I thought a little levity was necessary over John’s passing. Above is a glitch from EA’s Madden ’92 whenever an injured player needed to be carried off the field.
Now as for my knowledge and fandom of football, well it’s not very deep and my reasons for siding with Green Bay are more political, even if the majority of their fans are likely Republicans. However, Madden’s career encompasses way more than being a former NFL head coach (only the Raiders) and an expert commentator on all the networks (if I’m wrong, feel free to correct me). He went on to be a name heavily associated with the sport to the world by licensing his name to the most successful NFL-based video game. I’ve never tried Madden but I do know a generation of professional and college players were raised with it and thanks to it, they’re much better at memorizing playbooks. I learned of this via On the Media in which Bob Garfield discussed the trend and he gave an example of a college quarterback executing a move from the game; he just moved over to drain the clock a few seconds. What he did made little sense to people over 40 but all the Madden players recognized it immediately.
Beyond the video game, Madden appeared in Miller Lite commercials, plugged fast actin’ Tinactin to address athlete’s foot and had numerous cameos in film and TV, whenever football was involved. He did a great job with his old partner Pat Sommerall on The Simpsons‘ “Sunday, Cruddy Sunday.” Those two were naturals as voice actors since many celebrities have trouble translating their presence only to a microphone.
Thanks for everything John. You were a great ambassador for the sport and may your cause to help the players carry on!