RIP John Madden

A hell of a guy. Great coach who didn’t want to get into broadcasting. But once there became even greater.
I really liked the special on him that aired on Christmas day.

I was going to actually start it off with a bit of a joke (because I think he had a bit of a sense of humor about himself) that John Madden was going to be on the cover of Madden 22 but I will just do it in passing instead. So here is to the end of an era. RIP Mr Madden.

He was by far my favorite coach. His competence as a coach was only surpassed by his overt enthusiasm for the game … he was the Brett Farve of coaches.

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I am impressed with his longevity and shared his aversion to flying.

His rivalry with Chuck Noll was epic and made him a foil in my POV…though I certainly respected his abilities and his transition to broadcasting.

Rest well coach and tell Chuck we send our regards.

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Jim Gray on Fox this morning described Madden as the most popular figure in the history of the NFL…

His enthusiasm for the game was infectious…I didn’t realize his Raiders teams won 75% of their games…

Madden helped to create a lot of fans…his voice was the NFL for a lot of our lives.

Rest In Peace sir and thank you for all the grand memories.

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The man loved football, that’s for sure. Coach, commentator, and the most popular football video game series ever, all for love of football. And he brought the turduckin into mainstream thanksgiving meals for those daring enough to try it. RIP Madden.

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He really was.

Trip Hawkins at EA signed him on in the mid 80s. He wanted Madden’s license for the new football sim they were working on that would spawn the EA NFL games. The issue was that the tech of the day would only allow 9 players per team on field.

Madden refused to give his likeness unless they had the full 11 players and had a period accurate playbook for the players to use programmed into the game itself.

It would take several more years before EA’s engine got to a point to where it could have two full teams and an entire playbook.

Most people, even other coaches, would have just taken the money and free advertisement. But Madden wasn’t that kind of man. He demanded the game the have all of the fundamentals perfectly down before he would sign off on it.

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RIP coach

Eric Shanks (CEO Fox Sports) was on the tube today. He was on the CBS and FOX NFL production teams and had a lot of good stories about Madden. He told the story of how the production team worked for weeks making a new graphic for the NFL broadcasts. It showed a football field with animated players running various plays. When they first showed it to Madden he immediately said, “It won’t work”. When they asked him why he said, “The hash marks are at college width”…
Madden also served on the NFL rules committee. And when instant replay was started, every time there was a new rule, Madden would meet with the various networks broadcasting NFL games to make sure that they would have the proper camera angles to cover the new rule.

I didn’t know any of that.

Thank you…

Yes, absolutely. I neglected to say in my previous post, he was also my favorite TV play by play commentator. He actually told us what went on with each play instead of “the QB threw the ball to the WR for a gain of 15 yards” which was customary in the day. He not only taught us fans the intricacies of the game, he also caused (by example) other commentators to emulate his style.

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Thank you for explaining my silly attempt at a reference with such detail.

A very bright light in football is gone. An unmistakable presence on the sideline and an unmistakable voice from the booth.

I remember Kenny Stabler talking about Coach. He said that Madden had three rules. Show up on time, listen, and play your butt off on game day. Other then that he didn’t care what you did off the field. And Stabler said that there were a lot of games where he closed the bar the night before and he was so hung over that he could not remember what happened in the game.

That explains a lot. :grinning_face_with_smiling_eyes:

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