More Bang! for ABC’s Bucks

John Madden is an anomaly. In a business where youth and hipness mean everything, Madden is neither young nor hip.

Madden is quirky. You’ve probably heard he’s afraid to fly, so he travels by bus. Also, he doesn’t like to ride on an elevator if other people are on it. At stadiums, it’s usually only Madden and the elevator operator. His claustrophobia is that severe.

And off the air, he’s actually kind of bland. Believe it or not, he doesn’t talk much. No booms! No bangs! Particularly on game days.

On the day of an exhibition game in Denver, Madden’s bus is parked in front of the hotel housing the ABC crew. Madden walks through the lobby. There are a few oohs and ahs.

“That’s John Madden,” says a young woman to her husband. “I can’t believe it.”

Madden is on his way to a Monday night game between the Broncos and San Francisco 49ers. It’s the second game he’ll work with new partner Al Michaels.

Madden climbs aboard the bus and the first thing he does is get a sandwich out of the refrigerator. The bus has a kitchen, plus sleeping quarters with a king-sized bed, a computer and satellite television.

Two 23-year-old men are on the bus. One is sporting a buzz cut, the other is wearing a Randy Moss Minnesota Viking jersey. They are young and hip. They are wide-eyed and excited to meet Madden.

The one with the buzz cut went to great lengths for the privilege of meeting Madden and riding with him to the game. He won a “ticket to ride” contest sponsored by a restaurant chain that also sponsors Madden’s bus. The other, a co-worker at an elevator company, is his guest.

“So what did you have to do to win this thing?” Madden asks as the bus pulls away.

“It’s a little embarrassing,” the young man tells him. But he seems to feel comfortable. He proceeds to tell Madden about going on a Howard Stern-type Denver morning radio show and answering questions about his parents’ sex life. He says he had to listen while the show’s co-hosts called his mother to verify the answers.

Madden’s eyes light up. He enjoys the story, and all its graphic details. He and the two young men have a good chuckle. It’s obvious that Madden, 66, has somehow made a connection.

ABC is counting on Madden to make a connection with all types, young and old, male and female. That is a key reason the network lured him away from Fox with a four-year, $20-million contract and paired him with Michaels on “Monday Night Football.”

It’s important to ABC, the No. 3 network and falling, that “Monday Night Football” have a successful season. It’s the network’s No. 1-rated show and maybe more than anything else can help turn things around.

The three exhibition games averaged a 7.4 rating, a slight improvement over last year’s 7.3 average for ABC’s preseason. But among young males, there was a 21% increase (from 4.3 to 5.2).

The regular-season rating last season was 11.2, down from 13.7 the year before. In 1994, ABC averaged a 17.8 with Michaels, Frank Gifford and Dan Dierdorf in the booth. There has been a steady decline for seven consecutive years.

The most important factor in reversing the ratings trend is the quality of games. But Madden may be a close second.

Michaels and Madden make their regular-season debut tonight, when the Super Bowl champion New England Patriots play host to the Pittsburgh Steelers.

After three exhibition telecasts, indications are that Michaels and Madden will be an outstanding team. They jelled coming out of the gate.

“It was so comfortable, it was almost scary,” Michaels said before the game in Denver. “We were sharing the same thoughts, as if our minds were melding. I think we’re going to be able to take John places he hasn’t been before.”

The appeal of Madden is his down-to-earth style, much in contrast to Dennis Miller’s loutish, cerebral style.

Miller, gone after a two years, seemed to be always trying to show how smart he was.

Gone too is Dan Fouts, shifted over to college football, and sideline reporter Eric Dickerson. Fouts didn’t do anything wrong; it’s just that the ABC brass believed one John Madden in the booth is worth two of anybody else.

Miller, a recent guest on NBC’s “Tonight Show With Jay Leno,” told Leno: “When I heard John Madden [was available] I called Dan Fouts and told him we were whacked.

“Al is the preeminent play-by-play announcer and John is the preeminent color announcer. Put them together and it’s a dream team.”

So far it has all been sweet for this “dream team.” The media coverage has been extensive and favorable. Madden’s picture was on the cover of Sports Illustrated before he had worked his first game.

“I’ve worked Super Bowls and my picture hasn’t been on the cover of Sports Illustrated,” he said. “Now I’m on the cover for a preseason game.”

But the honeymoon soon may be over.

Madden is now on the hot seat, and some critics will find reasons to pounce on him. His act is old, some will say. He talks too much, others will complain.

He’s going to hear it, and he knows it.

“Nobody likes criticism, and I know there’s going to be more now,” he said. “I care, but I can’t worry about it.”

For now, things are good. “Monday Night Football” producer Fred Gaudelli said Madden has become sort of a coach, giving advice in production meetings and taking Melissa Stark, now in her third year as a sideline reporter, under his wing.

Although Madden says he enjoyed his 21-year run with Pat Summerall at CBS and Fox, this is where he always hoped to end up.

“As a coach, I always enjoyed ‘Monday Night Football.’ I really got up for it; the players really got up for it,” he said. “And when you were a team you wanted to play on Monday night. I know that from having been there.

“And then when you go into broadcasting, I think that’s the same thing, that somewhere in your broadcasting career, if you are going to be fulfilled, you want to be a part of ‘Monday Night Football.’ ”

Of Michaels, Madden said: “He’s a consummate professional. And I’m a consummate bumbler. I’ll bumble around, and he’ll consummate the deal.”

Don’t be fooled by Madden’s act, Michaels says.

“John is not only a tremendous observer of football, he also understands television,” he said. “He understands the art of communication. He gets it. And he has been able to stay fresh, stay on top of his game and not rest on his laurels.”

There has been speculation that maybe there isn’t enough room in the booth for the sizable egos of Michaels and Madden.

“I just don’t understand that kind of talk,” Michaels said. “John and I are both confident that we can pilot the plane, that we can take off and land. But neither one of us are concerned about how much air time we get.”

It has always been assumed that Summerall, whose specialties are brevity and word economy, was the perfect partner for Madden, who is talkative on the air.

But Michaels, it appears, is going to be able to draw more out of Madden.

And you never know what Madden is going to come up with next.

ABC’s third exhibition game was in Green Bay, and when someone in the stands held up a sign saying, “Sheboygan Loves Madden,” he came back with, “And I love Sheboygan. I’d love to be able to say, ‘I’m from Sheboygan.’ I think that would be real neat.”

Madden likes ordinary people, and ordinary people seem to like him. Those are the kind of people he mingles with while traveling around the country on his bus, the Madden Cruiser.

“I know this country as well as anyone,” he said. “The old people, the kids--I know what they think. The kids think of me as that guy in the video game.”

Much of Madden’s popularity with the younger set can be attributed to his EA Sports NFL video game. The latest edition, “Madden NFL 2003,” just came out.

“Kids say to me, ‘I’m playing Madden,’ like I’m a thing.”

Madden’s wide appeal, however, means nothing if ABC doesn’t get good games. Madden has something to say about that too.

He has a plan that would provide ABC with key games the last four weeks of the season, a plan he’d like to see implemented before the 2003 season.

“Don’t give games out, because you’re not going to be able to take them away,” he said. “I know that from having been on the other side. You can’t say, ‘OK, now you have that game, but we’re going to take it and put it over here.’ There’s no way [Fox and CBS] are going to go for that.

“So the way you do it is, you don’t give them out. Now, before the season, they give them out. CBS has its games, and Fox has its games. What I propose is they give out three-quarters of the schedule and then at the halfway point, after the eighth game, they give out the last four.

“Therefore, you’re not taking anything away. I think that’s the whole secret.”

Madden’s old friends at CBS and Fox aren’t exactly thrilled with this plan.

“Funny, John wasn’t for the flexible schedule last year, was he?” said Sean McManus, president of CBS Sports.

Said Ed Goren, president of Fox Sports: “I guess Disney has brainwashed him.”

The brass at CBS and Fox may not be too fond of Madden’s plan, but they remain fond of Madden. It’s harder to get a feel for what the rank and file think of Madden. There have been rumblings over the years that Madden can sometimes throw his weight around, particularly among the underlings. But most people at Madden’s two former networks will tell you they like him.

What ABC is hoping for above all is that viewers like him.