Those closest to John Madden remember favorite moments on Thanksgiving Day
LOS ANGELES — The stories people tell about John Madden are like the side dishes at Thanksgiving dinner.
They're memorable, comforting, warm and, though not meals in themselves, give you a flavor for this larger-than-life character who made the dizzying ascent from NFL coach to pop-culture icon.
Madden, who died three days after last Christmas, will be honored by the NFL on Thanksgiving, with special broadcast tributes during the games on CBS, Fox and NBC, all networks for whom he worked.
Whether it was using the telestrator to diagram how the New York Giants would dump a Gatorade bucket onto the head of victorious coach Bill Parcells, using the side of his hand like a knife to cut into a turducken or simply turning the broadcast booth into the Temple of Boom!, Madden always left a lasting impression.
"John would say something on the air that would take 12 seconds, and people would still be talking about it 40 years later," said Drew Esocoff, who directed those "Sunday Night Football" games called by Al Michaels and Madden.
In keeping with that, The Los Angeles Times reached out to an array of people who knew Madden best to collect stories about him, among them NFL commissioner Roger Goodell, Dallas Cowboys owner Jerry Jones, former Raiders offensive lineman Henry Lawrence, Hall of Fame quarterback Peyton Manning, Michaels and Madden's son, Mike.
Some of their favorite
