Nomadic lives, outgoing wives

SEATTLE - Ann Frerotte still hasn't gotten Lisa McCaffrey back. But she will.

The first time the quarterback's wife met receiver Ed McCaffrey's extroverted spouse, Lisa quizzed Ann about her upcoming interview with Denver coach Mike Shanahan. He likes to meet with all the new players' wives, "just to make sure we're happy," Lisa explained.

Gus Frerotte had been with two other teams. Ann never had to meet one-on-one with the coach. But when Lisa got Peggy Shanahan, the coach's wife, in on the ruse, the practical joke was cemented.

And so was a friendship between two families. The McCaffreys and Frerottes are inseparable.

"The McCaffreys have been in the league 10 years, and we've been in seven years," Ann said. "They are the best friends we've made the entire time."

Ed McCaffrey is more mellow than aged Scotch, more all-American than Gil Thorpe. His wife is a mile-a-minute pistol, spouting one liners and turning every conversation into a party. She might as well walk through life with a lamp shade on her head.

Meeting the Frerottes was like looking in the mirror.

"When we're together, Eddie and I don't say a word," Gus said. "Lisa and Ann do all the talking. We just sit there."

Said Ann: "Gus and Ed are extremely similar. And Lisa and I, you can pretty much interchange us."

The families get together at least twice a week, the wives nearly every day. Last Monday, they had dinner at Del Frisco's, a popular steakhouse in Denver. They were together at the McCaffreys' house for Thanksgiving. The McCaffreys have three small boys - Max, 6; Christian, 4; and Dylan, 19 months. The Frerottes, too, have three young children - Abby, 5; Gunnar, 3; and Gabe, 19 months. Friday morning, Ann was on her way to the McCaffreys to pick up Abby, who had a sleepover with the McCaffrey boys.

Jill Fishman is Denver's resident matchmaker. Every year, dozens of players join the Broncos, if only for a few weeks. Their first stop is upstairs at Broncos headquarters to see Fishman, the executive assistant to general manager Neal Dahlen. She is a walking Chamber of Commerce, telling them about neighborhoods, real estate agents, schools, dentists, day-care - whatever they need to create normalcy in the nomadic life of the NFL.

Last March, in walked Gus and Ann Frerotte. As Fishman got to talking with them, the thought struck her: These two are just like the McCaffreys.

The couples had never met. But Fishman was right on.

"Gus is so gracious," Fishman said. "He keeps saying, even to this day, 'You were right. You were right.'"

Fishman calls Ann and Lisa "peas in a pod." The two spent a week together at a spa in Tucson a few months back. They tried out for the Colorado Valkyries women's football team together, dropping out when Lisa learned she was pregnant again (the McCaffreys' fourth boy is due in spring). They take their oldest children to the same private school in Denver. Their conversations are like watching "The View" on fast-forward.

"Gus says that when Lisa and I get together, it's like one 3- hour sentence," Ann said.

Finding close friends makes the here-one-minute, gone-the-next life of the NFL easier to take. It provides a sense of comfort despite unfamiliar scenery. The McCaffreys understand that, having gone through New York and San Francisco before the game let them sink roots in Denver. The Frerottes spent five years in Washington, then a year in Detroit. They've fallen in love with Denver.

One problem. The goal is to find a starting job. Unless Brian Griese's shoulder problems appear career-threatening, the Broncos will be Griese's team. The Frerottes will pack up and move along. Again.

"This one is going to be the hardest if we have to move," Ann said. "If we can stay here, that would be awesome. But if Gus gets that chance somewhere, he's got to take it."

After months of mostly inaction, Frerotte's stint with the Broncos is proving fruitful. Filling in for Griese, he might lead the Broncos into - and through - the playoffs. If things go well, doors around the NFL will open next spring.

His new Broncos single-game yardage record may stand 38 years, as Frank Tripucka's did. But the Frerottes may be gone in a matter of months.

"That's the hard part," Gus said. "I don't know if it's that bad for Annie and I, but it takes its toll on our kids. It would be nice to have some security, be somewhere for a certain amount of time, where your kids don't have to keep bouncing around and moving around. The future is so uncertain."

There's only one certainty. Ann Frerotte plans to get Lisa McCaffrey back, and in a big way. She has ideas, and they are good ones. And while the friendship may last forever, she may need to hurry if she wants to be there to see the reaction on Lisa's face.

- John Branch may be reached at jbranch@gazette.com

Copyright 2000
Provided by ProQuest Information and Learning Company. All rights Reserved.