Tuesday, January 11, 2022
Why
I liked John Madden,
By
Steven P. Marini.
It was a strange irony that John Madden passed away a
couple of days after a documentary paying tribute to the man aired on FS 1.
Although he was eighty-five years old, there was no mention after his passing
that he was in ill health, nothing to suggest that he was near his last days,
so you’d better produce a tribute show while he can still participate in it, as
he did. So, despite his years, when death came it was a shock.
There are two reasons, in my opinion, why Madden was
so successful as a football analyst. One, he was very entertaining about a game
that other analysts take way too seriously. Two, he was highly credible because
he played college football and he was a standout head coach in the NFL, giving
him a knowledge of the game at a high level.
To me, the most important factor was my first reason.
Today, the broadcasters are a bunch of deadpanned lunks who love to hear
themselves talk. They take the game much too seriously and are woefully lacking
in the ability to entertain viewers. They are not even close to John Madden.
The reason for Madden’s success as an entertainer was
his ability to use figurative language. What’s that, you say? Figurative
language is not literal. It uses metaphors, similes and allusions to create an
image in the mind of the listener. Madden also used sounds like “Boom,” and
“Wham,” that added to the image.
My favorite example of Madden’s use of figurative
language came in a TV broadcast many years ago. He was talking about a player
whose name escapes me, but it doesn’t matter. He described the guy as “Just a
big, ol’ lineman.” That’s it. That’s all you need to know about the guy. Every
football fan can picture that player from his simple description.
John Madden wasn’t just describing a player. He was
talking about himself. He was an old school football man. He believed football
was a tough game where players made hard contact and knocked other guys to the
ground. They got their uniforms dirty.
At heart, John Madden was just a big o’l lineman and a
mighty entertaining one at that.
