My John Madden story

[RonnieT24]

Most of you if you've read my posts over the years know that I used to live in the San Francisco Bay Area.. I lived there for 30 years.. No I never had the pleasure of meeting Coach Madden.. but I did get to hear him on the radio every morning while driving to work every morning for most of that 30 years.. He had a little 15 minute spot on one of the local radio stations which I couldn't really start my day without. It was great.. But that's no big deal.. We all got to hear (and see) John Madden a million times.. My funny story was when I got a chance to sit in my company's luxury box during a game at Candlestick Park between the 49ers and the Browns.. I had never had the chance to watch a game like that and haven't since.. They brought you all the food you could eat and all the drinks you could down. It was great.. What made it interesting was that they piped the network satellite feed into the suite.. I didn't know it was the network satellite feed until the first commercial break in the game.. They stopped the game.. the players stood around but when I looked up at the TV screens the picture stayed on Madden and Summeral as did the sound.. so during that entire commercial break we got to see and hear the "off camera/off mic" conversation between the two of them. It wasn't a really great game.. but from that point on the commercial breaks became must see TV for me. For that three hours I got to feel like I was in the broadcast booth with Pat Summeral and John Madden. We heard their jokes, their burps, all of it. I don't know if they still do that at games but it was really cool. It also confirmed for me that what John Madden did on camera was not an act. He was the same dude whether the cameras were rolling or not. And I appreciated that about him. He was one of those rare people who "got it." He never tied to impress anybody.. He didn't have to.. Rest in Peace, Coach.

 

[Acceptablename]

Most of you if you've read my posts over the years know that I used to live in the San Francisco Bay Area.. I lived there for 30 years.. No I never had the pleasure of meeting Coach Madden.. but I did get to hear him on the radio every morning while driving to work every morning for most of that 30 years.. He had a little 15 minute spot on one of the local radio stations which I couldn't really start my day without. It was great.. But that's no big deal.. We all got to hear (and see) John Madden a million times.. My funny story was when I got a chance to sit in my company's luxury box during a game at Candlestick Park between the 49ers and the Browns.. I had never had the chance to watch a game like that and haven't since.. They brought you all the food you could eat and all the drinks you could down. It was great.. What made it interesting was that they piped the network satellite feed into the suite.. I didn't know it was the network satellite feed until the first commercial break in the game.. They stopped the game.. the players stood around but when I looked up at the TV screens the picture stayed on Madden and Summeral as did the sound.. so during that entire commercial break we got to see and hear the "off camera/off mic" conversation between the two of them. It wasn't a really great game.. but from that point on the commercial breaks became must see TV for me. For that three hours I got to feel like I was in the broadcast booth with Pat Summeral and John Madden. We heard their jokes, their burps, all of it. I don't know if they still do that at games but it was really cool. It also confirmed for me that what John Madden did on camera was not an act. He was the same dude whether the cameras were rolling or not. And I appreciated that about him. He was one of those rare people who "got it." He never tied to impress anybody.. He didn't have to.. Rest in Peace, Coach.

Good story honestly I forgot what a power house he was.

 

[Flamma]

Most of you if you've read my posts over the years know that I used to live in the San Francisco Bay Area.. I lived there for 30 years.. No I never had the pleasure of meeting Coach Madden.. but I did get to hear him on the radio every morning while driving to work every morning for most of that 30 years.. He had a little 15 minute spot on one of the local radio stations which I couldn't really start my day without. It was great.. But that's no big deal.. We all got to hear (and see) John Madden a million times.. My funny story was when I got a chance to sit in my company's luxury box during a game at Candlestick Park between the 49ers and the Browns.. I had never had the chance to watch a game like that and haven't since.. They brought you all the food you could eat and all the drinks you could down. It was great.. What made it interesting was that they piped the network satellite feed into the suite.. I didn't know it was the network satellite feed until the first commercial break in the game.. They stopped the game.. the players stood around but when I looked up at the TV screens the picture stayed on Madden and Summeral as did the sound.. so during that entire commercial break we got to see and hear the "off camera/off mic" conversation between the two of them. It wasn't a really great game.. but from that point on the commercial breaks became must see TV for me. For that three hours I got to feel like I was in the broadcast booth with Pat Summeral and John Madden. We heard their jokes, their burps, all of it. I don't know if they still do that at games but it was really cool. It also confirmed for me that what John Madden did on camera was not an act. He was the same dude whether the cameras were rolling or not. And I appreciated that about him. He was one of those rare people who "got it." He never tied to impress anybody.. He didn't have to.. Rest in Peace, Coach.

That is great. Yeah, I think anyone could tell John was being himself. You can't come up with the stuff he said otherwise. I watched the story on him and they said he was not warm to the idea of that job. I'm guessing what be basically did was be himself and see if it worked out. Since it did he started to love it. Who wouldn't? Your story kind of helps confirm my guess.