Frank Lyons Back From Suspension
 

Frank is back on the air after serving a three week suspension. He was suspended for being drunk on the air. I guess they had warned him several times so they finally suspended him. I guess that Gary Stevens was drunk on the air too, but since it was his first time, he only was given a warning.

That explains alot
 

I guess that explains Frank's coherent analysis.... and high percentage of about 5% in hitting winners...

Haha, I didn't know that but it is funny.

That would be a sweet gig...Get all torqued up and talk about horse racing...

And how exactly didn't he get fired? He had been warned several times? Gary Stevens was drunk on the air once?

How professional.

Did Gary feel sobriety was essential for his previous profession? One has to wonder.

I told you he is a drunk,but you thought I was kidding,or being mean.

All he talks about is getting smashed, it was a matter of time before he went on the air lit up

I believe it was a couple of you guys that reported correctly that Frank and Gary were drunk on the air on a Friday night at Hollywood Park in June. I'm almost sure that it was on this board that a couple of you said that these guys appeared drunk on a Friday night. I didn't know if it was true at the time because I didn't see the telecast that night. I was in Kentucky that weekend. Anyway, when I got back to town I found out that it was true. And now I just found out that the reason that Frank was not on the air for the past few weeks was because of that incident.
To answer the question as to why Frank was not fired, I think it is because they regard Frank as a star. He is their most popular on-air personality and they really don't want to fire him. If it happens again though, I don't know what will happen. He may very well be fired if it happens again. Hopefully he will learn something from this suspension and it won't happen again.

The best of BOTH worlds!
 

It doesn't get better than that! LOL!!!:D

I don't know about that. I've never heard anyone say that he's an alcoholic. I think he probably likes to pound down a few occasionally but so do a lot of guys. That doesn't make him an alcoholic. It's obviously very poor judgement on his part to drink if he's going on the air. Hopefully he's learned his lesson and won't do it again.

I will tell you this, that night wasn't the first time for slurred speech by Mr. Lyons....Like he cares though, I doubt he needs that job, but I could be wrong

they should provide him the booze onset, he gets funny when he drinks, he is not an angry drunk like..... ahhhh..

well forget it..

If this is true, all I have to say is WOW....how could you be drunk on the set and not get fired?...I mean, they were representing TVG....crazy liability issues...I'm really surprised they got a free pass, especially if it was a second or even third offense..

are you kidding .he is a wealth of knowledge, loosing him would be stupid. he knows both american and european racing, an owner, trainer, analyst.

more importantly what happened to the blond ?

Boy, I do miss things by going to bed early! (Hollywood racing at night lasts WAAAY after my Eastern time zone bedtime.)

Who is Frank Lyons and why should we care if he drinks?

did the blonde speak w/ a slightly english accent?
now that's a star! forget about Frankie, lol
I did read that the NBA-TNT producers didn't mind
when Charles Barkley shows up hammered
because he was actually funnier on air
but it seems the FCC wouldn't like that one bit
Stevens is such a bad influence
personally I favor Ken Rudolph, Les Onaka
and the ever-so-droll, Gary Siebel
but BIG RED is right, bring back the blonde
if she drank on air as well,
I'd have to give her a firm spanking

They regard him as a star? Are you kidding? He's not even a has-been. He's a never-was. Gary Stevens I can understand; he's a Hall of Fame rider. But of the TV "talent", the best guy, by far, is Matt Caruthers. Bob Baedeker isn't bad either. The rest seem more interested in getting face time on TV.

Gander,he is a drunk ex-trainer.He trained the filly that won the B.C. Sprint back in the mid 90's.He co-owned the winner of the 2004 S.A. Derby(HORSE ALSO WON 2005 Shoemaker mile.)Can't remember the stupid name that starts with a C.ANYWAYS HE IS ON TVG(Which you must not get on your cable.)

Castledale

Yeah,he picked out Castledale over in Ireland.Not saying the guy doesn't know a good horse.I'd let the drunk pick one out for me.

Desert Stormer was her name.

See,people help you out on this board(when your memory is swiss cheese.)I am not saying the guy is a sidewalk drunk.He is a functioning drunk.

Desert Stormer and Castledale. Doing well for a rummy ex-trainer. So the guy got a bit boozy on the air. It is cable, after all.

I won't forget that filly's name again.I have made the cheat sheet in my head.Whenever I want to remember her name,I will picture Frank in a tank,and rolling across Southern Iraq (while mad drunk.)That will give me the name Desert Storm,and from there,I can conjure up Desert Stormer.Done deal.

are you sure your not drunk, lol.....


a functioning drunk, huh....

so the guy gets boozed up on the set once or twice, that is not cause to label him a drunk, as least he has a job.
i mean its not like he gets boozed up and drunk posts anger at everybody like .... well never mind.

tough crowd, functionng drunk, hmmm

Frank is a star in the racing industry. There was a big feature done on him in one of the majore racing publications a few months ago. I don't remember it was the Blood Horse or which magazine. The feature was entitled "King of the Forrest".

Lives to drink.What can I say.I hope he stays on TVG for a long time.

I'm not sure who you guys were talking about when you mentioned a blonde but if you were talking about Jessica York, she is gone. They did not renew her contract.

is that right, she was only there for a few months, must have been a short contract.

I agree that he is the best they have, BUT NOBODY is bigger than the company and NOBODY is irreplaceable....maybe he displays this type of behavior because he thinks that he is indeed irreplaceable....people like that usually will derail themselves....As much as I like him, TVG would still be on the day after Frank Lyons leaves..I promise..and they wouldn't skip a beat..

Bottomline: He is represneting much more than himslef when he decides to get drunk and go on LIVE television....nobody is above the law when it comes to something like this, NOBODY.....I'm surprised that he has had the ordasity and disrespect to do this on multiple occasions....it is a derailer and he will be derailed soon if he doesn't change his attitude about his profession....Frankly, I'm actually a little surprised this is an on-going issue and they haven't fired him for it...it should not be tollerated..

Just what does Lyons contribute other than a "superior" attitude? I never seem to hear anything from him that I don't already know. Caruthers is twice the handicapper Lyons is; maybe more.

He is good at looking at the condition(and body language) of a horse.He is worth keeping around (if he is close to sober.)I will say that his time spot should be about 3-5 in the afternoon.Don't think he is up to par at the 12 noon,or the1 p.m. hour.

Frank doesnt have a care in the world. He doesnt need the money and he just loves horse racing. Out of all the TVG people, Frank really knows what to look for in a horse. His commentary is dead on accurate and he tells it like it is. He is funny, care-free and I think it adds a little flavor to the tele-cast. He is the type of man to sit in a bar and drink with on a Tuesday afternoon at 11am. The man is Irish, so of course he is going to drink morning, noon and night. Heck, baseball announcers drink all the time in the booth. Harry Carey, Marty Brennanan (spelling) to name a couple. BIG DEAL if Frank is drunk on TV. I love it.

Yeah,I agree,but I would make sure he has the 3-5 shift.

He cant be more annoying than Julie Krone. She does not belong on any TV show.

Lyons as more personality and knowledge on his drunkest day than the rest of them put together on their way out of church. TVG knows exactly the package they got when they signed Lyons. Do the viewers really care that on one or two days he went to work to sober up? Who's better?