Deaths: Harry Reid; John Madden
RIP.
Two very different figures who would not ordinarily be mentioned together have died in tandem.
I’ll say little about Harry Reid, except that when he retired from public life I celebrated his exit.
As for Madden, I can’t say he’s been on my radar screen – not a football fan – but I know that he’s generally quite a beloved figure as coach and sportscaster and so I though people might want to talk about him in the comments.
Madden’s death was particularly poignant because FOX aired a documentary of his life just a few days ago on Christmas Day and it was fantastic and the last few minutes where he watched while numerous greats talked about their memories of him and his impact on football was very moving.
For a young football fan growing up in the 1980s it’s hard to overstate the impact John Madden had. Still have memories of looking through the binoculars at the press box in the old Kingdome when Madden would broadcast a Seahawk game.
Very important cultural figure for sports fans.
The only positive comment which one can reasonably make about Reid is that he grew up in difficult and impoverished circumstances yet managed to raise himself out of poverty, while Madden (while, of course, not personally responsible for the destruction of the NFL through “woke” stupidity) will always be associated with a sport which discredited itself (along with the NBA, MLB, and the NHL), by its own words and its own actions, with every intelligent and thoughtful (former, one hopes) follower of professional athletics, an unimportant and vastly over-estimated form of entertainment which fully deserves to be cast into the dust-bin of history.
Seen elsewhere on the Net apropos of the death of Dingy Harry: “We should only speak good of the dead. Well, he’s dead. Good.”
Madden was entertaining, likable and popularized the turduckan (which is a pretty good example of his style of cheerful spiel).
Harry will get no panegyrics, sincere or otherwise, from me.
Madden seemed to this then football fan quite a lovable character.
On Reid have a uncle at the time who asked me how could I vote for someone who doesn’t pay taxes ( Romney) Saying something you know is a complete lie on floor of Senate is despicable.
I learned long ago not to endear myself to any politician. I know a few, and if I knew them before politics I can be friends with them based on a relationship built on the past. Technically, I’m one as a member of board with taxation authority.
Otherwise, they are civil servants to me, with emphasis on the servant. I wouldn’t even consider Harry Reid a good servant.
The John Madden I recall was an entertainer. I don’t recall his coaching, but as a media personality, he did his job very well and that job was to provide an opinion, on the events he was witnessing, and he did just that and nothing more. You got exactly what you expected from him, and that seems an incredibly high bar these days. The only quirk was his fear of flying, which might have been an issue for his employer, but he rarely discussed it beyond noting the nice bus his employer gave him. He didn’t ask his audience to share his fear or understand it.
I share the views of others here of both Madden and Reid.
I think it likely that they now reside in different neighborhoods.
A couple of comments about John Madden. The first I published on my LinkedIn page.
Do you want to know about leadership, about how to actually get things done? I suggest the quote from Matt Millen about the late John Madden,
“Here’s the thing people don’t know about John. John is probably the brightest guy in the room. He just doesn’t want you to know it. He wants you to think he’s this big, lovable dog you can pet.”
Another comment is that John both wanted to and knew how to work with a genius, or at least he learned to. Having worked with 2 myself, I know that is not easy. Madden was Defensive Coordinator under Don Coryell at San Diego State and later as head coach of the Raiders used to beat Coryell’s Chargers frequently but was a lifelong friend. Here’s Madden at Coryell’s memorial service: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GIeG4s4D6g4.
If you want to delve more into the eccentricities of genius, you can listen to Fred Dryer at the same service: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zYZ2DQwQXkE
That one’s about 20 minutes long, but funny as hell if you give it a listen.
John Madden was a loveable figure: strange to remember as a coach he espoused a particularly brutal smash-’em brand of football; but he never forced anyone to participate, I guess. It was a tough sport when he came into it and he didn’t lower the bar; with the Raiders he probably raised it — how much, I can’t say. Yet he was solicitous for his players’ safety, and opponents’ too. There was no contradiction there in his mind.
In the broadcast booth his loveableness flourished. Unfiltered, garrulous, and so obviously glad to be alive, happy to be there and have a football game to watch. The unwritten rule (or maybe it’s written somewhere) of American sportscasting, is to never let a lull on field go by in silence: talk talk talk without ceasing. That has been a blight on TV sports, but Madden redeemed it by the untethered way he said whatever was on his mind. He wasn’t trying to fill the silence, he didn’t even notice the silence, his thoughts just unspooled from some hidden spring in him.
I haven’t watched TV regularly since 2009. So I’d already gotten over missing Madden. Now I miss him again. RIP
This one minute clip of Madden talking about Troy Aikman’s beard, or lack thereof, was one of many examples of why he was so good, Before him most analysts, and definitely former coaches, were super serious about the game but he had fun but he also knew the game.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NlWbTDFjQCU
“if you can’t say something good, don’t say it at all.”
Women who say that improve my appreciation of my own mother.
My late mom told me as a child, more than once, “if you can’t say something good, don’t say it at all.”
Okay. Will do. I am happy to let Reid speak for himself. From yahoo news . . .
“[C]onsider the 2012 presidential election, when Reid came under fire for falsely accusing Republican presidential nominee Mitt Romney of failing to pay taxes for a decade. Romney lost. Reid didn’t apologize. ‘Romney didn’t win, did he?’ Reid once asked in an interview with CNN.”
I remember the incident well.
Spot on, mom.
https://news.yahoo.com/former-u-sen-harry-reid-013832221.html
I’ve been waiting to hear what Frank Caliendo has to say about Madden.
They do have something in common.
Madden and Reid both didn’t kill themselves.
Nor did Jeffrey Epstein.
he grew up in difficult and impoverished circumstances yet managed to raise himself out of poverty,
He could have done that with a modest law practice in Las Vegas. He spent > 40 years on public payrolls and grew suspiciously wealthy all the while.
Should note that in chained dollars, disposable personal income has nearly quadrupled since 1955. If his income level were at the same percentile of the population where sat his father’s back in the day, he’d be a great deal more comfortable than was his family growing up.
I never knew Madden as a coach that I can recall, only as a broadcaster. He had what I thought was a very good football voice.
I’m still curious Reid’s “exercise band accident” on New Year’s Day 2015, which almost blinded him in one eye and broke several ribs and facial bones. His explanation that the band broke causing him to fall and/or propelled him into several office cabinets causing all the damage sounded about as plausible as Jussy Smollett’s story about being attacked by MAGA supporters carrying a noose and bleach, while Smollett held a Subway sandwich in freezing winter temperatures at 1 am.
In any event the accident caused Reid to reflect on his career and decide not to run for reelection in 2016.
Of course there is no evidence Reid was attacked, however, no reporters bothered to investigate. So, nothing to see here.
Reid did sue the exercise band company but failed to convince a jury to give him damages.
Last night I talked to an old college commune friend. He’s solidly progressive, scared to death of Covid, and complains of internet conspiracy theories, but even he doesn’t believe Epstein committed suicide. The point being that we live in an age where openly weird suspicious things to happen to powerful people, but we may as well be living under Stalin for all we know about what’s really happening.
Reid did sue the exercise band company but failed to convince a jury to give him damages.
For whatever reason, someone in his family threw the band away the day of the ‘accident’.
propelled him into several office cabinets
He said the accident happened in his bathroom at home.
For guys of my generation (graduated high school in the late 70s) football players like “Broadway” Joe Namath (ha! every guy in high school smelled like Brute aftershave even if we were not shaving yet), Roger Staubach, Bob Griese, Ken Stabler, Terry Bradshaw, Dick Butkus, Jimmy Johnson, etc. were the “star” players;
But, John Madden was football. May he rest in peace
What Charles said.
John Madden was the coach of the Oakland Raiders for 10 years. He wasn’t some flash in the pan, he was the real deal. His tenure was the most successful era for that franchise including a record of 103 wins, 32 losses and 7 ties with one Superbowl win. His record constitutes the second highest winning percentage in NFL history…the highest for anyone who coached over 100 games. They only missed being in the playoffs twice during his ten years as coach and never had a losing season during that time.
For comparison, the Raiders have only been IN the playoffs three times in the past 20 years.
In my opinion, he was one of the best coaches in NFL history.
After he retired from coaching, he was incredibly popular and effective as a broadcaster because he was colorful, entertaining and relatable. He put the game in terms that even someone who didn’t know the game could relate to. He was always positive and upbeat and had enthusiasm to spare. He was my all time favorite broadcaster.
I think most younger people know his name because of the video game, but he was much, much more than that. He became the face of the video game because of his entertaining and colorful presence as a commentator and his success as a commentator was built on his reputation as one of the most successful NFL coaches ever.
Not bad for a guy who never played a single down of professional football (he was drafted but was injured in training camp and never played).
“If someone remembers me as a coach, they still call me ‘Coach,’ but if they know me for the video game, they just call me ‘Madden.’”
–John Madden
Fair winds and following seas Coach.
While John Madden coached his teams to play hard-nosed football, he was shocked by the hit that Jack Tatum put on Pats receiver Darrell Stingley in 1978. Madden spent some time with Stingley after his accident. I get the impression that the Tatum hit on Stingley had a lot to do with Madden’s leaving coaching that year.
John Maddeen’s win-loss record was influenced by Al Davis selecting better players than he did in later years. Be that as it may, Madden won, and did so for 10 years, so he wasn’t a mere Al Davis puppet.