GIFFORD ON ...

The success of `Monday Night Football' with women

I'm not saying women are wildly enthused over pro football, but they're willing to watch our telecast much more than they're willing to blow a Sunday afternoon. What he would change in pro football

Things tend to fix themselves. Football is much more dynamic than baseball because you've got to make changes in this type of sport. It's a game played by big guys who can hurt themselves. Increasing specialization

I would like to see a lot less substitution. I don't think it would change the game that much. What it might do is bring the game back to a more personal basis for the fan. When I played for the New York Giants the fans knew who was on the field. Now it looks like a fire drill out there. I don't think you could totally limit it to the same 11 guys out there, but some restrictions on how many people you could change in a given situation would help. Modern rules designed to protect quarterbacks

The quarterback is usually the only guy on the field who is not a really good athlete. Quarterbacks are there because they can throw the ball. They're going to lose any kind of physical battle, and they do.... They have a skill that has been glorified ... throwing the football. So if you're going to go that way, you'd better protect them. Self-congratulatory showboating by pro players

I don't like that, and I think more people are being put off by it. You never see the great players do it. The late Paul Brown [former Cleveland and Cincinnati coach] had a great line. The first time he had a player who did [an end-zone dance], he called the player over to the sideline and said, ``Why don't you act like you've been there before?''