The Madden Cruiser Edition

Colin here. On December 28th, the world lost John Madden. For those of a certain generation, his name was synonymous with the iconic football video game played by millions around the world. For others, it was as an omnipresent commentator on the game. Earlier in his career, he was also the coach of the NFL”s Oakland Raiders for ten seasons (1969–1978), winning Super Bowl XI in 1977. 

He was an avid student of football, and this obsession translated into hyper skillful commentary. According to the Times obit: 

Fastidious in his preparation, Madden introduced what is now a standard exercise in the craft — observing practices, studying game film and interviewing coaches and players on Fridays and Saturdays. Come Sundays, he would distill that information into bursts of animated, cogent and often prescient analysis, diagraming plays with a Telestrator, an electronic stylus (whose scribbles and squiggles reflected its handler’s often rumpled appearance) that showed why which players went where.

Also of note, Madden had a serious fear of flying. So for a large portion of his career, he traveled across the United States, from game to game, in a specialized bus called the Madden Cruiser. 

Why is this interesting? 

One of Madden’s favorite books was Travels with Charley, by John Steinbeck, a story of a man who saw America via a camper with his poodle.

For a while, Madden did fly from game to game, lamenting in a Sports Illustrated profile that this way of getting around left a lot of things unseen: “People used to say to me, ‘It must be great coaching and traveling and seeing all the things you do,’ … Well, I’d get on the airplane, and then I’d get off the airplane, get on a bus and go to the hotel. Then the stadium, then the airplane again. I thought I’d traveled all over, but I hadn’t seen anything.  You’ve got to be on the ground to see things.”

The first iteration of the Madden cruiser embarked in 1987. It would change over time, but even from the start it was tricked out, and let the sportscaster see a lot of America that he would have missed hopping from gate to gate, airport to airport. It covered around 80,000 miles a year, with Madden stopping across the country to see America. The large, customized bus wasn’t a very bad way to travel:

It came with a bedroom (queen-sized bed), full bathroom, kitchenette and – and a built-in vacuum cleaner!  On the end, there were two color TVs, phone, intercom, CB radio, two laser-disc players, a stereo system and a videotape machine (remember, this was 1987).

Madden cut a deal with Greyhound for one iteration of the Madden Cruiser, rumored to be a customized $500k bus with a driver on call. And later versions of the bus were created by MCI Coach, a transit company, and sponsored by the likes of Outback Steakhouse. The Cruiser was an attraction in every city it turned up in, and year over year, his popularity grew thanks to the folksy charm and on-the-ground diplomacy for the love of football in cities across America. (CJN)

Quick Links:

• Thom Yorke desert island discs (CJN)

• Loved this from Superorganizers: What worked for me in 2021 (CJN)

• Boomkat’s best of 2021 list (CJN)

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Thanks for reading,

Noah (NRB) & Colin (CJN)

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