I wouldn’t be doing this blog justice if I didn’t post this video of Suzy Kolber interviewing Joe Namath from 2003. It is pretty clear that Broadway Joe had a few too many drinks that night, but it still doesn’t excuse his actions. Joe told Suzy Kolber multiple times that he wanted to kiss her. Suzy played it off well and carried on with the interview, but that still had to be a tough position to be in.
If Joe would have been interviewed by a male, he most likely wouldn’t have said that he wanted to kiss him. Joe still would have been drunk and probably would have still said ridiculous things, but he would not have put a male reporter in that awkward situation so why do it to a female? Obviously alcohol was a big factor in this,
Earlier this year, Suzy Kolber finally spoke about the situation.
Namath, in what became a famous TV sports moment, slurred to Kolber: “I want to kiss you” — adding he “couldn’t care less” about what was happening with the Jets team.
On-air, Kolber laughed off his line, calling it “a huge compliment.”
Looking back now, she says “I think the way I felt about it at the time was that he’s a really good guy having a bad moment that happened to be captured on national television.”
And when Namath called days later to apologize “he felt humiliated. It’s a shame he has to be remembered for that moment.”
The interview is so infamous now that it spawned a sports blog called “Kissing Suzy Kolber.”
More Than a Pretty Face 