Tuesday, August 06, 2002
Heck, Madden and Michaels hit it off
By HOWARD FENDRICH
AP Sports Writer
John Madden gave viewers an early “boom!” and plenty of “hecks” in his “Monday Night Football” debut — and nary a highfalutin' reference.
All in all, Madden's first broadcast for ABC Sports, at the Hall of Fame exhibition game between the Houston Texans and New York Giants in Canton, Ohio, was everything one would have expected and perhaps have hoped for.
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His style was about as different as possible from that favored by his predecessor as a buzz-generating, big-name hire for the most high-profile broadcast booth in sports, comedian Dennis Miller.
The true measure of the success of Madden and “MNF” mainstay Al Michaels, of course, won't come until the TV ratings during the regular season — the show's viewership numbers have declined for seven straight years.
Madden jumped to ABC from Fox in February with a four-year, $20 million deal (only 11 NFL players made more than $5 million last season). The show dumped Miller and analyst Dan Fouts, who stayed with ABC to call college games.
Something that became clear Monday: We're going to be seeing a lot of Madden. During the first commercial break, he and Michaels appeared in an ad plugging ABC programming. Later, he popped up in an ad for athlete's foot medicine.
While Miller was hired two years ago to bring irreverence, Madden was brought aboard with an eye to his years of experience and viewers' familiarity with his style.
In an unusual move, Madden and Michaels eschewed broadcasting a game in the comfort of a studio for practice before taking to the airwaves.
By the sound of things, they didn't need a dress rehearsal.
Granted, in the opening moments, Madden — who coached the Oakland Raiders to the 1977 Super Bowl title — was a bit tentative, rarely speaking as he tried to pick his spots. Late in the first quarter, though, he and Michaels already seemed quite comfortable with who should speak when, something the Michaels-Miller-Fouts trio never quite had right after two seasons together.
After Madden finished a riff about how comfortable No. 1 overall draft pick David Carr looks, Michaels said with a laugh, “How are you doing? Are you getting more comfortable?”
To which Madden replied: “Yeah, I'm comfortable as heck.”
“Me, too,” Michaels said.
(Michaels actually had the biggest difficulty of the night, more than once referring to the “Houston Texas” — dropping the “n.” Hey, it's a new team.)
Michaels, on “Monday Night Football” since 1986, is Madden's first new boothmate in more than two decades. Madden and Pat Summerall were paired at CBS in 1981, then moved to Fox in 1994, along the way becoming the signature voices of NFL games.
When Miller joined “MNF,” his debut was peppered with references to the pope, the Tigris and Euphrates rivers, the Rosetta stone, etc. Here's about as esoteric as Madden got Monday: Telling Paul Tagliabue, “You're like Switzerland, aren't you?” when the NFL commissioner, making a brief appearance in the broadcast booth, was neutral while a touchdown play was being reviewed.
Madden stuck to his schtick — Mr. Plainspoken.
When Texans offensive lineman DeMingo Graham helped spring a long gain in the first quarter, Madden said, “He makes that block right there! Boom!” He proclaimed rookies Carr and Jeremy Shockey “the real deal,” called Aaron Glenn “a heck of a corner,” and declared his stay in Canton “a heck of a weekend.” When a first-year defensive back was beaten on a play, Madden said he “looked like a rookie all the way on that one.”
And while he begins a lot of observations with variations on “so-and-so told me last night,” viewers know two things: Madden understands coaches and players when they talk about football, and he's capable of explaining it simply.
By the end of the first half, the announcing provided by Michaels and Madden was conversational and informative. It had the feel of two guys on bar stools watching the game with you — except these two guys happen to be the pre-eminent play-by-play announcer of the past two decades and the owner of the best career winning percentage for an NFL coach.
Not a bad combination.
———
Howard Fendrich is the TV sports writer for The Associated Press. Write to him at hfendrich@ap.org.
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Heck, Madden and Michaels hit it off