I'd Know That Voice Anywhere: My Favorite NPR Commentaries

by Frank Deford

Frank Deford is one of the most beloved sports commentators in America. A contributing writer to Sports Illustrated for more than fifty years, he is also a longtime correspondent on Real Sports with Bryant Gumbel . These days, Deford is perhaps best known for his weekly commentaries on NPR’s Morning Edition . Beginning in 1980, Deford has recorded over 1,600 of them, and in I’d Know That Voice Anywhere he brings together the very best, creating a charming, insightful, and wide-ranging look at athletes and the world of sports.

In I’d Know That Voice Anywhere , Deford discusses everything from sex scandals and steroids to Americans’ perennial nostalgia for Joe DiMaggio and why, in a culture dominated by celebrity, sport is the only field on earth where popularity and excellence thrive in tandem. He considers the similarities between Babe Ruth and Winnie the Pooh, why football reminds him of Venice, and how the Olympics are like Groundhog Day—or like an independent movie filled with foreign actors you’ve never heard of. He considers the prevalence of cheating in the classroom among student-athletes and why academic whistle-blowers are castigated as tattletales, pens a one-size-fits-all sports movie script, and even delivers Super Bowl coverage in the form of a Shakespearean sonnet. This page-turning compendium of Deford’s witty and frank pieces covers more than thirty years of sports history while showcasing the vast range of Deford’s interests and opinions, including his thoughts on the NCAA (a shameless autocracy, where college players are essentially indentured servants), why gay athletes “play straight” (more for fear of their audience than their colleagues), and why he’s worried about living in an economy that is so dominated by golfers.

A rollicking sampler of one of NPR’s most popular segments, I’d Know That Voice Anywhere is perfect for sports enthusiasts—as well as sports skeptics—and a must-read for any Frank Deford fan.

Genres: Sports, Nonfiction, Humor

288 pages, Paperback

First published May 3, 2016

About the author

Frank Deford (born December 16, 1938, in Baltimore, Maryland) is a senior contributing writer for Sports Illustrated, author, and commentator.

DeFord has been writing for Sports Illustrated since the early 1960s. In addition to his Sports Illustrated duties, he is also a correspondent for HBO's Real Sports with Bryant Gumbel and a regular, Wednesday commentator for National Public Radio's Morning Edition.

His 1981 novel, "Everybody's All-American," was named one of Sports Illustrated's Top 25 Sports Books of All Time and was later made into a movie directed by Taylor Hackford and starring Dennis Quaid.

In the early 1990s Deford took a brief break from NPR and other professional activities to serve as editor-in-chief of The National (newspaper), a short-lived, daily U.S. sports newspaper. It debuted January 31, 1990 and folded after eighteen months. The newspaper was published Sundays through Fridays and had a tabloid format.

Deford is also the chairman emeritus of the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation. He became involved in cystic fibrosis education and advocacy after his daughter, Alexandra ("Alex") was diagnosed with the illness in the early 1970s. After Alex died on January 19, 1980, at the age of eight, Deford chronicled her life in the memoir Alex: The Life of a Child. The book was made into a movie starring Craig T. Nelson and Bonnie Bedelia in 1986. In 1997, it was reissued in an expanded edition, with updated information on the Defords and Alex's friends.

Deford grew up in Baltimore, Maryland, and attended the Gilman School in Baltimore. He is a graduate of Princeton University and now resides in Westport, Connecticut, with his wife, Carol. They have two surviving children: Christian (b. 1969) and Scarlet (b. 1980). Their youngest daughter Scarlet was adopted a few months after the loss of Alex.

Reviews

[Jason · Rating 4 out of 5]

I fondly remember Deford's weekly NPR commentaries on 'Morning Edition.' The very fact NPR hired him to deliver more than 30 years of weekly sports commentaries is confirmation of Deford's stature as that rare sportswriter who transcended sports. I think a lot of this had to do with his larger-than-life persona.

For starters, Deford was a natty dresser (always with a strong affinity for purple) with a pencil-thin mustache. Once you saw him on television, you always remembered him. Then there was his elegant prose which was enhanced by his keen eye for portraiture (as evidenced in his profile pieces of some of sports greatest legends and scoundrels), his thoughtful application of sociology and psychology in understanding sports' hold on so many of us, not to mention his refreshing perspective on the place of sports in the wider culture. Deford placed sports alongside music, literature, and the arts as life-enhancing. This stands him in stark contrast to many sportswriters and fans where sport is life itself. And then there was, for NPR listeners, his unmistakable voice.

While nothing can replace listening to Deford, this collection of his favorite commentaries compiled a year before his passing is a wonderful read. You can almost hear him - especially in those commentaries where he drips with scorn for the "19th century plantation-minded" NCAA, or laments America's decline in dominance of tennis, or theorizes on the reasons why football dethroned baseball as America's true national pastime.

For fans of Deford, this book is a must-read. For avid sports fan, there is much to appreciate in this collection. For non-sports fans, this book is enlightening. And for anyone who appreciates gorgeous prose, humor, irreverence, and erudite observations, 'I'd Know That Voice Anywhere' is a real treat.

[Lance · Rating 5 out of 5]

As a reader who likes to read collections of short anecdotes or stories, whether fiction or non-fiction, I was happy to see this collection of NPR broadcasts from Frank Deford available for review prior to the publication. The fact that the author is one of most beloved and respected sports journalists is icing on the cake. Deford has pleased and informed many readers, listeners and viewers over the years with his reporting and commentary and this book is sure to do the same for readers.

Every sport from American football (several times he ensures that he makes that distinction so that no one mistakes it for soccer) to golf the Olympic games is covered in his unique style. He mixes politics, social issues, steroids and questions about the place in society and entertainment for sports as just a few of the topics addressed in his commentaries.

His opinions on whichever topic can be viewed as whimsical, such as if golf were a country it would be Cuba; strongly worded, such as the lack of stipends for college athletes; or hilarious, such as his take on luxury boxes in stadiums - sung to the tune of “Take Me Out to the Ball Game.”

The writing is light and easy to read, and since it is broken up into small passages, the reader can stop and pick it back up very easily. Many readers may do the same as I did when reading it and imagine Deford talking on the radio with his smooth delivery. This is a book that is highly recommended for not only fans of sports and Deford, but even for those who are not sports fans but enjoy reading about topics of social interest.

I wish to thank Atlantic Monthly Press for providing an advance review copy of the book through NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

[P.J. Lazos · Rating 4 out of 5]

Not as good as listening to the real deal, but since that is no longer an option, this is a close second. I enjoyed the written version of Deford's commentary, but sure do miss the man.

[Penny · Rating 4 out of 5]

That voice being Deford’s own. A sports commentator who provided three minute pieces for NPR three times a week for many years from 1980 until 2012. He decided to see how they translated (or more properly transcribed) to the written page. The individual stories are good, and I think deliberately not organising them by a theme was a good idea but instead mixing up the flavours in 14 sections of 7 stories apiece. They are definitely dated – the earliest might have been 1983, the latest 2015. Even the updates are dated. A piece on sexual abuse in sports predates the whole Larry Nasser horror story. Some phrases are magic – Willy Shoemaker is described as ‘ the best looking hors d’oeuvre of a man I ever saw’. Some stories are touching, some funny but to my mind they were probably better three times a week in three minute segments on NPR. Maybe they would make good sitting on the loo reading, but they are not best read in a couple of long sittings so you can get the book back to the library on time.

[Billy · Rating 5 out of 5]

Wonderful short essays on various sports topics. Really need to listen to it if Deford is the reader.

[Kim · Rating 3 out of 5]

I saw this while browsing at the library (check that one off the reading challenge!) I usually enjoy Frank Deford's pieces on NPR when I catch them. It used to be that I would only hear them when the girls' school had a late start and I would be in the car later than usual. There is one piece of his that I still think about, wherein he questions why patriotism is so tied up with athletic events. Why don't we sing the national anthem before an opera or a Broadway show? That piece was in this book, so it was nice to revisit it. But for the most part, I found a lot of the pieces to be a bit curmudgeonly - complaining about how athletes don't tuck in their uniform shirts or how things aren't as classy as they used to be. And a lot of the pieces read as pretty sexist as well, so much so that I was cringing a little bit. Whenever he talked about football, he would mention the buxom cheerleaders, and whenever he talked about female athletes, he would ALWAYS discuss their appearance. Ugh. The pieces I liked most were the ones that combined sports and language - like how baseball is the only place where "deep" and "shallow" are horizontal terms instead of vertical terms, and where the word "take" means to NOT do something rather than to grab something. I wished there were more pieces like that. Also, I agree with some other reviewers that this might be better as an audiobook, since all of the pieces were originally recorded for radio.

[Casey · Rating 4 out of 5]

I received a free Kindle copy of this book courtesy of Net Galley and Grove Atlantic, the publisher in exchange for a review that is posted on Net Galley, Amazon and my blog. I also posted the review on my Facebook, LinkeIn, Twitter and Google Plus pages.

I requested this book based on reading and hearing some of Frank Deford's commentaries which I always found interesting.

The book is engaging and a fast read. Due partly to the content and partly to the fact that the commentaries are short. The author covers a broad range of subjects, primarily sports, over a long period of time. Each commentary has the date is was recorded which makes it easier to adjust to the circumstances of the time. I would have preferred that the chapters were in chronological order instead of bouncing around the timeline.

The only drawback is that the reader needs to have a working knowledge of the events taking place during the time period of the commentary.

I recommend this book as a viewpoint to events that have taken place in our country over the past 20 plus years.

[Steve Peifer · Rating 3 out of 5]

The perfect example of the Peter Principle: Cute little commentaries with the peerless Deford voice are perfect on the 90 seconds they give him on NPR. Stripped from the voice, you see the weakness of his writing and the shallowness of his insights. What was fine for radio isn't sturdy enough to support a book. Anyone could have told him this, but this is a cash grab, not a real book.

[Jim · Rating 3 out of 5]

An interesting collection of short commentaries that mostly concern sports and their impact on society from an often critical perspective. Quite a lot I agree with, but not all. He is a very good writer and a very bright observer, though perhaps not as humorous as I thought he might be. A few times I thought he mimicked some arguments, but more often pretty original observations.

[David · Rating 2 out of 5]

Deford is a revered writer on sports, and deservedly so. But this mish-mash is disappointing. These commentaries are not as good as his best writing. One stands out: 'The Old Butterfly' on page 183. This jewel-like 2009 tribute to a proudly aging Muhammed Ali is especially poignant now....

[Martin · Rating 3 out of 5]

A great way to catch the wonderful, and missed, NPR contributions from Deford

[Stacey · Rating 5 out of 5]

I love Frank DeFord.

[Mike · Rating 3 out of 5]

I get a sense that this collection is infinitely more pleasurable as an audiobook.

[Lane · Rating 4 out of 5]

If you like sports, NPR and Frank Deford you will enjoy this book of some of his commentaries.

[Dan · Rating 5 out of 5]

Frank DeFord sees things about life and sports that are in plain sight but are easily overlooked !

[Milt · Rating 4 out of 5]

well voiced. RIP read