The Case of The Missing Foreword

Live from his bed in Dallas, sports broadcasting legend and former NFL player Pat Summerall joined Imus to talk about the book Then Madden Said to Summerall, written by Matthew Shepatin, whose name nobody could pronounce correctly.

But first, a bit of detective work.

Imus's copy of the book advertises on the cover, "Foreword by Pat Summerall." Yet, Imus was unable to read said foreword because it's mysteriously absent from the book.

"I didn't know that," said Summerall, who said the book focuses more on stories about football, rather than stories about him and Madden.

"I learned to duck a lot, because he waves his arms and talks with enthusiasm," Summerall said about Madden, his broadcasting partner for 22 years.

The most entertaining (a word we'll use generously) story Summerall came up with was that Madden accidentally sat on his headphones prior to Superbowl XVI. And that one didn't make the book!

Summerall played for the New York Giants during his tenure in the NFL, and Imus tried to make him share horrible stories about his teammate Frank Gifford, which Summerall was unwilling to do. He said only that the notoriously promiscuous Gifford was "a good-looking guy."

Madden is retired now, and Summerall said he is "pretty much" retired as well, save for the occasional voiceover. He calls the Cotton Bowl game every year because it's so close to his home in Dallas. "It's an honor to do that every year," he said.

The greatest game he ever called was the Championship game between the Green Bay Packers and the Dallas Cowboys in 1966, a few years before the Superbowl kicked in.

Back to the case of the missing foreword. Imus surmised that his copy was more valuable than the others, since clearly the omission of the foreword was a mistake. Right?

"There's no foreword in mine either," said Summerall. "I wondered where it was."

For the record, he did actually write a foreword, he just has no idea what happened to it. Or what he wrote about.

"Something about the great stories of the NFL," he told Imus.

Well, if this interview doesn't make you run out and buy "Then Madden Said to Summerall," we're not quite sure what will.

-Julie Kanfer