It’s about time Madden recognized by NFL
I was beginning to wonder what would happen first, the Chicago
Cubs win the World Series or John Madden goes into the football
Hall of Fame.
Twenty-eight years of waiting and finally the voice of football
is in the Hall of Fame. It’s about time that the former Oakland
Raiders coach got in.
It’s about time Madden recognized by NFL
I was beginning to wonder what would happen first, the Chicago Cubs win the World Series or John Madden goes into the football Hall of Fame.
Twenty-eight years of waiting and finally the voice of football is in the Hall of Fame. It’s about time that the former Oakland Raiders coach got in.
For starters, he has the highest winning percentage in NFL history among all coaches with a minimum of 100 wins. Madden has 112 to be exact, and a Super Bowl title to boot. Also, not many people realize that he put up those impressive numbers in just 10 seasons in the NFL.
But this is a guy that should have had his bust in Canton, Ohio years ago – even if he had never held a headset in one hand and a clipboard in the other. Madden could have made the Hall just for his stellar broadcasting career alone that kicked off in 1979.
In fact, most people today don’t even remember him coaching the Raiders but we all remember him in the broadcast booth for CBS, Fox, ABC’s Monday Night Football, and this year he’ll be the main guy for NBC’s return to the gridiron.
While Madden was clearly one heck of a coach, he’ll be most remembered for his ability to make football telecasts fun, exciting and enjoyable.
People like Madden because he is just a regular guy. He comes across no different than Norm on “Cheers” or any other coach potato in America with a beer in one hand and a remote in the other. He’s just a likable guy. On top of that, Madden knows the intricacies of the game.
As a former player and coach he also gives a perspective on the game that many announcers don’t.
Madden makes the games interesting – even when the games are 40-10 blowouts. And that says a lot about his talent behind the mike. In fact, Madden is just as good at doing a 40-10 preseason blowout as he is a 21-20 white-knuckle playoff showdown.
In the blowout games, you get to hear some of his personal stories, trips on the bus, relationships with the players or memories of his years with the Raiders, which are often more enticing than some of the games.
In the close battles, we get to see his insight come to the forefront.
Howard Cosell, Don Meredith and Fran Gifford were the three personalities that made Monday Night Football a huge success. Cosell’s voice and toupee combined with Meredith’s obvious love of booze and Gifford’s knowledge made for an interesting weekly show. But as good as they all were, none of them could hold a candle to Madden.
His animated one-word descriptions of the game combined with his use of the telestrator to single out a match-ups or some overzealous fan in the stands is like an art.
And even if he does make a mistake, it works for a regular guy like Madden, not a polished play-by-play guy like Al Michaels.
We like Madden because he’s one of us, one of the guys. NFL football would not be the same without him.
And the coaching record books would probably look a lot different too had he kept on coaching. Think about it. The guy had 112 NFL wins at 42-years old. Most guys don’t even get a head coaching job until they are 42, then they hang onto it for 20 years, if they can.
Madden stepped down when the Silver and Black were still on top. When Madden left the sidelines and handed the reigns over to Tom Flores. Flores responded by winning two Super Bowls in his first five years at the helm. How many of those guys on those championship teams in an era with no salary cap do you think Madden drafted? Answer: A lot.
In the 10 seasons after Madden’s retirement, the Raiders went 90-62. Had Madden stuck it out and gone another 10 years, he probably would have put up an even better record than the 90-62 mark that Flores (9 seasons) and Mike Shanahan (1 season) posted.
But let’s say he doesn’t do any better. Add 90 wins to his 112 total and you’ve got 202 wins – that’s sixth all time.
The only names ahead of him on the all-time win list would be Don Shula, George Halas, Tom Landry, Chuck Noll and Curly Lambeau. Each of them coached an average of 26 seasons, six less than Madden would have done if he had gone another 10.
Clearly, it’s about time for Madden to be in the Hall. Now if only the same thing could happen for Pete Rose.
