As one of countless football fans who were surprised last week with the abrupt retirement of football legend John Madden, I sat back and recollected the indelible contribution of Madden to the sport — especially to the broadcast booth.

Madden, who was best known for his flamboyant delivery, helped introduce the words “Boom!”, “Whap!” and “Bang!” into football fans’ everyday lexicon. Madden’s use of a telestrator — a device that allows superimposing of a light penned over live or replay video camera footage — had become a Madden staple and a frequent pun by comedians such as Frank Caliendo.

Not to mention Madden’s admiration of Bret Favre, which often turned to jokes implying a Madden boy-love obsession with the former Packers quarterback, helped to solidify Madden as a an American television icon.

Along with his ’77 Super Bowl win with the Oakland Raiders and a ridiculously successful EA sports video game, plus his commercials for Sirius Satellite Radio, Outback Steakhouse, Verizon Wireless and Ace Hardware, Madden was able to enter the living rooms of millions of Americans and let his loopy side reluctantly win us over.

Undoubtedly, Madden was the master of obviousness when it came to calling a game. Even though his delivery was hardly as in-depth as one would expect from a color commentary, both he and ASU alumnus Al Michaels were still able to reignite an interest in Monday Night Football that had been missing for some time.

For those who still remember, it was Madden who was most infamous for his tangent conversations or sing-alongs that he would engage in during drawn out, and oftentimes blowout, games. Whatever Madden could do to entertain the audience, he tried — even if in entertaining the audience we were more entertained in his actions alone.

It was commendable to read that upon hearing the news, Dick Ebersol, the head of NBC Sports, rushed out on his jet with other NBC executives to talk Madden out of it. But ultimately, Madden’s family and his much-needed time with them beat us out. Cris Collinsworth certainly has his work cut out for him replacing Madden on Sunday Night Football, but Collinsworth is certainly capable of stepping into Madden’s place in the booth.

However, I, among others, would still love to see Madden in the booth one last time, for one last sendoff, one last Madden “Horse Trailer Player of the Game.”

When inducted into the Football Hall of Fame in 2006, Madden said, “You know, you always think of what it would be like if you are ever enshrined into the Hall of Fame. People say, ‘What are you going to say when you get up to the podium?’ I tell them, ‘I don’t know. I’ll tell you [when] I get up there.’ And right now, I don’t have — I got, like, numb, you know, a tingle from the bottom of my toes to the top of my head.”

Ditto, John.

Reach Joseph at joseph.hermiz@asu.edu.