“Does each of us need to suffer agony to understand how brutal our gridiron entertainment is? Surely, seeing is believing enough. So, what is football doing to us as a people? How do we explain an America that alone in the world so loves this savage sport?”

American sportswriter and novelist

Frank Deford was an American sportswriter and novelist. He was born in 1938 and died in 2017. He is best known for his long career writing about sports and for his familiar presence on radio. From 1980 until his death, Deford was a regular sports commentator on NPR's Morning Edition. His work moved between journalism and fiction, and his public voice was closely associated with sports writing, commentary, and the culture around athletics.