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John Madden makes me think of grilled cheese sandwiches.
And Murder She Wrote.
And putting off my homework until the last possible minute.
And all of that is because of something he loved so much – football.
Madden died yesterday at the age of 85. If you’re a football fan of any kind you most likely remember Madden the coach, or Madden the announcer, or Madden the video game guy.
He wore a lot of hats during his legendary life and he wore them all incredibly well while making it all look ridiculously easy.
For me, just hearing Madden’s voice always takes me back to my childhood. I can see that blue and white couch my parents picked out for our living room. I can feel the cold wind blowing against the windows as the week’s biggest game ramps up and the sun disappears in the distance.
I can hear my mom in the kitchen yelling out nicely if I want a grilled cheese sandwich while I watch Lawrence Taylor and the Giants try to get a big win over Washington at a rocking RFK Stadium. Or Jim McMahon and the Bears trying to put away the Packers on a freezing day at Soldier Field.
And I can hear Madden, letting us know just through his excitement that the game we were watching was a very important game and we should all be on the edge of our seats enjoying every single second of that game.
Those Sundays back then are impossible to forget. There was no Red Zone channel. Our phones were hanging on walls. Computers were upstairs on Dad’s desk, used occasionally for some dopey games with crappy graphics.
But there was John Madden. And when his game came on it was all that you’d care about. The other scores flashing on the screen every 10 minutes would be dissected later – John Madden was on TV. There was no other place to be.
His voice also gives me some anxiety, I must admit, because I can still remember those times late in those Sunday games when the broadcast would let us know that 60 Minutes would be seen immediately following the game, unless you were on the West Coast, of course. And after that you could watch a new episode of Murder She Wrote.
I’d miss all of those shows, though, because, well, I didn’t care about 60 Minutes and all the homework I hadn’t really told my parents about had to be done and be done in a hurry. Fun time was about to be over, no matter how much you prayed for Madden to keep talking and for the game to keep going. When Madden and Pat Summerall said their goodbyes, life came at you pretty quickly. So did that dumb geometry homework.
By now we all know how big of an impact Madden had on the game of football. But more importantly he had an impact on the lives of millions, filling us with memories that happened because of a game but are really memories that meant so much more to us than any of the final scores that we have long since been forgotten.
Madden was our soundtrack in those days and that soundtrack went really well with grilled cheese sandwiches.
Thank you, John Madden. It was a heck of a time.
Quick hits: Madden quotes we’ll never forget… How Madden made Light Beer… Legendary Madden clips… And more.
– John Madden had quite the way with words. Here are 14 quotes of his that we’ll never forget.
– Christian D’Andrea explains how John Madden made light beer legitimate.
– Here are some of the best moments from Madden’s incredible career.
– And here’s the great story of his legendary turducken.
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