It’s Reality Check for Madden

“This is the start of what it’s all about,” John Madden exclaimed during the fourth quarter of his first game in the “Monday Night Football” broadcasters booth, and yes, football fans, it really is the dawning of a new era.

Taken on their own, Madden’s words are no less confusing than anything Dennis Miller uttered during his two skittish years alongside Al Michaels--they’re only equipped with fewer syllables. Yet legions of television viewers, many of them still recuperating from their lengthy “Dump Dennis” campaign, simply settled back

in their sofas, smiled and nodded along with knowing

approval.

When it comes to sports announcers and the people who listen to them, it’s all about comfort. Comfort between the announcer and the viewer. Comfort between the announcer and his partner. Comfort between the announcer and his subject matter.

Those are three levels Miller never approached during his MNF stint. Michaels, however, is keenly aware of the importance, which may explain why he checked in early on Madden during Monday’s exhibition game between the New York Giants and the Houston Texans.

“How are you doing, you getting comfortable?” Michaels asked Madden midway through the second quarter.

Madden: “I’m as comfortable as heck.”

Michaels: “Me too.”

Good to get that out there, on the record, considering all the recent media attention given the Michaels-Madden partnership and speculation that the MNF booth wouldn’t be big enough for two oversized egos. But was anyone convinced? If the exchange sounded a little forced, a bit contrived, well, that’s not a total departure from the Miller era,

either.

Marveling about Giant offensive coordinator Sean Payton’s detailed game preparation, Madden noted that Payton “has everything scripted. I was talking to him last night. He not only has the first 15 plays for the first [string] scripted, but he has the second group scripted and the third group.”

Miller was big on scripting too. For Payton, it meant a trip to the Super Bowl two seasons ago. For Miller, all it meant was a lot more free time to write jokes for his late-night HBO show.

On the plus side, there were no references to Sylvia Plath or how good a guy “Jimmy” Fassell seemed to be during the pregame production meeting. In many ways, Madden is the anti-Miller: a longtime member of the NFL establishment, not a nervous wannabe, and a very intelligent man who has shrewdly accrued a massive popularity--and a massive fortune--by pretending to be dumber than he really is.

Alluding to his former Raider tight end and new Hall of Famer Dave Casper, Madden said Casper graduated from Notre Dame “with some of those Latin words after his name.” Later, when discussing the Pro Football Hall of Fame, Madden deadpanned, “What’s the word for that? Hallowed? Hallowed hall?’ ”

Miller never connected with fans because he sounded like he was showing off, trying to prove to the audience he was smarter than everyone else. Madden is too smart for that. He knows what plays in Middle America, and he knows exactly how to give the people what they want. He’s big into

comfort.

Michaels played willing straight man as he listened to Madden go “boom!” while reviewing an impressive block made by a Texan lineman.

Michaels: “Let it be duly noted: The first Monday night ‘boom!’ ”

Madden: “And it all started with a big ol’ guard named DeMingo Graham.”

Madden was in his comfort zone. Then came another boom, the one that sent Houston safety Leomont Evans to the hospital with no feeling temporarily below his neck. Suddenly, Madden was nowhere near comfortable.

“That’s what every player and every coach ... you know, you go out there and you compete and you want to play hard and do your best and hit hard and all those things, but you don’t want any injuries,” Madden said. “You don’t want to ever see

this.”

Evans’ status became an important, developing news story for the remainder of the game, with sideline reporter Melissa Stark providing periodic updates. But at halftime, when Michaels asked Madden to imagine what Houston Coach Dom Capers might be thinking, Madden jumped back into the safe realm of Xs and O’s: “I would feel great, because one thing I know--I have a quarterback!”

Yes, Capers has a quarterback, rookie David Carr, who completed nine of 17 passes for 96 yards in the first half. He also had a young defensive back

who, at the time, had no feeling in his arms or his

legs.

Fortunately, by game’s end, Stark was able to report that Evans had regained feeling in both arms and both legs and that an MRI and a CAT scan showed everything was “normal.” The early

prognosis, Stark said, was a spinal cord

contusion.

Michaels declared that to be very encouraging news. Madden said nothing, then moved to the next play: “Shotgun. Four wide receivers.”

This is the start of what it’s all about. For Madden, that means fun and football games and big ol’ linemen named DeMingo. But real life occasionally encroaches on Monday night too. The broadcast booth has to be big enough to accommodate it when it happens, no matter how many men with microphones are already inside.