When former Steelers QB Terry Bradshaw
takes a break from his duties as, among other things, a Fox
NFL analyst, he retires to a rambling retreat in the Arizona
desert outside Phoenix.
He's not quite using the five-point-palm, heart-exploding technique
from
Kill Bill, but
Terry Bradshaw is poking me in the
chest. Hard. This is a big, strong NFL Hall of Famer, after all,
fabled for rifling footballs that could sting receivers' hands at
50 yards. I'm only two feet away. And Bradshaw is excitedly driving
a point into my sternum. Maybe that's why I'm confused about what
he's trying to tell me.
"I love Safeway," Bradshaw asserts. "I want everyone to know that
Safeway has the greatest clientele."
Safeway? I asked him for a must-see place in
Phoenix, near his new
home in the city's tony Scottsdale suburb. So why is he talking
about Safeway? And, also, ouch!
"Oh, it's a killer place to shop," says Bradshaw, a former
number-one draft pick who won four
Super Bowls with the Pittsburgh
Steelers during his 14-year NFL career. "I walk into Safeway not
needing anything, just walking the aisles checking out the
great-looking women. It's my favorite place out there. I tell all
my friends about it when they're there. They say, 'Hey, it's 7
o'clock, where are we going tonight?' I say, 'Safeway,' and they
say, 'No, seriously.' I tell them, 'Seriously, Safeway has the
hottest chicks.' "
Right. Hot chicks. I should have expected that. That's just the
kind of goofball, uncensored comment that has made Bradshaw a
successful sports broadcaster. On Fox, in his TV commercials, and
on his own talk show,
Home Team (which lasted only two weeks
longer than the disaster that was
The Chevy Chase Show),
Bradshaw can be animated to a fault. His twangy, rapid-fire
repartee has made him an easy target for critics. But viewers
clearly go for the hyper, everyman approach. Fox has dominated
pregame ratings ever since hiring Bradshaw.