John Madden parks the Cruiser for a week
Two-and-a-half years ago, I asked the (admittedly) dumb question, "Could Frank Caliendo take John Madden's place?" At the time, my contention was that Caliendo's loopy Madden impression was no longer that far off reality, and that Madden had become such a caricature of himself that Frank could have stepped in and no one would have known the difference.If NBC Sports president Dick Ebersol had a sense of daring, he could have tried that experiment this Sunday night, as Madden is going to sit out NBC's broadcast of the Buccaneers-Seahawks game in Tampa. The week off was Ebersol's idea; last night's game was in San Diego, making a cross-country trek for Madden and his famous Cruiser (he doesn't fly) right before a week off, as NBC defers to the World Series.
The executive proposed the idea to Madden when the schedule came out, but Madden only said yes a couple of weeks ago. According to the network, this is the first time Madden's missed a regular-season broadcast since he began on CBS in 1980, a 476-game streak that even Brett Favre can't match.
Unfortunately, Ebersol has decided to have Cris Collinsworth take Madden's place alongside Al Michaels in the Sunday Night Football booth. Don't get me wrong; Collinsworth is a great analyst. I just would have rather heard Caliendo in that spot. I guess it's just as well; Calliendo's Madden impression has been slipping lately, anyway.
[via Watchdog]

10 Comments