Frank Gifford, Caste Clown

[Don Wassall]

My rant for today: I'm not very familiar with the playing career of player-turned-coach Dick Nolan, who recently died. He was obviously held in high esteem by the NFL fraternity and the sports media, as he was the subject of many accolades.


What caught my eye was what Frank Gifford said of Nolan the player, a defensive back from the mid-'50s to the mid-'60s, as quoted in Sports Illustrated: "He made himself into not just a good player, he was an extraordinary player. He didn't have the physical talent to do it all. He just willed himself. He was tough -- as good as there comes in that respect."


So even in the NFL of the '50s and '60s, a white defensive back could only excel not through his physical ability, but by willing himself. Pretty good trick. Using Gifford's formula, I am going to will myself to fly, to accurately predict the outcomes of sports events, and to will Natalie Gulbis to find me irresistible.


Dick Nolan was a great defensive back because he was a supremely talented athlete with a tough mind to boot. Why is that so hard to say?


During his long stint on Monday Night Football, Gifford used to periodically wax poetic about the "beauty" of black athletes. Gifford was a greatall-around player himself for the Giants, admired for his style and athleticism, but now, much like Cris Collinsworth and other former white players,he downplays his own accomplishments and those of the players of his era in order to march in step with theparty line of overwhelming black supremacy in athletic ability.


Of course Nolan's racist son Mike, the head coach of the 49ers,knows what Gifford means, the one who said at a press conference earlier this year that if he focused just on acquiring players of good character, he would "end up with a lily-white team that doesn't beat anybody.''


Yeah, well now he has apredominantly black team that doesn't beat anybody. Caste clowns both.

 

[white is right]

Maybe it's not old Giff's fault Chuck Bednarik could have beat the sense out of him with that infamous hit.....

 

[sport historian]

My rant for today: I'm not very familiar with the playing career of player-turned-coach Dick Nolan, who recently died.  He was obviously held in high esteem by the NFL fraternity and the sports media, as he was the subject of many accolades. 


What caught my eye was what Frank Gifford said of Nolan the player, a defensive back from the mid-'50s to the mid-'60s, as quoted in Sports Illustrated:  "He made himself into not just a good player, he was an extraordinary player.  He didn't have the physical talent to do it all.  He just willed himself.  He was tough -- as good as there comes in that respect." 


So even in the NFL of the '50s and '60s, a white defensive back could only excel not through his physical ability, but by willing himself.  Pretty good trick.  Using Gifford's formula, I am going to will myself to fly, to accurately predict the outcomes of sports events, and to will Natalie Gulbis to find me irresistible. 


Dick Nolan was a great defensive back because he was a supremely talented athlete with a tough mind to boot.  Why is that so hard to say? 


During his long stint on Monday Night Football, Gifford used to periodically wax poetic about the "beauty" of black athletes.  Gifford was a great all-around player himself for the Giants, admired for his style and athleticism, but now, much like Cris Collinsworth and other former white players, he downplays his own accomplishments and those of the players of his era in order to march in step with the party line of overwhelming black supremacy in athletic ability.   


Of course Nolan's racist son Mike, the head coach of the 49ers, knows what Gifford means, the one who said at a press conference earlier this year that if he focused just on acquiring players of good character, he would "end up with a lily-white team that doesn't beat anybody.''


Yeah, well now he has a predominantly black team that doesn't beat anybody.  Caste clowns both. 


 

I was in the library today, and I saw the obit for Dick Nolan in SI that had the comment by Frank Gifford that Don is referring to. Dick Nolan was an excellent player at Safety on what was the best defense in the NFL in the 1950's. As a player, Nolan was considered tough and smart. He would not have been a starter on the New York Giants of that era if he didn't "have the physical talent to do it all," Gifford's strange remark. As the SI piece said, Nolan's picture was on a billboard in Times Square for a Camel ad.

Nolan was a key player on Maryland's great 1951-53 teams. He was well-liked in the NFL. I remember reading in Pro Football Weekly around 1977 that Al Davis hired him as a scout after Nolan was fired by the 49ers, enabling him to keep up with what was going on until he could land another job.

He won three straight NFL West Division titles from 1970-72, losing to the Cowboys each time. He had several bad drafts leading to his dismissal after the 1975 season.

Nolan didn't have much of a personality. I don't ever remember a quote from him, and you didn't see him interviewed on TV. When coaching the Saints, PFW columnist Peter Finney wrote that Nolan was a good teacher whom the players had a "quiet fear" of.

 

[Don Wassall]

Maybe it's not old Giff's fault Chuck Bednarik could have beat the sense out of him with that infamous hit.....

Bednarik right after knocking out Gifford. Who knew taunting originated with the white man?

Edited by: Don Wassall

 

[Hockaday]

I remember Dick Nolan as the coach of New Orleans during the infamous Paper Bag Game on Monday night football. The Saints, quarterbacked by Bobby Scot, who looked like a refugee from a CFL taxi squad, were getting their asses kicked on national TV. The camera kept cutting back and forth from fans with their paper bags on their heads to Nolan, standing stoically amid the disaster and ridicule. I felt sorry for the guy even as my buddies and I were falling out of our chairs laughing at the paper bag bit. It was the last I ever saw of him.

He was a decent man who didn't deserve such a send-off, but, as Clint said, "deserves got nothin' to do with it."

He also didn't deserve being dissed by that maudlin sap Gifford. I've always had a hard time listening to Gifford as he resorts to using sentiment to compensate for his lack of analytical skills.

As for Nolan Jr., so far he appears to be a twenty-four carat prick. If the Niners keep stinking it up so badly some Forty-Niner fans just might want to relive some history and ask for paper not plastic the next time they're at the grocery store.

 

[LabMan]

A very solid rant!,Don

 

[Solomon Kane]

Chuck rules! Take that, pretty boy!

And DW's rant rules, too!

 

[bigunreal]

Frank Gifford exemplifies the kind of undeniably great white football athlete who could help destroy the Caste System. By merely citing his own accomplishments and demanding to know why there aren't others like him playing the forbidden skill positions now, a Hall of Famer like Gifford would be hard to ignore. Of course, the white jock- sniffers could merely ridicule him as a senile old geezer, and point to the fact that he played in an era where there were far fewer "athletes" (in other words, blacks) on the field.

Which leads to a point I've made before; the only real way we are ever going to overturn the Caste System is for one of the few universally respected white players, who played within the past 20 years (when the league became totally saturated with black "affletes"), to come forward and speak boldly about the subject. Imagine the impact of a Joe Montana, or a Troy Aikman, or a Brett Favre, or a Tom Brady, publicly criticizing the league for its discrimination against white players. The jock sniffers have spent years telling you how great these white players were (or are), and how important their Super Bowl wins were. So, it would not be easy to smear them, as it might be with an older player like Gifford.

What also might be effective is for the last of the great white running backs, John Riggins, to publicly question why there have been no starting RBs (for more than a token game here or there due to injury) since he retired in the mid-1980s. But alas, Riggins is a Caste whore, like all the rest, who never broaches this subject. Even a guy like Craig James, who produced a great season or two in the mid-1980s, could command some attention if he questioned where the white RBs have gone. How about a guy like Steve Largent, who played much of his career against almost all black defenses? Wouldn't it be wonderful if this undeniably great WR questioned the treatment of Matt Jones, Mike Hass, John Standeford and so many others?

Unfortunately, they are all either silent or protecting their well-paid positions as talking heads by celebrating every new exaggerated accomplishment of the T.O.s of the world. It almost seems as if each newly retired coach or player instantly tries to outdo his competitors in terms of black afflete worship. Guys like Merrill Hoge have raised the bar in terms of copying the Michael Irvins and their inane shouting and fracturing of the language.

 

[white is right]

The Riggins of the 70's could do that, it seemed like he didn't care for money back then. At this point with a NFL analysts job there is no way he is saying something that would be suicide for his career. I guess 6 figure jobs don't grow on trees..

 

[Matt_Bowen_Fan]

Let's also be honest: who wants to be labeled a racist? Humans are social creatures, and most don't want to be ostracized.

 

[white is right]

Maybe somebody like Robert Smith who I assume is half white? The PC police can't paint him with the angry white male brush....

 

[Hockaday]

I saw Howie Long interviewed about Todd Christenson, the five time pro bowl tight end who played for the Raiders. Long said "in terms of physical talent, Todd was a five and a half, but in terms of will to get the most out of that talent, he was a nine and a half." I don't know why Howie gave Todd a half point above average. For his good hands, maybe, I don't know.

My sister saw Christenson as part of an Raiders off season touring basketball team (do NFL teams do that any more?) and she said he was the best player and athlete on the squad. Ah, what would a girl know, huh?