Post by TheShadow on Feb 1, 2006 20:18:27 GMT -5
www.insidebayarea.com
Not only is former Raiders coach calling Super Bowl, but also may be elected to Canton
by Art Spander
DETROIT — John Madden has been articulate, funny, excitable, emotional, instructional and practically everything else. Except cool.
John Madden has never tried to act cool. His love of football and life cannot be restrained.
Thank heavens.
Super Bowl XL is Sunday, as you know , between the Pittsburgh Steelers and Seattle Seahawks, and Madden along with Al Michaels will be doing the telecast on ABC-TV.
A few hours after Pro Football Hall of Fame voters decide whether Madden gets elected.
There is no hiding Madden's anticipation, about working the game, about maybe entering the Hall.
Two and a half months from his 70th birthday, the man who coached the Oakland Raiders for a decade, the man who has given his voice to the NFL and his name to a video game about the NFL is in a state of bliss.
"I've always said, and it's become a clich, that you don't worry about things you can't control," explained Madden when asked if he's thinking about the Hall, "so I'm trying not to
worry about it or think about it.
"But to be honest, you can't not think about it. This is one of the biggest weekends of my life."
One of the biggest weekends for one of football's biggest men, one of football's greatest ambassadors.
"You're a finalist for the Hall of Fame on Saturday," Madden sighed, "and then doing the Super Bowl on Sunday. I know the term is overused, but it doesn't get any better than this. So to say I don't think about it would be a lie. I think about it."
John Madden, who grew up in Daly City, where he hung with John Robinson; who directed the Raiders to seven division championships in eight years and finally to a Super Bowl victory; who has worked for CBS and Fox and ABC and soon will work for NBC; who has built a multimillion-dollar empire of property and grapes and investments that is based in Pleasanton, is the man of this moment.
"John Madden, to many people," Michaels asserted correctly, "is as important a figure in football as anybody. If he's not in the Hall of Fame, something is awry.
Madden's coaching career was short. But Sandy Koufax's pitching career was short. And if some contend that Madden belongs as "a contributor," rather than a coach, 10 years of success, a 103-32-7 record, sounds like some contribution. To coaching.
"A contributor?" Madden asked. "I don't know what a contributor is. I've been around a long time. Football is my life and a passion."
When someone wondered if he ever approached his announcing as a work, Madden growled, "No. Hell, no. To be a part of this is humbling, an honor (The Super Bowl) is the biggest thing we have. Not only in football, in all sports. If I can be a part of it, that's great."
Four seasons now Madden's been with Michaels on "Monday Night Football." Their linking is supposed to be at an end, Madden shifting over to NBC for "Sunday Night Football" and Michaels going to ESPN, which is taking over Monday nights from ABC. Now the rumor is Michaels is trying to break the ESPN contract to sign with NBC and remain with Madden.
Whether this Super Bowl then is their final game together remains uncertain, but, "We agreed not to make a big deal of it."
Madden believes for those involved, the Super Bowl should be approached as a reward not a burden.
"What I wanted my guys to do," Madden said of the 1976 Raiders, who beat the Vikings in Super Bowl XI, "was to enjoy it. If I had a message for the players now, it would be the same thing. When you look back, this is going to be the highlight, the greatest experience of your life, winning a Super Bowl. If that's going to be true 20-30 years from now, then make it true now."
Madden traveled to Detroit as he travels everywhere, on his bus, a $1 million cruiser. The mode of transportation has taken on greater meaning with Steelers' running back Jerome Bettis, a Detroit native, being nicknamed The Bus.
"The last time I flew was the Sunday after Thanksgiving, 1973," Madden said. "I was going from Tampa to San Francisco with a stop in Houston. I got off in Houston, because of claustrophobia, and never have gotten on another airplane."
He's not cool. He's just remarkable.