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I was up waaay too early this morning watching some trending topics on Twitter Search and John Madden’s name suddenly appeared. When you see a boldface name pop up on Twitter Search like that, it usually means they’ve died. I’m glad Madden’s not dead but I’m sad that he’s retiring from calling football games. I know he wasn’t everyone’s cup of tea, but I loved listening to him.
A nice short appreciation of John Madden and how his insistence on telling and showing people how the game of football is played has had an impact on how the game is played and watched.
Thus, the first tenet of Maddenism: a football game can be understood only by analyzing all its complexity. As he once put it: “Football isn’t nuclear physics, but it’s not so simple that you can make it simple. It takes some explaining to get it across.”
This is also the rare profile that mentions nothing about Madden’s bus and fear of flying.
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