I still remember this Miller Lite commercial that really got Madden’s post-coaching career started, both with endorsements and his personal when covering the NFL. He was also the only announcer to work for all four broadcast networks that covered the NFL at one time or another.
My son and I were just taking about this.
I thought he was older, and was not sure he was still alive.
Harry Reid just died too.
These things happen in 3s, who’s next?
As much as I didn’t like Reid as the Majority Leader, upon a small amount of research, he was actually a moderate Democrat.
Tutu.
Thats it…he was first.
I remember reading Howard Cosell’s book “I Never Played the Game” where he trashed just about everybody - except himself, of course. I don’t remember exactly what Cosell said, but it was along the lines that Madden had become a caricature of himself with his style. At times Madden’s style did go overboard and could become trite after a while, but Madden was genuine and could relate to his audience. The same could not be said about Cosell, though I do believe he genuinely was a pompous ass.
My mom and dad met him one year. THey were doing a Cowboy’s game and they were at a pregame event sponsored by Sony (my dad’s company) Mom said Gifford was the only one who really seemed to mingle with the crowd. She said Cosell was a bit arrogant. I don’t think they even saw Meridith
I think Madden was a caricature of himself in the Miller ads, but in the booth he was just into the game…and despite the booms and bams…was able to get his point across to the casual viewer.
The local sports radio station is talking a lot about him today
This makes me recall a story I read about one time when Madden was traveling across the country and was meeting with fans of the game he was about to call. I remember one of the teams was the Lions, but I don’t remember the other team. At any rate, he was meeting with some fans from the other team and said that he thought their team would win. Then, later he was meeting with some Lions fans and said he thought the Lions would win. Somebody who was with him later asked him why he said what he did to both groups, and Madden replied that he didn’t see any reason to pour water on one group of fans prior to the game. He wanted to give both groups some hope, and it didn’t hurt anybody.
Madden definitely could relate to the average fan, and I can see him being genuine. I could never see Howard Cosell doing that in a million years.
Madden did several Thanksgiving Day games in Detroit. He would give a Turkey Leg Award to players he thought played well. I recall shots of roasted turkey with 6 or 8 legs.
My kid asked me about that yesterday
Working for CBS and then Fox he probably got used to spending every Thanksgiving Day in Detroit or Dallas. He probably didn’t know what to do with himself on Thanksgiving after he had moved on to Monday Night Football.
Even my girlfriend remembers that, and she doesn’t even watch football.
Someone yesterday related a contribution he made to televised football they probably few people realize. Apparently, the electronically generated yellow line that demarks the 10-yard line for a first down was visible to the broadcasters in the booth for quite some time before it was used in the live broadcasts to the general audience. He was very instrumental in pulling some strings to get the line made available to all viewers.