Here are my two favorite Lou Saban stories, whom we honor today in his passing. Both are told better by others.
* Saban had the only NFL coach's television show that was actually worth watching in the 1970's -- maybe ever. He was so outspoken that you never knew what was coming out of his mouth. In 1972, when the Bills were struggling, he basically came on the air after another loss and said, "Well, if these guys don't want to play football, we're going to have to find some people who do."
A year later, the Bills had turned things around ... except for a 7-0 loss in New Orleans. A key play came on a fourth-and-goal, when an O.J. Simpson run was stopped. Saban diagrammed the play on the chalkboard, and then a clip of it was shown. When the clip ended, the camera went back on Saban. He fired the chalk at the blackboard and said, "Damn it, it should have worked. We'll be back in a moment."
* In 1976, Newsradio 970 was in the process of gearing up. They had started hiring people, but there was no newscast yet. So the new employees played music and went out into the community, "developing sources."
Sam Anson and Pete Weber went to Rich Stadium to meet Saban, who was a big fan of the music of your life station. (In other words, zzzzzzz.) Anson and Weber said hello and explained what they were doing. Saban replied by saying, "You're not going to change the bleeping format, are you?"
The ever-quick Weber said, "No, Lou. We're just going to take away all the music."
Read Mark Gaughan's story on Saban here.
1 comment:
I wonder if any of us old enough to remember Lou could imagine him coaching TO. That would getting him throwing more than chalk!
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