Honor Your NFL History

another new year of the Fifth Hour. I think this is the third or the fourth year of the Fifth Hour, but the first full year with Danny g Radio, because four hours a night, five days a week or not enough on the overnight show. And we're back in the

Mallard podcast studio. Amazing, amazing, another year upon us. Amazing. Man, Man, I'm gonna have to carry you the way Matt Stafford has been carrying the Rams well unless you well, and he had the game winning drive day, how dare you had the game winning drive against the Ravens And I'll just jump on your back and I will carey. I know you're very nervous because the Raiders have a playoff

game on Sunday, night. I know you're very concerned about that, because you know, the Raiders are the kind of team that will go on a run and win the Super Bowl unless they're not. Yeah. Well, it's it's been quite a ride the past few weeks because ever since that COVID game in Cleveland, it seems like they've been playing a playoff game every single week. I'm now, what one, two, three, this is gonna be the fourth Raiders playoff game. Yeah, well, and that would be the first if if they actually

make the playoffs. Derek Carr, who will who will end one of the great streaks of utility having never started a playoff game exactly. He should have started that game in Texas in but of course that's the famous year It's broke, It's broke, Well that was that was one of the worst playoff games of all time, dude, because we had what was the quarterback's name, Ben oh Well,

I remember that the Texans played that tall guy brock Oswi. Yeah, with con was a Cook, Connor Cook, the third string His name popped up he had That game against the Texans for Connor Cook was one of the five worst games ever ever for an NFL quarterback. I mean, they brought it up because Ben Roethlisberger in the Monday night game was horrific and it's I'm still annoyed by the media coverage on ESPN. He was going out and puking on the field, and they didn't want to mention it.

They didn't want to bring it up because it was supposed to be his night. But it was like, my god, it was one of the worst games I've ever seen, tearing at the end. All that matters is the w Yeah, exactly, exactly. Well, no, no, that's not all that matters. There's there's more that matters.

There's a few things that matter. But it was like it was just total there's crickets, NonStop crickets, and it was like, come on, please shut play, and they wouldn't shut up, not they just kept going on and on, and it was just like Ben Roethlisberger. Look, he walked off the field. Ben Roethlisberger went in the locker room. Oh, I think he sat on the bench on one of those heaters in that nice Oh, it's so wonderful, it's so wait a minute, Ben just took a dump at halftime.

I know. That's very very impressive, very very impresient anyway, So I thought on this. I was away for for a little while and John Madden passed away, and if I had been at my catbird Seed, I would have done a proper tribute. I would have done a monologue. I would have done you know. You know, we did the six lines, and uh, I couldn't do any of that because I was away. And I feel like when you when you come back, you know, you want to start fresh, and so I didn't get a chance to

do it. So I wanted to. I'm sure you have some John Madden story. A raider guy. I'm not a raider guy. I know Madden was before your time, but you you grew up in Northern California and Madden has been a staple of Northern California and all that. So I I only have one vague passing reference where I was in the same presence of of John Madden. And and then I thought we'd place some of his Hall of Fame speech because I thought that really sums up the essay of John Mann. Plus I wanted to hear

it again, so you know, why not? Right, that's perfect? And now, did you have any run ins with John Madden? I met him briefly. It was years ago when I was working in Northern California and I got to take part in a Raiders Raider at event in Alameda, Raider at Yats and they had some Raider legends involved at the Raider facility and John Madden showed up. He was bigger than any of the other legends, because the dude was bigger than life. I got to shake his hand

very briefly. He was very nice to everybody. But it's not like I got to sit down and talk to the guy. But man, just the presents like you felt him walk into the room. And I know we've heard so many stories over the past couple of weeks, but it is true. When everybody kept saying he was larger than life and humble, I just can't say it any better than that. Yeah, and I never got the chance to to meet Madden. I met most of the people that I kind of grew up in idolized, with very

few exceptions, but Madden is on that list. When I was a kid, my dad took me to a ram Fort game and it was at the Big A and the Madden Cruiser was was parked out in front, and this is like a big deal. Uh. I mean because I remember hearing about the Madden Cruise the days before social media, and I've never seen really a photo of it. And uh, you know, eventually Madden at down the line. It was like a moving billboard. They had like corporate sponsors for the Madden Cruiser and they put big logo

for out Back Steakhouse on it. But but it's actually before those days, and I remember being a kid. I'm such a nerd. I'm at the Big a I'm gonna Ram game, you know, a long time ago. The Niners are still the dynasty of the NFL, and the Rams where their arrival. But they rarely beat them. They've usually

beat them. They beat them in in Candlestick. They did better in Candlestick than they did at the Big But anyway, I at the game, and I still remember I have vague memories of the game, but I remember the Madden Cruiser. Seeing it in the parking lot, I was like, Wow, this is the great John Madden. And as a kid,

was like, oh my god, John Matt. Everything this guy said and it was just like John Matt, I mean, come on, and it was it was a big to do and all that, so I remember that, And unfortunately, when I got in the media business, I only covered a few NFL games in San Diego when I was working down there with the Chargers, and then I had a hook up for while. I had a hook up where I could go to any Charger game I wanted, but Madden rarely did the Chargers and uh. And then

I remember when the Raiders moved back to Oakland. I went and covered a game, but the Raiders game or two, but the Raiders weren't very good, and he wasn't doing Oakland Raider games, so I never and the NFL was gone for the first twenty years. By the time the NFL came back, Madden was no longer broadcast, so that

was it. You know. Watching the documentary, one of the many things that stood out was how he basically started NFL on Fox pretty they were able to talk him into it, and then everybody followed him over to Fox. You know, they were known for what married with children and the Simpsons, and then suddenly he gave them instant credibility. Yeah. And when Madden answers the falle that's and he actually takes the call from from Fox. I mean that that was huge because I remember in those days, Fox was

the outsider. It was ABC, CBS, NBC some combination of that. And then nobody even considered Fox legitimate and uh yeah, and people were goofing on them when they got the NFL deal. They're like, yo, this is not gonna last. Nobody's gonna watch the NFL on Fox and what is and and and all the remember they had the robot thing that they tossed out there and which they still

have by the way. Um and yeah, Madden was was huge, and remember him in pat Some are all uh and it was like the perfect combination because Madden wouldn't shut up and some are all rarely said anything, so it was like it was perfect where Madden would say, handoff Emmett, touchdown Cowboys, you know, it would be like a seventy yard run and yeah, exactly. And then but the rest of the time was just John Madden waxing poetic. And I went back, I don't know if you fell in

this rabbit hole when Madden passed away. I went back on the YouTube and I fell down a rabbit hole and people were like, what are you doing? What are you doing? Swamp? It was the YouTube swamp. Actually, I was like, I wasn't there, and uh, but I watched like a thirty minute clip. It was. It was all highlights of John Madden, and like some of the stuff I remembered, a lot of it I didn't remember. And then I watched another one, and then another one popped

up and I ended up. I probably spent I had nothing else to do because I've been sick, but I probably spent two hours watching John Madden highlights and I loved every second of it. That was great. Did you see the clip where it was Madden's very first time on camera with Pat summer All? I saw the one he was he originally were with Costas. There was a clip I saw with Costas. I didn't see the first

Summer All one. I saw the one where he there was a pigeon at RFK Stadium in Washington and he did like to play by play and and that whole thing. But there were so many amazing, amazing calls and uh. And that's the other thing about Madden, like everywhere he went. You know remember that that the book you know, how to Win friends and Influence people? That was Maddie, right. He loved everybody and he remembered he took time out of his schedule to ask questions and get to know people.

And that's the kind of stuff people will remember. You know, they're not gonna remember all the xs and ohs and all the other nonsense, but that's the kind of stuff that actually touches people's lives where they're like, wow, that's a big deal. I spent half of my childhood in southern California and the other half in northern California. And as loved as Madden was worldwide, he got even more love in the Bay Area because obviously that's where he

hailed from. Um, he lived in Pleasanton, and he was he was also attached to Daily City. And so where's where is Pleasanton? For those for those that haven't been, I've been to the Bay Area, But for those outside, like, where is that close to? Because that's not that well known past Livermore on your way to San Jose. On the way you got to know the way to San Jose. Yeah, right before Fremont is Pleasanton and it's it is very beautiful, well before the drought, green rolling hill and uh and

very beautiful homes up in the hills. I could see why he chose that part of the Bay Area to live. Um. But yeah, you would hear lots of stories about him there in the Bay Area, and he would hop on some Bay Area radio stations from time to time. So as a kid, I remember hearing him on local radio stations in the Bay doing Collins. Yeah. I think he did that even up until a year ago or so. I think he was still calling in, like on the news station to give an NFL update or something like that.

You might remember there were some stations who carried the Madden Minute. Yeah, I do remember that, a syndicated John Madden radio vignette. Did they do those still those radio vignettes or is that like a stone age? I remember Bob Costas did it, uh? I Paul Harvey. Paul Harvey. I worked with a guy that replaced Howard Cosell. He did a like a little three minute speaking of sport, Howard coast Sell, the old you know, nineteen seventies, sixties broadcaster.

I don't. I don't think they do that though, do they? Well? I know Dan Patrick does one. Really, Yeah, I'm not. I'm not sure about anybody else in the sports world. It's a good point though, Yeah, it's kind of a lost art, but it was a cool touch on radio stations when we were a kid, because it was something like, I remember our AM radio stations would all carry the Paul Harvey syndication. Oh well, Paul Harvey was huge. Yeah,

that was the most listened to guy in radio. So even if they didn't have Paul Harvey on their station, they could still have a touch of his personality by carrying his little syndicated clips. And now you're going to know the rest of the story. Paul Harvey, good Day's got a sound like him with my voice all oh man. The other thing about Madden, I know, the sort of Tommy lived in the same house in Fullerton that he bought when he originally became, you know, somewhat well known

with the Dodgers. He bought a home in the Fullerton area in Orange County, and I believe he lived there the same house until he died. I wondered, Madden made a lot of money, like a ton of money doing TV. I did he did he live in the same house? You know, if he moved around or lived in the same basic house that he bought when he first became with the Raiders back in the day. That's a good question. I'm not sure about that. Yeah, I mean I bet

he probably did. Madden seems like the kind of guy that will be like, all right, I like this area, I like this house. I got two kids, and the house is big enough, so I'm not gonna move around. And plus the fact that John Madden was able to pull off not flying and and reached the very top broadcasting. And you know, Dan and I I've obviously experienced this. If if you're not at a certain level, they will

not do anything for you. Uh, in terms of bending over travel wise, that mean it's just no, you're gonna fly, You're gonna stay at this hotel, You're gonna do this, that and the other thing. And that's just the way it is, and that's the way it's gonna be. And and Madden was such a great order of the NFL. They were like, wow, it's John Maddie. All right, well look the other one. This is John Maddie. And uh, it's crazy, crazy that he was able to do that.

And and then that became his thing. As I talked about, I was a kid and I still remember seeing the Madden Cruiser. That is dope. And you think you see the very first broadcaster who got um multimillionaire contract with every single thing he wanted. That's a good question. I

he was the highest paid NFL broadcaster. But and really the Fox el cemented that cemented that because Fox paid him like whatevery, they basically gave him a blank check, and because they were so desperate to get John Madden. Otherwise that would have sullied the uh the deal they got when they got the CBS contract. But um, I'm too young for Howard Cosell was he I'm sure he got paid a lot. Did he have the kind of pull that Madden had? I know a little bit about Cosell.

He was before my time, But I he was not the highest paid guy. But the salaries aren't anything like a Madden made more than Cosell. Yeah, I mean, and now it's just you know, cuckoo for cocoa puffs with Tony Romo and all these guys are making like eighteen million dollars a million dollars a game, basically insane and that nuts crazy nuts were the other duos that come to mind. They're Madden and Pat Summer. All they were

a soundtrack in a lot of ways. Especially being in the in Northern California for a while as kid, because they called a ton of forty games and a ton of Cowboy games. Obviously, um they were the a team they had the game of the Week for for Fox. But also I guess as a little kid, the other duos that come to mind for me would be like dick Enberg and Dan Fouts. Um, you know. I it got me thinking of some of the best duos in the booth that we grew up with. Yeah, dick Enberg, Yeah,

very nice guy. I met dick Enburg at a Padre Dodger game. He was getting soft served that's a plumb pussy right the press box, and he was very very polite. But Enburg remember I like more of the obscure broadcasters because I remember Charlie Jones from Oh Yeah Yeah, Um Don Crickey who always did really shitty games, as I remember, but it was it was something about Don Crickey hit this very distinctive delivery. Yeah, and I used to mimic it when I was a kid because I'm a nerd

and I remember Don Cricky doing those games. I'm trying to think of some of the other the well. Hank stram On radio. He did radio, he did TV also, Hank Stram, like Monday Night with Joe Buck. They were pretty good back in the day. I'm trying to think it's funny that we both brought up dick Enberg because he is one of the voices where no matter what game he was calling, it sounded more important because he

was on the call. He could yeah, yeah, he could make a twenty yard completion sound like a world championship. It's guys, like I guess NBA version would be Marv Albert a big three pointer. Uh, you know, he could make a game sounds so much more important and then maybe it was. And I think about like al Michaels to me is like the one of the last guys. You hear al Michaels do the open, It's like a big deal. But I think that's because we grew up

with those guys. I wonder like if the kids today are they gonna have that same experience when Joe Buck does a game, is it Is it the same experience as Jack You know, I I reminisced about Jack Buck back in the day, one of the guys I looked up to. But but Joe Buck, I mean, he's been around for our Jim Nance at at CBS. I mean, these are the these are the guys that people have grown up with and how many more years are they

gonna be doing it? Yeah? And you know, so much of the talk about the kids nowadays, they obviously just know John Madden from the video game. They were not really aware of him as a broadcaster, and certainly we're not aware of him as a head coach in the NFL. And even a lot of adults were like, wow, I had no idea he had a winning percentage like that and dominated the uh, the division he was in for so many years. That was kind of nice to go

down Raiders memory Lane with all those famous games. Games he coached were so famous they have names for the games like the Sea of Hands and uh Ghost to the Post and all those kind of games, the Holy Roller, Immaculate Reception and all. You know, that's pretty cool because besides Tuck Rule, how many games from the past thirty years do we have like a name for the game that we refer to. Yeah, and part of that is also the era, right, I mean they don't. They don't

do that anymore. Yeah, I don't. I don't think so, because yeah, you're right. It was very much NFL films. And you know, we watched the NFL in a in a different way than we do out. Yeah. Now it's like you you're soaking in for maybe forty eight hours, and then you're onto the next game. Right, It's like that game has died, moving on. It's like playing Donkey Kong the next game. You forget about the old game.

And uh uh yeah, I mean it was. It was much different, and it's all social media and consuming stuff obviously, all right, So I wanted to hear a little bit of John Madden. He gave one of the great Hall of Fame speeches. So I'm not sure how much of this we're gonna play, Danny, but and and we'll react. I can pause this and and we can play it and react to it. We'll see how this works. But this is way back in twenty oh six, John Madden. We're not gonna play the full speech, but is Pro

Football Hall of Fame in Triman ceremony. So just imagine a sunny day Canton, Ohio. Al Davis had introduced John Madden. So I was still around, and uh, here is some of what madness. He thanked everyone I'm not gonna play that part. He started out thinking everyone like the people that live in cant Ohio, like everyone. Uh, And then he went into something he experienced at the Hall of Fame, and this this is I thought. The first a few minutes was pretty good, you know. I was. I was

reading the the NFL stats in history book. And and that's what when you you do when you write a bus when you don't fly, you read, you know, big, big, old thick books like that. But they had a chapter on history and the first page and the chapter of history was a list of the Hall of Famers. And I said, that's right, they got it. That is our history. The players that played before us, the players that played when they didn't have face masks, when they had leather helmets,

when got this thing started. The players that played in smaller stadiums, you know, didn't have the medical thing, didn't have anything. They laid the foundation for this great game and we should never forget it. I say the NFL teams that you want to honor your history more. Sometimes we tend to get caught up in the players and the games. Now honor your history, bing bring back the

Hall of Famers, Bring back their teammates. Let the fans show their appreciation to the history, because I know that, you know, going in with these guys is is so special, and you know, we'll always talk about immortality, all right. And this next part, this is the classic John Madden about what happens at night He took a page. Remember that movie Night at the Museum. Yeah, Robin Williams back

in the day. Well, John Madden must have seen that movie because his next this next part of the rand, this was I would say this is the signature part of John Madden Hall of Fame. In frame speech, some some of us think maybe we will be immortal, that will live forever, but when you really think about it, we're not going to be. But I say this, and this is overwhelming whelming and mind blowing that through this bust with these guys in that hall, we will be forever.

And you know, when you think of that, it just blows your mind that it's forever and ever and ever. And you have to stay with me a moment on this one. This is a little goofy here, and you're gonna say, oh, there's old Matt and being being goofy again. But I started thinking about this after I got voted in the Hall of Fame. And the more I think about it, the more I think it's true. And now I know it's true, and I believe it. Here's the

deal I think over in the Hall of Fame. During the day, the people go through and they look at everything, and then at night to the time when they all leave, and all the fans and all the visitors leave the Hall of Fame, then there's just the workers. And the workers start to leave, and then it can center is just one person. That person turns out the light, locks the door. I believe that the busts talk to each other, and I can't wait for that conversation. I really can't.

The Vincla Marts do rock me? To you, to Reggie, to Walter Payton, to the to the guys that you want to say? What to all my players, Max players? Yeah, we will will be there forever and ever and ever talking about whatever, and and that's that's what I believe, and that's what I think is gonna happen. And no one's ever gonna talk to me out of that. Well. They have you ever been to the Pro Football Hall of Fame? No, it's on the bucket list. I would

love to go there. It's funny he was talking about the bust in all of them there at Canton, because that was really my only complaint. As I look at his I don't think they did a very good job on his bronze statue. The likeness. You don't think that looks like John Madden. It's like it's a younger John mad I guess so I think that's I think that's Madden when he was coaching. Yeah, it's not. You're right, though, we don't know John Madden like that. We know the

old John Madden. We know the old, fun loving broadcasters. We don't know the young uh, you know, up and coming coach John Madden. That guy's foreign to us like that, Who the hell's that guy? Exactly? He's one of the guys, just like Betty White, who we talked about before the holiday where you know you killed her by the way, congratulations Betty White. You were magazine. You were responsible for the demise of Betty White. How dare that was the

That was the People magazine cover curse that killed her? Um, but we only knew her as an old person. I mean she was old on the Mary Tyler Moore Show. The same with John Madden. When I was a little kid, he was already old as a broadcaster. So you're right, I never saw him as a young person on television. Yeah,

well I did see. I was watching small game shows because I'm a loser, and they put some old uh what was it the and there's old celebrity game shows where they have you know, celebrity panel and you can pick the celebrity and the answer of the question. And so Betty White was on that and that's why they replayed them. And I looked at the other celebrities, and everyone else had died at least forty years ago. She

outlived everybody. And these people were her contemporaries, and you know, they were dropped it in the in the or the eighties, you know. And sah, her husband was a famous host of one of those games show, Alan Lundon, Right, is that the is that Lundon or something like that? Is that the one? I know? It was Alan? Uh? He died in and you can see here she talked about how she couldn't wait to be with him again. Uh

when she finally passed on. Yeah. So, and there was a report that came out a few days ago saying that that was her last word his name. Really, yeah, because she wanted to go join him. Uh. But when I was reading that he passed away in nineteen eighty one, I was like, holy sh it, what a long time to long for your partner. Yeah. In a way, it's like that movie The Green Mile where um Tom Hank's character got a little touch of everlasting life and lived

past everybody. His family all passed on and he was still alive. Yeah, it is a it's a weird thing. You want to live as long as you can. But then at some point, and we've talked about this before, like a big part of life is your friends and your you know, your social network and your your family. And if if you're alive and you outlive everyone, God, that's gonna be awkward, right, I mean, that's it's a blessing and a curse. It's at the same time, it

really is. Anyway, we gotta get out of here, Danny, But we will be back with a brand new Saturday podcast, a never before told story. I will debut I did not speak about this on radio. I did not tweet about this. I did not do I'll explain why I didn't do that stuff. But I'll get into all of that a never before told story on the Saturday podcast. If you're a fan of The Mallard Show on the Overnight,

you're not gonna want to miss it. But anyway, thank you, Danny appreciate that, and we will catch you next time. See Yes, Saturday