RIP John Madden

[72gmc]

Dad loved to hear John and Pat Summerall talk about a lot of things, and I did too. Sometimes it was even about football!

https://youtu.be/ibDc0nX5uqw

[Hellgate]

Oh my. This hurts.

[gasman]

Oh that’s sad to hear.

[sokyroadie]

Great in everything he attempted. IMHO

[steelbikerider]

Watching and listening to John Madden with the captions on is quite an experience. Run on sentences, sound effects, observations that would never occur to most former coaches.

This was all I could find in a quick search. Be sure to turn on captions.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NNgaPmoIsOA

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SPdp1EN_rtk

And of course
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RsAuIsn3Kw4

[fiamme red]

Here are some fun clips of his commentary: https://twitter.com/Nate_Tice/status...05572885450752.

I loved listening to him, even if the game wasn't worth watching. There will never be another like him. RIP.

[merlinmurph]

I heard the news and figured it was a good time to watch the doc that just came out - "All Madden" - that I recorded the other day. Make sure you see it.

[roguedog]

Oh man. An icon.

RIP.

[Cornfed]

This hurts. I knew him as a broadcaster, of course, but also as a long-time resident of my old home town: the small East Bay town of Pleasanton, CA. He lived there for most of his Raiders and post-Raiders life and was a local hero. His small broadcast and recording studio was in town, he invested extensively in local real estate ("Don't buy anything you can't drive to in 15 minutes."), and his home was the local mecca of every Halloween for his legendary decorations and his habit of giving out not just the regular-size Hershey bars, but the jumbo-size bars -- personally. His home was medium-large, but no mansion, and it sat directly on a main road, immediately outside the gates of his gated neighborhood. His kids were involved in local sports and when they grew up they were involved in coaching local sports (I coached basketball for years against one of his sons). He was truly an everyman hero. I'll miss having him around.

[tctyres]

Huge loss. Rest in peace.

His color commentating and analysis set the standard for football and all other sports: well-researched, insightful, understandable, and fun. His use of the telescratcher was virtually beyond reality. I remember being in the room when he cut apart a six legged turkey using that thing. We all looked at the TV dumbfounded, "Did that just happen?" Yep. Sure did.

[nobuseri]

Originally Posted by sokyroadie

Great in everything he attempted. IMHO

Couldn’t have said it better. RIP, Coach.

[makoti]

I am a Chiefs fan, so I had no great love for John Madden. He caused me years of heartache. I never cared for his over the top delivery during games. Always felt I was being yelled at.
However, as a person, Madden showed some amazing kindness, and this story highlights it:
"When Madden learned of the severity of Stingley’s injury after the game, he went straight to the Oakland-area hospital where Stingley had been taken. When Madden arrived he was angered to learn that Patriots head coach Chuck Fairbanks was flying home with the rest of the team, as Madden felt that Fairbanks should have stayed with Stingley until Stingley’s family could arrive. A 1979 New York Times article reported that Madden got someone at the airport on the phone and barked, “You get Chuck Fairbanks off that plane.”

A Sports Illustrated profile of Madden in 1983 reported that when Stingley’s family did arrive, Madden and his wife offered to let the family stay in their home and use their car as long as Stingley was in the hospital. Madden also took time away from the Raiders’ training camp to make regular visits to Stingley. After the Raiders played the Broncos in the regular-season opener that year, they flew home from Denver and Madden went straight from the airport to the hospital to see Stingley."
https://profootballtalk.nbcsports.co...-his-kindness/

As I posted to a Raider board yesterday, sometimes losing a foe is as hard as losing a friend. Respect, Mr. Madden

[fiamme red]

Some good stories here: https://www.espn.com/nfl/story/_/id/...cy-john-madden.

Here's one:

In the mid-1990s, Fox was in the middle of a pre-production meeting. Madden was on the telestrator showing the crew how he planned to break down a particular play before kickoff. He drew all over the field, mapping out what individual guys had to do on the play, and he slapped on a line where the first down was located.

"Why can't we just keep a first-down line on the screen the whole game?" he asked.

Everybody shrugged their shoulders. Somebody said it'd be too distracting. Somebody else said the technology wouldn't allow it. "You're wrong -- we should do it," Madden said, shaking his head.

He let it hang in the air, and producers in the room started to wonder whether maybe Madden was right. "The yellow line is a direct descendant of that moment," says Fox Sports CEO Eric Shanks, a longtime Madden crew producer who was in the room that day.

[biker72]

John Madden and Pat Summerall are the absolute best ever TV football announcing team. Unfortunately now they are both gone. I really enjoyed their commentary.

[54ny77]

RIP Mr. Madden.

Frank Caliendo, comedian, does Madden better than Madden!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XBW7ysPcbT0