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.
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.
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.