My wife, who knew nada about football, loved listening to his commentary. He talked about the X’s and O’s in a way she could follow. And his diagrams could be a hoot!
Madden once went to a coaching seminar.
One of the speakers/teachers was Vince Lombardi who gave a class on the Green Bay Sweep. Madden signed up for it because he figured you could only talk about one play for a couple hours tops, then he would have the rest of the day free.
Madden said the Lombardi class took ALL DAY. Vince diagrammed the play against every conceivable defense that was being used at that time.
Madden said he then realized that it wasn’t enough to know what his guys were doing, he was a line coach at the time, he needed to know what every player on the field was doing. He took that into his commentary, thanks Vince.
Just before he got the head coaches position in Oakland he overheard a conversation between a fan and I believe Jack Nicklaus. When the fan asked how he practiced Nicklaus replied that first he practiced every shot/situation he had performed poorly at. Then he practiced shots/situations he hadn’t faced in a while. Lastly he practiced the things he was good at, spending the least time on that.
Madden took it to heart and used that process as a coach. Thanks Jack.
All in all John Madden was a very interesting guy who led an interesting life.
I once read the book I Am Third by Jerry Kramer, one of Lombardi’s pulling guards in the Green Bay years. That makes all kinds of sense, that Vince could talk all day on that play.
Good post, and agree with all that.