The most pitiful football story of the week would have to be Joe Namath's bizarre interview with ESPN's Suzy Kolber at Saturday night's Jets/Patriots game.

As observed in USA Today:

...ESPN sideline reporter Suzy Kolber interviewed Namath. After initially speaking coherently, Namath then used halting language to repeatedly tell Kolber, "I want to kiss you" — before Kolber ended the interview.

It's a shame that America had to see it, but it was bound to happen sooner or later. It's been well-known in the sports media for some time that...ahem...to put it politely, you don't call the NFL Hall of Famer after dinner time, if you know what I mean. But even his boldness in public intoxication has been growing over the past few years.

Kolber undoubtedly knows this too, but probably thought that Namath would have it together at a football game, and as the article says, he was at first coherent. She probably chatted with him first for a minute or two and deemed him fit for broadcast before telling the truck to have the guys in the booth throw it to her for the interview.

I don't feel sorry for him, since he's responsible for his own behavior. But it's still unsettling to look inside the psyche of a has-been.