Remembering John Madden: The Time He Said The Fridge Was Slimming Down
Football icon John Madden passed away Tuesday night at the age of 85.
The man was larger than life and probably impacted your life in some way, at least indirectly.
Madden, like all of Illinois, loved the 85 Bears. The colorful personalities and football excellence of Mike Ditka's championship squad spoke to Madden. The internet has been flooded with old videos of John Madden and two of them regarding the mid-80s Bears popped into my timeline that I've never seen before.
The first is this one, where he postulates that William Perry was losing some weight because he's been wearing a lot more T-shirts lately.
The "7" and the "2" are starting to get closer to the middle of his chest.
A great line.
Another first time video for me was this one where Madden breaks down the famous "46" Buddy Ryan defense.
That video really illustrates what people loved about Madden as an analyst. It was a football genius talking to you like you two were just sitting on the couch.
I just finished the John Madden documentary that FOX produced about him tonight when it was re-aired after the news of his passing and that was the common theme throughout everyone that was interviewed. Madden treated everyone as an equal or even better than himself. It was a trait that you couldn't help but admire.
I highly recommend checking it out sometime.
While I loved his commentary, I, like millions of others my age will remember him for his Madden video games. Tecmo football was fun, but Madden added a realness to video game football that had never been seen before. It taught me and millions of others nuances of the game that we would never had known without his video game.
Some of the fondest memories I have are of just 4 guys sitting around a college apartment drinking beers and playing Madden for literally 16 hours straight.
Thanks for the memories coach. You will definitely be missed.
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