Posted on 01/06/2022 11:10:34 PM PST by thecodont
One of the coolest things about John Madden is that he was an academic. It was a brief run, but still. In 1979, after Madden quit as head coach of the Oakland Raiders, he was hired by the University of California, Berkeley, to teach an extension course called “Man to Man Football.” Madden’s students had watched football on TV. Now, they wanted to understand how it worked.
Professor Madden stood in front of a board that was like the Telestrator he later used on TV. Madden drew X’s and O’s and carefully studied his students’ faces. “I wanted to see at what point I lost ’em,” he told me years later. Madden was trying to find the most simple way to explain a complex game. He was converting passive football fans into smart fans. For the next 30 years, Madden performed the same trick on TV every week.
When Madden died Tuesday morning at age 85, obits mentioned his three great careers: football coach, broadcaster, video game czar. In fact, these are all the same career. John Madden was the greatest teacher of football of the 20th century and probably of this one, too.
(Excerpt) Read more at theringer.com ...
I don’t claim to be a big football fan, but I found this article very enjoyable.
What ever role he had, the constant was that he was a plain language communicator.
And I bet they served turduckin in h amen! RIP
Heaven
If you haven’t seen the “All Maddden” tv special tribute I highly recommend it.
You know who else was a great TV sports instructor?
John McEnroe.
Every time I listened to that guy, I learned something I did not know about tennis.
I eventually lost interest in tennis, probably because the great personalities all retired.
I think his brother is still a broadcaster, but I do not recall hearing John in the booth for several decades.
He helped me understand football. When my son started to play flag football in elementary school, I bought a children’s book by Madden. It did a pretty fair job of describing football rules and history.
I had the pleasure of attending Oakland Raiders games as a kid when Madden was the head coach. Those Raiders teams were a far cry from Roger Goodell’s corporate NFL of today. I then got to experience Madden calling NFL games for CBS and then FOX. He was around in one way or another for most of my life and while he never knew I existed, I appreciated him. RIP.
The Raiders were the bad boys of the era but they only beat us one time {of real significance} in the 1976 playoffs because we were so injured.
We owned Madden and the raiders in the 70s, and his most hurtful loss was the Immaculate Reception {by his own admission}.
I was at the game {I know, along with 6,500,000 of my closest friends} and can prove it, but no one cares.
Madden was a better TV guy than a coach, but his players loved him and he was a winner.
RIP Coach Madden or should I say Mr. Football.
I don't know why, but since I haven't seen anyone else say it, I will.
I learned to watch for, when the side Referee's came onto the field to mark for a 1st (first) down, to look if they lead with their "Right-foot, or the Left." when your talking inches, (we are talking football) it made a hell of a difference. This was before instant-replay. Again RIP Coach Madden.
Way back when I was a lions fan, quarterback scott mitchell threw a perfect pass directly to a guy in the stands.
Madden had his signature board out and dissected the play step by step on live tv.
It was hilarious.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.