NFL: Farewell to Madden

Posted: April 17th, 2009 | Author: Zim | Filed under: Announcers, NFL, TV | 1 Comment »

“I enjoyed all of this and then Brett Favre retired and the magic is gone.  Oh, and the idea of the Dolphins being in prime time just bored me to death so I got out instead of having to call that one.”

Madden leaves on his terms and at a good time when he’s still relatively on top of his game…

My thoughts and memories…BOOM!

by Mike Zimmer, brought to you by ACE Hardware and Tough Actin’ Tenactin foot spray

Apparenlty the idea of not having Brett Favre in the league any more was too much for John Madden to overcome.  Instead of heading into his 31st year broadcasting games for the NFL, he retired yesterday.

To be honest, as much as I’ll miss Madden and have enjoyed him over the years, it’s a good time for him to go.  At age 73 and mortality starring him in the face and life left to live, he’s taking a step back.  And he’s doing it while he’s still relatively at the top of his game and has nothing to be ashamed of.

In fact, he’s the gold standard from here forth.  To be honest, there will never be another like him and there would never be anything close to as entertaining and dynamic without him having come along back in the early 1980′s.

My first football memories all swirl back to around 1981.  My Dad took me to my first football game that year in Cincinnati and the Bengals also happened to play in the Super Bowl that year.  John Madden did color commentary on that game along with the sterling and noble Pat Summerall, the man who was his greatest and longest broadcast partner.  From a young age of learning and loving football, a lot of my understanding came from watching and listening to the games on TV and there was none better than John Madden who seemed to absolute love every minute he had to share the game and then have so much fun describing it.  He was the every man to me, but you knew he was also a coach and he knew what he was talking about when it came to the game.  From evaluating talent and identifying potential to X’s and O’s in which he illustrated on screen.  Some of that being some of the funnier and more animated stuff you could have ever have hoped for in the stuffier days of NFL broadcasting in the early 80′s.

And then of course there was the enthusiasm.  He was seeing the game from a whole new prospective and he was thrilled by it.  Which lent itself to “Boom” and “Whap” and all sorts of regular guy talk for big hits and blocks.  It made the game fun.

Over the years, the imitations came.  He started almost being a knowing parody of himself but never let it get stupid in doing so.  All the commercials, starting with one of those original Miller Lite spots back in the day when he popped thru the sceen with other sports legends, it was a hoot.  Madden seemed to realize early that he could capitalize on it without it becoming stale too quick.

There’s been many imitators over the years too and those that can also do a bang up impression of him like Frank Caliendo who I dare say wouldn’t be as well known without his spot-on later years version of Madden.  Sure, Caliendo is funny, does some wonderful stuff, but his coup de gras was always Madden.

That version of Madden was sadly not far from the truth.  It’s why he’s actually started to become a bit more stale in recent years, his best work behind him.  Yet, he was still entertaining and not annoying in the sense that his persona was the only substance like it was shtick or something.  It wasn’t, it was just John Madden.

While my wife and Big B will be glad he’s gone, I won’t be.  The wife can’t stand that his stories go around and around and he explains things now days in a non-sensical circle and can be very repetitious.  It drives her nuts.  Big B hates Brett Fav-ruh like he hates cancer and Madden was indeed a bit infatuated with Lord Favre.  His man-crush knew no bounds and to be honest who could blame him considering some of Favre’s amazing moments during his career were called by Madden (while first at FOX and then in prime time with Monday and Sunday Night Football) who thought him a second coming.

Yet, I think Madden was still relevant though and still more than able compared to some of the stiffs that are out there doing games trying to be controversial and outspoken (I’m talking to you, you talent-less monkey Steve Tasker) as part of their shtick.  Or, they’re goofy for the sake of being off-beat and it’s just silly (Oh how I want Tony Kornholer to just die) or worse absolutely annoying and like having to sit in a meeting in hell.

So happy trails John Madden.  I have a hard time believing this is the end, nor do I think he’ll be a stranger to the game.  And that’s a good thing too.  But the big man will be missed some come next season and the game won’t have that “big air” about it now that Madden is no longer part of broadcasting it.

Kudos to NBC for having not a good, but a great back-up plan with Chris Collinsworth too.  I’m a bit partial because Collinsworth was one of my absolute favs as a player and a broadcaster, but I do think it’s a good fit.  Collinsworth is more than capable of sitting in that big seat that Madden occupied next to the best play-by-play guy in the biz in Al Michaels.  Even better, he’s entirely able to bring the good stuff when we need it too.  That also includes when the Sunday Night crew will possibly be forced to broadcast the ever boring Miami Dolphins.

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