I know that he was barely lucid during his last few years of doing play-by-play on CBS (though I enjoyed him then, too), but Pat Summerall's got a new liver, he's off the sauce, and he's feeling good. He's got a new autobiography, too, in which he shares the followig incidents that took place right after he had liver transplant surgery:
• He ran down a hospital corridor with his gown wide open and a towel on his head, insisting that parts of his body were falling off.
• He took an electric razor to his head once, because he had to look like Bruce Willis. He doesn't even like Bruce Willis.
God bless him. I want to see him back in a booth. I always liked the way he did games; he'd give you a name, tell you what you needed to know, and then just get out of the way. He took a minimalist approach, which is something not many play-by-play people do anymore. If he feels good, I'd like to see him get another chance.
Also, here was my favorite Summerall/Madden exchange that I can remember. It took place probably in Pat's last year doing games for CBS, when a guy named Vinny Sutherland was returning kicks for the 49ers.
Madden: "It's always good to have a return guy named 'Vinny.' "
Summerall: "Why?"
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Summerall, Shocking and Sober [New York Times]
Pat Summerall's Biography Looks More Interesting Than Expected [New York Sports Page]