the principle of constitutional self-governance.

So when you hear the pundits cry foul over 3 million acres of federal land, remember: We don’t need Washington to protect our land. We need Washington to get out of the way.

Because this isn’t just about land. It’s about liberty. And once liberty is lost, it doesn’t come back easily.

This article originally appeared on TheBlaze.com.

EXPOSED: Why the left’s trans agenda just CRASHED at SCOTUS

Anna Moneymaker / Staff | Getty Images

You never know what you’re going to get with the U.S. Supreme Court these days.

For all of the Left’s insane panic over having six supposedly conservative justices on the court, the decisions have been much more of a mixed bag. But thank God – sincerely – there was a seismic win for common sense at the Supreme Court on Wednesday. It’s a win for American children, parents, and for truth itself.

In a 6-3 decision, the Supreme Court upheld Tennessee’s state ban on irreversible transgender procedures for minors.

The mostly conservative justices stood tall in this case, while Sotomayor, Kagan, and Jackson predictably dissented. This isn’t just Tennessee’s victory – 20 other red states that have similar bans can now breathe easier, knowing they can protect vulnerable children from these sick, experimental, life-altering procedures.

Anna Moneymaker / Staff | Getty Images

Chief Justice John Roberts wrote the majority opinion, saying Tennessee’s law does not violate the Equal Protection Clause. It’s rooted in a very simple truth that common sense Americans get: kids cannot consent to permanent damage. The science backs this up – Norway, Finland, and the UK have all sounded alarms about the lack of evidence for so-called “gender-affirming care.” The Trump administration’s recent HHS report shredded the activist claims that these treatments help kids’ mental health. Nothing about this is “healthcare.” It is absolute harm.

The Left, the ACLU, and the Biden DOJ screamed “discrimination” and tried to twist the Constitution to force this radical ideology on our kids.

Fortunately, the Supreme Court saw through it this time. In her concurring opinion, Justice Amy Coney Barrett nailed it: gender identity is not some fixed, immutable trait like race or sex. Detransitioners are speaking out, regretting the surgeries and hormones they were rushed into as teens. WPATH – the World Professional Association for Transgender Health, the supposed experts on this, knew that kids cannot fully grasp this decision, and their own leaked documents prove that they knew it. But they pushed operations and treatments on kids anyway.

This decision is about protecting the innocent from a dangerous ideology that denies biology and reality. Tennessee’s Attorney General calls this a “landmark victory in defense of America’s children.” He’s right. This time at least, the Supreme Court refused to let judicial activism steal our kids’ futures. Now every state needs to follow Tennessee’s lead on this, and maybe the tide will continue to turn.

Insider alert: Glenn’s audience EXPOSES the riots’ dark truth

Barbara Davidson / Contributor | Getty Images

Glenn asked for YOUR take on the Los Angeles anti-ICE riots, and YOU responded with a thunderous verdict. Your answers to our recent Glennbeck.com poll cut through the establishment’s haze, revealing a profound skepticism of their narrative.

The results are undeniable: 98% of you believe taxpayer-funded NGOs are bankrolling these riots, a bold rejection of the claim that these are grassroots protests. Meanwhile, 99% dismiss the mainstream media’s coverage as woefully inadequate—can the official story survive such resounding doubt? And 99% of you view the involvement of socialist and Islamist groups as a growing threat to national security, signaling alarm at what Glenn calls a coordinated “Color Revolution” lurking beneath the surface.

You also stand firmly with decisive action: 99% support President Trump’s deployment of the National Guard to quell the chaos. These numbers defy the elite’s tired excuses and reflect a demand for truth and accountability. Are your tax dollars being weaponized to destabilize America? You’ve answered with conviction.

Your voice sends a powerful message to those who dismiss the unrest as mere “protests.” You spoke, and Glenn listened. Keep shaping the conversation at Glennbeck.com.

Want to make your voice heard? Check out more polls HERE.

EXPOSED: Your tax dollars FUND Marxist riots in LA

Anadolu / Contributor | Getty Images

Protesters wore Che shirts, waved foreign flags, and chanted Marxist slogans — but corporate media still peddles the ‘spontaneous outrage’ narrative.

I sat in front of the television this weekend, watching the glittering spectacle of corporate media do what it does best: tell me not to believe my lying eyes.

According to the polished news anchors, what I was witnessing in Los Angeles was “mostly peaceful protests.” They said it with all the earnest gravitas of someone reading a bedtime story, while behind them the streets looked like a deleted scene from “Mad Max.” Federal agents dodged concrete slabs as if it were an Olympic sport. A man in a Che Guevara crop top tried to set a police car on fire. Dumpster fires lit the night sky like some sort of postapocalyptic luau.

If you suggest that violent criminals should be deported or imprisoned, you’re painted as the extremist.

But sure, it was peaceful. Tear gas clouds and Molotov cocktails are apparently the incense and candles of this new civic religion.

The media expects us to play along — to nod solemnly while cities burn and to call it “activism.”

Let’s call this what it is: delusion.

Another ‘peaceful’ riot

If the Titanic “mostly floated” and the Hindenburg “mostly flew,” then yes, the latest L.A. riots are “mostly peaceful.” But history tends to care about those tiny details at the end — like icebergs and explosions.

The coverage was full of phrases like “spontaneous,” “grassroots,” and “organic,” as if these protests materialized from thin air. But many of the signs and banners looked like they’d been run off at ComradesKinkos.com — crisp print jobs with slogans promoting socialism, communism, and various anti-American regimes. Palestinian flags waved beside banners from Mexico, Venezuela, Cuba, and El Salvador. It was like someone looted a United Nations souvenir shop and turned it into a revolution starter pack.

And guess who funded it? You did.

According to at least one report, much of this so-called spontaneous rage fest was paid for with your tax dollars. Tens of millions of dollars from the Biden administration ensured your paycheck funded Trotsky cosplayers chucking firebombs at local coffee shops.

The same aging radicals from the 1970s — now armed with tenure, pensions, and book deals — are cheering from the sidelines, waxing poetic about how burning a squad car is “liberation.” These are the same folks who once wore tie-dye and flew to help guerrilla fighters and now applaud chaos under the banner of “progress.”

This is not progress. It is not protest. It’s certainly not justice or peace.

It’s an attempt to dismantle the American system — and if you dare say that out loud, you’re labeled a bigot, a fascist, or, worst of all, someone who notices reality.

And what sparked this taxpayer-funded riot? Enforcement against illegal immigrants — many of whom, according to official arrest records, are repeat violent offenders. These are not the “dreamers” or the huddled masses yearning to breathe free. These are criminals with long, violent rap sheets — allowed to remain free by a broken system that prioritizes ideology over public safety.

Photo by Kyle Grillot/Bloomberg | Getty Images

This is what people are rioting over — not the mistreatment of the innocent, but the arrest of the guilty. And in California, that’s apparently a cause for outrage.

The average American, according to Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass, is supposed to worry they’ll be next. But unless you’re in the habit of assaulting people, smuggling, or firing guns into people’s homes, you probably don’t have much to fear.

Still, if you suggest that violent criminals should be deported or imprisoned, you’re painted as the extremist.

The left has lost it

This is what happens when a culture loses its grip on reality. We begin to call arson “art,” lawlessness “liberation,” and criminals “community members.” We burn the good and excuse the evil — all while the media insists it’s just “vibes.”

But it’s not just vibes. It’s violence, paid for by you, endorsed by your elected officials, and whitewashed by newsrooms with more concern for hair and lighting than for truth.

This isn’t activism. This is anarchism. And Democratic politicians are fueling the flame.