We phoned him at home. He talked for an hour, all while two large dogs barked around him. They never quit, but it didn't phase Madden. He talked and talked - yeesh - we practically couldn't get rid of him. In the end, one conclusion became obvious: He was the same guy as seen on TV.
I believe that was Madden's gift. He loved football with a child's passion and never stopped marveling over his incredible luck - being paid to watch games. He would talk football with anybody, at any time, and be happy.
In that way, he reminded me more of Phil Rizzuto than any other broadcaster.
In an industry of plastic personalities, nobody was ever more authentic, more real, than they.
For boomers, these are perilous times, twilight of the gods. Charlie Watts. Michael Nesmith. Joan Didion. Yeesh. It's a generational "Proceed to checkout." Last week, Bruce Springsteen sold his music catalogue for $500 million - more money than he'll have time to spend it. I don't blame him. What does he need with old songs, when he can buy another boat?
Still, it will mean weathering strange advertising jingles. Steel yourself for:
"It aint no sin to be glad you use Dial.”
“Show a little faith, there’s magic in the night. You’re sure a beauty when I’m drinkin’ Coors Light.”
“Cramps like ours… Baby, they’ll be gone with Tums!”
And others...
Bob Dylan: “Come all without, come all within! You’ll not stay nowhere like the Comfort Inn.”
“When backache hurts you to the bone, EVERYBODY MUST GET DOAN’S!”
Mick Jagger: “Pleased to scratch you! Hope you guess my name! ‘Cuz what’s itchin’ you soon be gone with Lanacane.”
Elton John: “It seems to me, you lived your life like a candle in the wind… ever glowin’, lookin’ healthy… takin’ Ultra Slim.”
Michael Stipe: (for AAMCO) “That’s me at the corner. That’s me at the stop light, losin’ my transmission…”
Helen Reddy: “I am strong. I am invincible. I am Garman.”
RIP, everybody. Yeah, it's dark. But the days are getting longer.
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11 comments:
You should be in advertising el duque LOL...
Advertising? Isn't that what's Duque is doing here?
I was in advertising for 40 years, and when that REM song came out I rewrote the chorus as...you guessed it..."Losing My Transmission."
So either Duque should've been in advertising or I should've been a journalist. Or we're both deranged.
Please, no wagering.
This was hilarious, Duque! And thank God you WEREN'T in advertising.
JM, trust me: NOBODY should be a journalist. I kid, I kid! But tough, tough profession these days.
And Duque, gotta differ with you on one small point. The greatest Super Bowl coach, in my humble opinion, was someone Madden greatly admired: Vince Lombardi.
I came to believe this after watching some special on the first Super Bowl. Fred "The Hammer" Williamson was on it a lot, and he kept expressing disbelief that his Kansas City Chiefs had been blown out by the Packers. He just couldn't figure out what had happened.
I thought at first this was just the usual sour grapes, from a man who was singularly humiliated—knocked out by a guy named Donny!—in that first game.
But look at the game films sometime. Williamson is right. KC is a bigger, younger, faster team than Green Bay was. The same was mostly true the next year with Oakland.
The whole idea that the NFL was years ahead of the AFL was mostly the legacy of those two games. By the next year, the Jets were taking apart Baltimore, and then the Chiefs bounced back to run roughshod over a very tough Minnesota team.
The whole difference was the Packers' game plans. They're blitzing all the time at unexpected moments, throwing long on third-and-one (almost unheard of in pro football at the time), and constantly unsettling both of those incredibly talented, well-coached teams.
The year Lombardi left, of course, the Pack collapsed. They looked like the old, slow team they had become—and St. Vincent went on to turn around Washington, before succumbing to cancer.
The man was a magician.
Re: Madden Thanks for sharing the Madden story. It's nice that he didn't disappoint. Sometimes it's not good to meet your heroes. He will be missed.
Re: Ad songs. Very funny!
Here are two more...
The Temptations: I guess you'd say... what can take my pain away... Midol. (Midol) Talking 'bout Mi-dooool (Midol)
Led Zepplin: When she get's there she knows that the chicken is fried and it's covered with herbs and spices... ohhhh... ohhhh...
And she's buy-y-ing Kentucky Fried Chicken.
Just to be upfront - I sold both of those in the 80's to a comedian who shall remain nameless out of respect. (Because I'm ok with the concept that comedians write all of their own material.)
Re: Lombardi
I think this review says it all...
"This rest stop is much nicer than I was expecting it to be! It is the last stop in NJ before you make it to NY. The food options are limited - there's a Popeyes, Pret, market and small Dunkin station. This means that on the weekends or travel days, this place is busy and there are long lines. However, I was impressed with the seating, it is updated, there are areas so get out your computer and do work...and even massage chairs (which were all surprisingly taken)."
Hilarious, Doug K.! And yeah, what a great idea my native state came up with: if you're an outstanding New Jerseyan, they name a bathroom/fast food restaurant after you.
"I think that I shall never see
A rest stop prettier than the one they named for me.
Unless it's that for Vince Lombardi,
Or perhaps that one for Jon Bon Jovi..."
Ah, The Jon Bon Jovi Restroom or as it's known to locals. "The Jon John." I hear it's mostly used by followers of Q.
You talking about that Jon Bon Jovi rest stop on the, what is it, the Garden State? Or is it the Jersey Turnpike? I think it's the Garden State Pkway.
I think the Yankees should sell naming rights to individual urinals in the Stadium. Pay 5 grand and people can read your name on a plaque while they are pissing.
AND they should brand every hot dog with a name, to be determined by whatever corporate entity will pay the largest sum.
Come on up to Verizon ...
I think the rats have already claimed naming rights on the hot dogs. And I wouldn't want to mess with them.
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