Madden retires .... NO!!!!

John Madden retired, and the NFL will never be the same ... it was kind of sudden, wasn't it? I mean, isn't he supposed to give us a 1-year warning or something? Couldn't he just announce one last season before shoving off? Why?

Well, I do have a theory? I mean, Harry Kalas just passed away last week ... he was 73 - the same age as Madden. Coincidence? Probably not. My theory is that Madden was hit pretty hard by the death of Kalas, and realized that he had a bunch more living to do, and didn't want to end things in his "Madden Cruiser." Just a theory, folks.

More importantly, what's going to happen to the Madden video game "franchise?" I mean, there hasn't been a sports video game as popular as the Madden series ... the new release every year is almost like a holiday ... many people purchase the game at midnight, take the following day off, and play the game non-stop all day (or week). It's pretty crazy, if ya ask me. But, now what? Will EA Sports continue to promote John Madden, or will they promote somebody new? And if so, who? Are we looking at Collinsworth 2010? Will we have a Gumbel and Gumbel release? Is this Brian Baldinger's big shot? More likely, the Madden name will eventually fall off, and the game will just be called NFL 2010. Just a thought.

We'll miss you, John ... now you can join Pat Summerall ... and he ain't even dead. Oh, and yes, I owned that first Madden game ... for the Commodore 64.