John Madden: A Class Act

Derrick Weathersby by Contributor Written on April 16, 2009
CANTON, OH - AUGUST 05:  Coach John Madden poses with his bust after his induction during the Class of 2006 Pro Football Hall of Fame Enshrinement Ceremony at Fawcett Stadium on August 5, 2006 in Canton, Ohio.  (Photo by Doug Benc/Getty Images) (Photo by Doug Benc/Getty Images)

I'm deeply saddened that John Madden has decided to retire.  John Madden has reached the one word status of pop culture. He was on the same level as Madonna, Cher, Jordan, Tiger, OJ, well you get the picture. All you had to say was Madden.

Tuesday through Saturday, Madden simply meant a festive evening with a few of your closest male buddies, a lot of curse words, and sometimes hurt feelings and pockets. Madden has ended friendships and started new ones. Madden might be more responsible for bad grades and fist fights than rap music.

On Sunday, Madden was the preacher after church. He was the football gospel like never before. For that, Madden will truly be missed. Mostly, for the great words that he has added to our vocabulary. 


http://sports.espn.go.com/nfl/news/story?id=4073253

Here's to the man that brought us the word "cankle," the phrase "No No Go Go", and excited us with "Boom!"

Top John Madden quotes:

"When your arm gets hit, the ball is not going to go where you want it to."


"I think perhaps it's a relationship that's not marked by a great need to interfere with each other all the time,"

"They got to Joey Harrington physically and they got to him mentally."

"If you see a defense team with dirt and mud on their backs they've had a bad day."

"The fewer rules a coach has, the fewer rules there are for players to break."

"Coaches have to watch for what they don't want to see and listen to what they don't want to hear."



Cankle Defined:

An ankle of a fat person in which the the ankle and the calf appear seamless.

No No Go Go Defined:

The term referring to when a football coach initially tells his playmaker player to not do anything stupid (the "no no" part) but when the player does not listen, and ends up making a huge play, the coaches new words are "go go!"

Defined as by John Madden, 11-12-06:
*player catches ball in the middle of the endzone on a kickoff, starts to run towards the other end of the field*
Coach: Jackson.. NO NO!
*player reaches the 50 yard mark running full speed with two opponents behind him*
Coach: GO! GO!
*player scores touchdown*
Coach: I knew he would do that all along, good play call, 'eh? The ol' No No Go Go trick.
(0)
...
Share This  
Crop_45x45
or to post this comment

0 Comments

There are no comments yet. Get the conversation started by leaving the first comment

Loading more comments...
posted just now
  • Loading...
  • Nobody has liked this comment yet
Cancel

This comment and all replies have been deleted This comment has been deleted Undo delete

29
reads

0
comments

written on April 16, 2009 Opinion

The best newsletter on the web

Subscribe Now

We will never share your email address


CBS Sports Official Partner
Certain photos copyright © 2009 by Getty Images.
Any commercial use or distribution without the express written consent of Getty Images is strictly prohibited.