ONE LAST “BOOM”: AN ELEGY FOR JOHN MADDEN

John Madden was one of a kind, or one of three kinds maybe. One of the most successful coaches ever, the most influential television sports analyst ever and the inspiration for and voice of the first great sports video game. He was at once the personification of Oakland, coming as he did from gritty, blue collar Daly City, and became an aspirational pitch man to middle America. He was big, bordering on bigger than life.

When I began doing football analysis in Britain, I told myself I could never be another Madden. But what I could try to avoid being like the horde of guys who were not Maddens. That meant trying to see the big picture, as a coach might; working to learn and be prepared; and finally daring to trust my instincts to bring my own knowledge, about football and the wider world, to the game. Which also meant my humour. Actually, it was a lot like trying to be another Madden (Lord knows the networks kept running out former players who thought all they needed was their own version of “Boom”, Madden’s key exclamation while doing replays) or at least showing I’d learned from him.

When we would line up plays to discuss during the US commercial breaks of games Madden did, I would be pleased if we were doing the same play he was coming out of the break to do. I would be almost as pleased if they snuck the same play in before we could get to it…