Former NFL coach John Madden.
J.A. Adande, director of sports journalism at Northwestern’s Medill School, has over the years collected Maddenisms—the sayings of former Oakland Raiders coach and sportscaster John Madden. He recently posted some favorites on Twitter:
“When you win [as a coach] you get to be a genius. But if you look at it, you’re a guy that was a PE major in college. Your best class was recess, and then you become a coach. When you win some games you’re a genius. You go from being good at recess to genius. . .”
“If you’re going to lose, you lose.”
“At some point you just say, ‘Call in the dogs and put out the fire, the hunt’s over.'”
“On an injured player (and perhaps more): ‘There’s something in him that’s not working properly.’”
“Sometimes you bring a guy in, it’s the wrong guy.”
In 1975 the Chiefs beat the Raiders 42-10. After each KC touchdown, the Chiefs live horse mascot would circle the field. Raiders coach John Madden would later quip, “We couldn’t beat the Chiefs, but we damn near killed their horse.“
“’Cheap and available’. . .you never want that as your nickname.”
“There’s great bodies and there’s good bodies and there’s average bodies. And every once in a while you come across a bad body.”
“You bring what you got.”
“When you do lose your hat, you don’t want your head in it.”
“That’s worse than a ‘Boom.’ That’s one that loosens your teeth.”
“I think to be a Packer fan you have to be willing to put stuff on your head.”
“Whatever happened to nicknames? It’s great to have a game where the tackle is nicknamed ‘Pork Chop’”
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