[listenallyall]

I cannot just let your story sit here unchallenged on the day this great man died. First of all, John Madden lived his whole life as just a simple guy who wants a sandwich. He was as blue-collar as they come. The clothes he wore. Took a bus (sure, his own bus, but still) everywhere.

More importantly, perhaps he cut a line, I wasn't there and don't know. But literally everybody he worked with, who interacted with him for years or decades, insists he was gracious, generous, and kind. It's not right to mention your single interaction without countering with the thousands of people who loved this man.

One more anecdote. In 1978, during a preseason game, Jack Tatum of Madden's Raiders put a hit on New England's Darryl Stingley that paralyzed him for life. Madden, not New England's coach, and not Tatum, visited Stingley in the hospital that night. And the next day. And the day after that. And regularly, for weeks and months. He opened his house to Stingley and his wife. He returned from away games and immediately drove up to check on Stingley. He had no obligation, no responsibility, he just thought it was important to do.