Take the most recent Super Bowl between the Pittsburgh Steelers and the Arizona Cardinals. The play that stood out for me involved Steelers linebacker James Harrison, and no, it wasn’t the interception return for a touchdown that changed the tone of the game right before halftime.
The play was a punt in which the camera isolated on Harrison on special teams going beyond aggressiveness in hitting a Cardinal player away from the ball. Madden said that Harrison ought to be thrown out of the game, and he was absolutely right. I knew that if Madden had been a referee on the field, he would’ve tossed the Steelers star in the middle of a Super Bowl without hesitation.
In another game involving the Denver Broncos last year, I recall former Broncos quarterback Jay Cutler firing a pass that went through the hands of his receiver. Cutler threw his arms up in exasperation, and disgust was written all over his face. Seeing this, Madden said that Cutler needed to just play the game and not be showing up his teammates. Again, right on the money.
I get a sense of the type of man John Madden is by the way he calls what he sees on the football field. I also get a sense of the man by the fact that he coached the Oakland Raiders quite successfully for 10 years before he entered the broadcast booth. Al Davis was the Raiders owner, but they were John Madden’s teams.
I read that Dick Ebersol, Madden’s boss at NBC, really wants to keep Madden and is offering all kinds of inducements for Madden to stay on. In an era where retirement statements are met with skepticism, I have no doubt that Madden is serious.
He said that he will celebrate his 50th wedding anniversary (another measure of the man’s success) this year with his wife, and he wants to spend more time with his grandkids. Good for him. As always, he is going out on his terms with class and dignity and for the right reasons.
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