Joe Namath?

I'm sure he was once good looking, but I can't see it. All I can see is old, drunk, gross Joe.

I don't get the appeal at all.

Men weren't judged as severely on their looks back then.

He was actually quite homely (big nose, buck teeth, bug eyes, butt chin) but he was young, rich, successful, famous and single...so he was promoted as this hot guy, and there weren't any openly gay men in the media to tell the world otherwise.

r2 Yet you decided it was worth bumping a five-year-old thread for.

But he had great gams...

He wasn't promoted so much as a hot guy, he promoted HIMSELF as a swinger - a highly sought after (by women), hard drinking, insatiable and relentlessly promiscuous heterosexual. Football + women + booze = a straight man's ultimate fantasy.

I thought he was dumb, ugly and mushy, even thought he soft spoken when not talking about football. I mean, Namath was tolerable because he wasn't a swaggering pig off the field. At least as far as what the public saw.

I just know that his Josephine was one for the ages.

He looks ok in those Medicare supplement commercials.

[quote]he was promoted as this hot guy,

He promoted himself as one.

Never thought he was all that good looking either, but he could walk, talk and chew gum at the same time, and unlike most other football players, he could string a sentence or two together, so he got invited to lots of talk shows, telethons and the occasional Carol Burnett type variety show. Undoubtedly on those shows for the straight men. I mean, Cher could have Elton and Bette on and almost catch the set on fire with the flames but hey, look it's Joe, must be OK for me to watch this show!

He was a forerunner, if not the inventor, of athletes really becoming a brand/spokesperson after their career was over.

He’s not getting the benefits he dee-zerved!

That commercial amuses me because they run every word he says on a scroll next to him. Guess they figure his audience is all deaf, dumb old Deplorables.

The only deplorables are the people who constantly use that word.

That commercial is ridiculous because it keeps talking about benefits available "in your area code." Who still has an area code that's tied into their location?

He now has the face he DESERVES.

As a gayling in the 1960s, Joe's hairy chest did it for me.

R6, all my older brothers and my father admired his skill, winning the Super Bowl, and the women. "Broadway Joe" with his fur coat and his aw shucks demeanor made women go crazy for him and guys just loved him. Like Tom Brady in Boston, but Joe was at the epicenter of US media and his reputation is difficult to imagine. Remember when athletes were allowed to be boozers?

Oh, He’s that football player from the Brady Bunch!

Fuck yourself, R12. No one, and I mean NO ONE, rang for you.

R9 see R6. Your thought is not original.

SMELL MISS R19!

It's not my fault you cannot READ, oh stinky one R20.

Wasn't Gaylenhaal shopping his bio pic around Hollywood for years. Guess Jakey with itching to get into these..

R3 Lol - the way you describe him - "He was actually quite homely (big nose, buck teeth, bug eyes, butt chin)" made me question why I had such a crush on him back in the day. I recently watched a netflix special on him and noticed he had horrible posture.

Joe, in 1974.

Well, at least he didn't trans into an ugly woman like another athlete we could mention.

What about other guys from that era? Jim Palmer, Roger Staubach, etc. Discuss!

He has BDF.

In the 70's in western PA, it seemed to me that every guy you'd meet had a 1 degree of separation story from him. He's still the hometown hero of Beaver Falls.

Joe Namath = wears a wig since 1980

[quote]He looks ok in those Medicare supplement commercials.

He looks like Bela Lugosi!

Joe is from Beaver Falls, PA? That's where the Owens family lives on "Mr. Belvedere".

R26 Jim Palmer was beautiful, both face and body. He probably sold more underwear than Marky Mark.

There was something sweet and accessible about Namath that made him seem better looking than he actually was.

His agility and ability as a football player put him over the top.

"He was a forerunner, if not the inventor, of athletes really becoming a brand/spokesperson after their career was over."

Um, no. Various big athletes during and after their careers pitched cigarettes, beer, razor, electronics, soft drinks, clothes long before Joe Namath. Namath picked up bigger bucks because of greater name recognition and because it was the 70s, but he was by no means an inventor or forerunner of anything. Mickey Mantle, for instance, was hawking commercial products his whole adult life, including this after retirement ad: