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The Unintentionally Comic Commentary of John Madden
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Every year the Nation Football League seems to grow in popularity and in television ratings. But along with that growth there is always one person trying his hardest to keep alive the hope of destroying the NFL. He is constantly making every NFL fan and anyone associated with the league look like a high school dropout. This glorified idiot is, of course, the “great John Madden.” After spending many successful years coaching in the NFL – including leading the Oakland Raiders to victory in Super Bowl XI -- Madden has now retired to a post on NBC’s weekly Sunday broadcast of “Football Night in America.” Every Sunday , without fail, Madden gives us all something to unintentionally laugh at him about.
Madden thinks it’s his job to slap his viewers across the face every Sunday with blatantly obvious information. He seems to be continuously reading passages from “Football Rules for Dummies” during his broadcast with the frequent refrain, “when the clock hits zero someone will win this football game”: a comment that is constantly said in John Madden’s world famous video games, aptly named after the big man himself.
Like a profound observation from a two-year-old, Madden is also famously quoted saying, “When your arms get hit, the ball is going to go somewhere you don’t want it too go.” This comment is classic John Madden at his finest –something he says when trying to explain the simple idea of a fumble which is pretty much understood by anyone who would bother to watch Sunday night football in the first place.
Over the years multiple Madden blooper videos have been posted on YouTube. Here Madden is captured in all his glory ranting about random football rules. For example, last season during the Chargers vs. Broncos game Madden commented about a fight that was breaking out on the field and said, “When a center goes to block you, you can’t punch him.” This would seem obvious to the masses of NFL nation, but according to John not enough pro football fans understand the basic concept of a personal foul.
Madden hasn’t just limited himself to looking like a fool in front of millions of NFL fans, but he also has nailed the territory of child-like sports interviews. A great example of this is when he interviewed Mike Tyson about his success as a world champion boxer. Madden blanketed Tyson with dimwitted questions. One of his greatest came during the interview when he interrupted Tyson to ask “do you think boxing is fun?” Tyson gave Madden a look as if wondering when Ashton Kutcher was going to pop out and tell him that he had been punk'd. This incident demonstrates the epitome of Madden --that no matter what he puts his mind to it will come out sounding like a two-year-old .
He has even made it into the routines of standup comedy fame with Frank Caliendo’s impersonations of Madden . Claiendo is one of the best impersonators on television who has captured the essence of Madden in his MadTV skits. These impersonations consist of Caliendo rambling like Madden about common rules such as down by contact and out of bounds. Caliendo gets it spot on with the over aggressive accent and Madden’s odd obsession with New York Jets quarterback Brett Favre.
With NBC always renewing Madden’s contract, there seems to be no end in sight of Sunday night football being ruined by John Madden’s inane commentary. But there may be the slightest glimmer of hope for NFL nation in the next few years. The 72-year-old has recently talked about retiring his ramblings and putting down his microphone. For many fans it cannot come soon enough.