All-Madden

As it turns out, the timing of FOX's brilliant documentary about John Madden couldn't have been more perfect.  They, of course, scheduled it for Christmas because it was Christmas and because they had an exclusive game right after it.  But it ended up also being a final tribute to a man who was larger than life, who lived just long enough to see it.

I forget who said it (I think it was one of his sons), but there was one quote in the documentary that really stuck with me.  To get to the top of one profession is one thing.  He's a Hall of Famer in two!  A true legend indeed!

Growing up, I only knew John Madden as a broadcaster.  And the fact that the Giants were good in the late 80s and early 90s meant that Madden & Summerall did a lot of their games.  So, I heard a lot of them as a kid.  They made the games so relatable and easy to understand, and I can honestly say that I wouldn't love football so much if not for Madden & Summerall.

That was the pair.  CBS knew that putting them together would be television gold, which is exactly what it was.  Then, after Summerall retired and Madden moved to Monday Night Football with Al Michaels, it was just as incredible!  As an analyst, he was in a class by himself.  Arguably the best to ever do it.

FOX knew that.  That's why when they got the NFL rights, they knew they had to get Madden & Summerall.  Logically, it made sense since CBS was losing the NFL and had no need for NFL announcers (and vice versa), but it was still a major coup.  It showed FOX was serious.  And it gave them instant credibility with football fans.  That was as important as anything for this newcomer that suddenly came sweeping in.  FOX wouldn't be where it is now without John Madden.

While I knew he wasn't with Summerall right away, what I didn't realize until I watched "All-Madden" was that he worked with so many other legendary broadcasters before CBS settled on that team.  You can bet that as soon as I found out he once worked with Vin Scully, I went to YouTube and sought out clips of those two legends together.  There are actually several games from the early 80s, and they're as glorious as you'd imagine!  Unfortunately, I couldn't find anything from his test game with a young, unknown broadcaster named Bob Costas.

Then there were the catchphrases.  Every big hit led to a "BOOM!" straight out of an old Batman comic.  And he also came up with "DOINK!," which perfectly explains the sound of a football hitting the goal post on a missed kick.  "BOOM!" and "DOINK!," two terms that are now permanently part of the football lexicon, immortalized for a new generation in the Madden video game.

It's been 13 years since John Madden retired from broadcasting after Super Bowl XLIII, but he remained just as popular as ever thanks to that stupid video game.  NFL players always talk about their Madden rating and want to be on the cover of the next year's edition.  There's even talk of a "Madden curse" on whoever gets the honor.  The game is ridiculously realistic!  It's like watching an actual football game on TV!  That's because Madden wouldn't have it any other way.  And it's helped people learn the X's and O's of football just as much as listening to Madden do a game.

The most amazing part of his broadcasting career is that it really only came about because he had a fear of flying.  Instead, he rode a bus across the country.  And the bus became part of his persona.  The bus WAS Madden!  Remember when Sunday Night Football first started and the players of the game went on the side of the bus every week?  Would that have worked if not for John Madden?  Of course not!  And, you'll notice, they haven't had a Sunday Night Football bus in years.  The whole concept was retired along with him.

Another one of my favorite unique John Madden things was the All-Madden Team.  He's the only guy who could pull off naming his own all-star team using his own (completely subjective) criteria, and getting an annual TV special where it's named.  The best part was how players would get angry when they weren't named All-Madden.  They took it THAT seriously!  I can even remember at least two Super Bowl pregames that included a special All-Madden Team.

And let's not forget the turducken legs!  Because two turkey legs weren't enough to give out to the MVPs on Thanksgiving, so why not stuff a chicken inside a duck inside a turkey?!  It went from something nobody had ever heard of and, frankly, sounds either disgusting or delicious, to something that we all knew what it was (and still sounds either delicious or disgusting).  Again, all because of John Madden.

Simply put, he completely changed the way football games were broadcast.  He made it easy to understand, which is also what made it enjoyable.  It didn't just make him a legend.  It made him arguably the most recognizable face in the NFL, even more so than many of the players.  The fact that he was so relatable only added to his appeal.  Everyone loved John Madden.  Players, coaches, fans, everyone.

All of this is to say nothing of his Hall of Fame coaching career.  He won a Super Bowl and led the Raiders to seven AFL/AFC Championship Games in 10 seasons.  His career winning percentage of .703 is the best in history.  That's why he has a bust in Canton.  (Although, he could easily have one as a Contributor for his broadcasting career.)

To say John Madden left an extraordinary legacy is an understatement.  He's one of the most unforgettable men ever to be associated with the NFL.  First as a coach, then as a broadcaster, and finally as the man behind the video game.  John Madden was truly one of a kind.  And football is forever better because of him.