P.S. RIP John Madden (details)
Though we already had a Board entry about John Madden, I'm adding this P.S. because I hadn't realized—and didn't see on the previous entry—that he was greater as a coach than winning one Super Bowl, and greater as a broadcaster than being exuberant.
Here's a link to an April article, with highlights below:
https://www.espn.com/nfl/story/_/id/31215567/coach-broadcaster-esports-icon-legacy-john-madden
• NFL head coach at 32, with highest winning percentage (75.9%) of coaches with over 100 wins
• Leading up to his first broadcast, he insisted on watching practice and talking to coaches & players. (Before that, broadcasters talked to the teams' PR people.)
• Told producers they should add a first-down line to the screen. They said impossible, then did it.
• Apparently he was NOT afraid of flying but had claustrophobia. (& Dolly Parton's borrowed bus was inspiration for the Madden Cruiser)
• Said a 7-on-7 video game wasn't real football, so the creators took 2 more years to get 11-on-11
• There's LOTS more—Bill Parcells, Peggy Fleming, getting 5% on Madden video sales, playing matchmaker, his friends Yoko Ono & Roberta Flack, etc.
As Madden said in his inimitable style before the '76 Super Bowl, "Don't worry about the horse being blind, just load the wagons."
December 29th, 2021 at 12:21 PM ^
Glad the turducken story made it into the article. Despite all of his accomplishments, which were many, I cannot think of John Madden without the mental image of his annual turducken rants.
December 29th, 2021 at 1:56 PM ^
I remember him ripping one open with his bare hands live on air.
December 29th, 2021 at 2:38 PM ^
i did, too...and it's way better than i remember.
bonus points for using the telestrator to show how to carve it.
December 29th, 2021 at 12:54 PM ^
December 29th, 2021 at 12:54 PM ^
He also played baseball at Cal Poly.
December 29th, 2021 at 2:13 PM ^
And his grandson Jesse is a current Michigan football player!
December 29th, 2021 at 1:18 PM ^
This was a long read, but I'm REALLY glad I read it... Thanks for posting.
December 29th, 2021 at 1:55 PM ^
I didn’t realize he invented that first down graphic. American Hero.
December 29th, 2021 at 3:25 PM ^
He also had the idea of putting the score on the screen at all times, too.
December 29th, 2021 at 1:56 PM ^
Can’t think of those Lions Thanksgiving games without thinking of Madden. He was usually the only good thing about the game
December 29th, 2021 at 3:22 PM ^
Totally agree ... especially when he would talk about a Thanksgiving Turkey play by play of eating it! =)
My top announcers for me are Madden / Al Michaels / Howard Cosell (NFL that is).
It's just what I grew up with and their voices were football to me.
Sad to here he has passed.
December 29th, 2021 at 2:15 PM ^
One time he was talking about chicken wings and his colleague asked him how many wings he had eaten on this particular occasion. Madden answered with the only appropriate response: "Well...I ate them all."
December 29th, 2021 at 10:09 PM ^
LOL that rat story.
December 29th, 2021 at 3:01 PM ^
It's sort of crazy that he was basically a HOF coach and then went on to be a HOF announcer/analyst and someone who helped forge a billion-dollar industry (the Madden franchise). And by all accounts a nice guy to work with and be around.
December 29th, 2021 at 3:52 PM ^
Agree. I realize that's why I posted more info about him, that he was an amazing combination of expertise in two fields, entertaining, and nice. That combo is rare.
December 30th, 2021 at 9:42 PM ^
Let me just start with the fact that my wife knows next to nothing about football.
So the wife just said, "Sorry to hear about that football guy dying."
I responded, "that football guy, you mean John Madden. He was a lot more than just some football guy."
She said: "I should at least get some credit for knowing he was a football guy!" She tries and I love her.
RIP John!