Lots to Say: It's a Madden Thanksgiving!

Bobby Bones and Matt Cassel discuss their Thanksgiving and football watching plans.  Actor Scott Porter talks about his connections to the University of Texas and being a Broncos fan.  How does he feel about Bo Nix and the Broncos chances? Scott explains how streaming has extended the popularity of 'Friday Night Lights' and how he performed on 'The Masked Singer'. Scott wraps up with his Mount Rushmore of Broncos and going to games. 

What are the biggest three matchups in NFL Week 13.  Legendary Agent Sandy Montag talks about his history with John Madden.  Sandy explains the thinking that Madden had a fear of flying, when it was actually something else!  Madden would watch film and over-prepare as a broadcaster and Sandy reveals when John went from traveling by train to the famed Madden cruiser. Bobby asks about the origin of the Madden video game and John's involvement. Sandy walks through John's move to FOX and ultimately his induction into the Pro Football Hall of Fame.  We wrap with this year's Fourth Anniversary of John Madden's Thankgiving and Bobby's NFL Power Rankings.

Lots to Say with Bobby Bones and Matt Cassel is part of the NFL Podcast Network 

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:05):
Lots to Say with Bobby Bones and Matt Castle is
a production of the NFL and iHeart Podcasts.

Speaker 2 (00:12):
We Got Lots to save, We got lots to save?

Speaker 3 (00:20):
What the backer here? And we hope you say because
we got lost?

Speaker 1 (00:24):
Just say, yeah, we got lots to say.

Speaker 2 (00:31):
Here's Bobby and that.

Speaker 1 (00:33):
Everybody welcome. We are getting an episode before Thanksgiving, which
feels good. Well, this show comes out on a Wednesday.
So what are you doing for Thanksgiving? I'm gonna be
out in California with the family. You guys have Thanksgiving
over there? We do.

Speaker 4 (00:45):
It's shockingly even with the weather still being like seventy degrees,
it doesn't feel like.

Speaker 1 (00:50):
It doesn't feel like the Holidays. I'd like to say,
no place that gets that doesn't get below fifty, you
shouldn't have Thanksgiving. I would that's your rule. That's my rule.
If it doesn't get below it doesn't have to be
below fifty on Thanksgiving. But if your city never gets
below fifty, you should not get to celebrate things getting Well,
they got the.

Speaker 4 (01:07):
La Nina out there right now, so maybe they do
drop temperatures and it'll get to like forty nine.

Speaker 1 (01:12):
In the morning. Acceptable, But until then, it's going to
go back up. Yeah, what do you guys do? Like,
what's the what's the tradition? You know what?

Speaker 4 (01:18):
The last few years, my wife's been taking the kids
out there because I'm normally traveling for season, but I
happen to have a game out there. We've got UCLA
Washington at UCLA this weekend prior to Thanksgiving, so I'm
just going to stay out there, and my whole family's
coming out on Friday, so we get together, we see
both sides of the family, will probably do a Thanksgiving

(01:40):
on Wednesday, and then my wife staying for Thursday. I've
got to go actually back to New York to go
do studio Friday, Yes, and then guess what, I'm coming
right back for US UCLA. Oh do they at least
give you a lay down bed? No, No, it's just
Southwest probably. I don't know LA New York. No, I
have no idea what they're flying me out on. Oh

(02:01):
my god, I haven't got that far ahead yet. So
it's going to be a lot of travel. But yeah,
it is what it is. What are you doing? We're
gonna go to Oklahoma?

Speaker 1 (02:11):
Okay, Joe with me? I don't even sing it right,
stupid song plays all the time because Oklahoma's actually good
at football. It sucks. They are good, Yeah suck, It
doesn't suck. I root for them because of my father
in law, not because of my wife. I want everybody
to know this. I root for them because of my
father in law because I am happy when he is happy.

(02:32):
My wife like rubs it in. Oh, she talks a
little smack. Well, we're not good, not good. It's really
just an easy target at that point. And she's like, oh,
I wonder what it's like to have to wait for
a game that's at six but you already know you're
out of it. Kind of stuff that burns deep too.
So it just like it's a I'm my guts are

(02:52):
all confused on who to root for and not. But
I do root for them because I want my father
in law to feel good. So but they play that
song all the time. Okay, h I don't know how
it goes. But we'll go to Oklahoma and we'll go
to Fatteville. We'll do both. Yeah, and luckily they're close,
so we'll do that and you know, eat food and
come back home. But it won't be anything crazy. My
wife's very pregnant, So it's not like you can do lot.

Speaker 4 (03:16):
You're not gonna do much, but you're gonna eat some
food and hang out and.

Speaker 1 (03:19):
Be merry and watch football, watch football one hundred percent.
We have Scott Porter coming up in a second. So
Scott Porter was in Friday Night Lights, and I got
to admit this now, I've never seen an episode. Really,
don't tell him that I won't. And when he comes on,
we just finished the interview when they were there. I
remember them being there and I'd probably interviewed them a

(03:42):
time or two. But I've never seen an episode of
Friday Night Lights. And I'm not anti Friday Night Lights.
I never watched it new then when I got old
at other shows I wanted to watch.

Speaker 4 (03:53):
Yeah, it's a good beinge watch to be honest. They
do a good job with the characters and all that stuff.
It's entertaining a lot of drama mixed in with some football.
So I mean, I I've watched some episodes.

Speaker 1 (04:04):
My wife. Have you not seen every episod?

Speaker 4 (04:05):
No, not at all. I figured my wife, I think
seen every season. She used to binge watch. So like
if you come in and see the treadmill rolling the
peloton over there and she's walking it out. She was
for months on end was watching Friday Night Lights.

Speaker 1 (04:19):
Kevin, you watch it. I didn't watch all of it,
but I watched some of it. But the movie is
my top three. Movie was awesome. Yeah, but the show
I've watched like I think maybe one season. My like
my morning show. People they think it's their favorite show,
all of them and they're like usual, it's still so
great and so uh. He played Jason Street. He was
the quarterback that was in the wheelchair. Yes, he was

(04:41):
basically Drake under grassy. Dang, dang, you went there? What?

Speaker 5 (04:45):
No?

Speaker 1 (04:46):
I was like, dang, that's a that's deep, that's that's
a good one. Yeah, that's either. I just know that
Drake was in a wheelchair on the grass and he
said dang.

Speaker 4 (04:55):
I was like, I don't even know he's referencing, so
you went there, Maybe that'll spark something.

Speaker 1 (04:59):
He didn't like, what do you mean? I was like,
I don't really know. I also, he's not gonna remember this.

Speaker 3 (05:06):
Well.

Speaker 1 (05:07):
I justad we just talk to him, so I kind
of acting like we haven't talked to him yet. But
I did a movie called Band Slam where I had
nine lines. Was he in any of the scenes, Yes,
briefly in one, but we were to I had my
own trailer, like I was Fringe principal. Okay, so I
was considered a principle. I was on the sheet and

(05:28):
they gave me a trailer because I had to work
like three days on saying I'm not an actor. I've
never claimed to be an actor. I never really wanted
to be an actor, and I've ended up acting a bit,
like I've done like three episodes of Nashville, but I've
played different people on that show if you look, because
that shows on Netflix now, Nashville. Okay, at first, I'm
like a random reporter who's like, hey, the parallel is

(05:51):
Connie Brittens in both shows. Okay, she plays Randon James
and Nashville and she's the mom and Friday Night Lights,
I believe, right, Yes, So I played reporter in the
first one episode and then in another episode, I'm like
somebody else. But then at the end that's different character.
Yeah that's but at the end of I'm playing myself
really and I have real lines with Rana James. Oh

(06:15):
that's cool. At least you get to play yourself. Yeah.
It wasn't any easier. It wasn't no, because it was weird.
That's not what I do, right, And so all the
cameras and you're working with real actors and they're doing
their thing, and all you don't want to do is
you just don't want to mess it up. Did you
ever mess up your line? And you're like, I don't
know going to mess it up? But I don't know
that I was good at it. But this movie Band
Slam that we did with Vanessa Hudgens and Phoebe from

(06:39):
Friends like Sekudro, Yeah, I had nine lines. I think
I had like fourteen, but they cut five five of them. Okay,
so basically you crushed. It was fine. I didn't have
I didn't want my glasses and I had like a white,
like curly haired afro. That was my normal hair back then.
Really yeah, I get curly. So that's what I know.
Scott from Scott's Big Broncos Fan, So uh yeah, let's

(07:00):
go all right, Hey Scott, good to see about it.

Speaker 5 (07:06):
Hey, good to see it. A long time?

Speaker 1 (07:09):
Why do you say long We were just talking about this.
Why do you say long time?

Speaker 5 (07:14):
Because Austin, Texas, we talked way back when Friday Night
Lights was first coming out.

Speaker 1 (07:22):
Okay, I had a Yes, Austin, Texas is correct. I
have a slightly different version of that story, but that's
absolutely true because they filmed that in Austin when I
was living there. I forgot all about that. That's right.
Did you go off to the set? No, I never
went to the set, but I thought they would use
your athletics. You thought that, Yeah, it would be one
of the guys that you know had I had nine

(07:44):
lines in a movie called Band Slam, which, ye, you
were like the star of the movie. You and Vanessa
Hudgens were like the stars of the movie. And so yeah,
we all my scenes were like a theater on campus.
And I was like, I don't know if Scott's gonna
remember me, but hey, here we are, and he obviously didn't.

Speaker 5 (08:03):
Remember. I was just going back any further because we
had chatted a couple of times prior to that. Yeah,
you were. You were an Austin legend.

Speaker 1 (08:13):
So good to see you, buddy, I see I see
Longhorn stuff behind you. And now I'm I lived in
Austin for thirteen years and it's my favorite city, Like
it is my favorite City. But I'm from Arkansas, so
we hate the Longhorns, So why do you have long
horn stuff behind you?

Speaker 5 (08:29):
My wife was actually a cheerleader at the University of Texas.
She was there the years that why was there, and
she actually cheered in the National Championship.

Speaker 1 (08:38):
Game Vince Young at USC. I wasn't there. I was
a year after.

Speaker 4 (08:43):
I thought I was gonna make a lot of money
in that locker room, and I sure didn't that.

Speaker 1 (08:47):
That was brutal. I also see you're looking like you're
looking like a coach here.

Speaker 4 (08:51):
I mean, you've got the Broncos swag on your radiar roll,
so obviously your Broncos fan. Big big win this last
week and probably the biggest sense what Peyton Manning.

Speaker 5 (08:59):
Air, Yeah, I would say, man, I mean getting that
big of a lead in the A West against that
good of a team. Even still, you know the Chiefs,
I know they haven't been putting it together. You know,
in all three phases this season. That defense is still
very good. When Chris Jones is motivated, they're still very dangerous.
And Pat Mahomes is still the best in the game.
So to get that win, get a cushion in the

(09:21):
AFC West, angling for some home field advantage where you
can actually play a game or two in Mile High
It was huge. But yeah, massive Broncos fan have been
all my life from Nebraska originally, and when you live
in Omaha, Nebraska, you're a free agent. You know, Proximity Chiefs, Broncos, Bears,
Ish and those Cowboys fans everywhere. So but I grew

(09:43):
up watching Lway play in the eighties. Lose a lot
of games, but just play with Moxie that I had
never seen before. So yeah, Broncos fan my whole life.

Speaker 1 (09:52):
Evaluate Bo Nicks this performance this year as a fan, well.

Speaker 5 (09:57):
I don't want to be Dragonslayer sixty nine hiding in
the basement of this moss house to drink it out,
you know, drinking his mountain dew like the drop and said.
But you know, at the end of the day, I
think everything that Bo has said is what a lot
of people are seeing. You know, feet are moving a lot,
He's you know, running out and back from danger, throwing

(10:19):
off his back foot a lot. And in Sean Payton's office,
you really, you really need to be able to hit
these these middle deep ends, these you know, outbreaking routes,
these corners, you know, to get past that press cover
two coverage that a lot of people would like to
run on him because you know, he likes to get
the ball out to the flats and likes to run
a lot of screen game. So you've got to be

(10:39):
able to hit that mid level throw. And Bo has
missed it a lot this year, but he hit it
in the big moment in this last game, uh, dropping
one into Troy Franklin, you know, over the corner under
the safety, setting up the final field goals. So for me,
it's just, for some reason, it seems like there's a
clarity for Bow in the fourth quarter of games. And

(11:00):
I just as a Broncos fan, I think I speak
for all of Broncos country. We'd love to just see
that clarity for four quarters, you know. But hopefully we
can keep pulling it out. Hopefully he keeps on taking
a step forward. But you know, he said this last week,
I got to settle my feet down. I got to
make sure that I'm planting and then I'm giving what
the defense gives me. And he played a heck of

(11:21):
a game this last week against the Chiefs that that
defense is no slouch. So you know, Bo is what
I do love about Bo, and what I see from
the players is that they believe in him, that he
is their quarterback and they know they will go to
war and win with him. They don't feel like they're
dragging him anywhere. They just feel like this is a

(11:43):
complete team game and defense is stepping up and doing
its job. And you know, if Bo keeps that locker
room in that way, I think this team's got a chance.

Speaker 4 (11:52):
So you basically hate bow Knicks until the fourth quarter,
is what you're telling you.

Speaker 5 (11:57):
I don't hate Box.

Speaker 1 (12:00):
We Bo leave baby.

Speaker 5 (12:02):
But at the end of the day, it's you know,
the week before ten to seven against the Raiders team
that you see Dallas just tear apart on Monday Night
football this week, and the games have been like that consistently,
you know, I mean seven to three and outs against
that Raiders defense, a turnover against that Raiders defense. You know,
you only get thirteen drives in the game, and you've

(12:25):
only got five what to go get some points and
you only get ten against the Raiders. I mean, it's tricky,
it's really tough. And that game was in the balance
until the fourth quarter, and you can look at the
way that we've been winning this year. It's all one
score games, and a lot of that is just because
the offense just does not want to move the ball
in the first half of the game. And I don't
know who that falls on. I just know what I'm seeing,

(12:46):
you know, and I watch every single moment of every
single one of these games. You can go back and
look back against the Texans. I mean, it's the same
story over and over again. Hopefully we can just start
fast here after we get this bye week coming up,
and just be a quick starting team the rest of
the year. But no, man, we love bo. I think
he's a really you know, as long as he sat
his accuracy down, he's a great fit for what Peyton

(13:08):
wants to do, and the rest of the offense believes
in him.

Speaker 1 (13:11):
So I think this is the part of the interview
where we actually declared that Scott knows ball because we
don't always know.

Speaker 5 (13:17):
Yeah.

Speaker 4 (13:17):
Well, I mean, I am thoroughly impressed with his knowledge.

Speaker 1 (13:20):
With actors and musicians, Scott, we kind of weighed in
with them to see, we never want to go over
their head, or Scott knows ball. So I feel like
we could talk about anything. Yeah, man, let's do it now.
We go though, to the questions about movies and exactly
do you find that people young kids are recognizing you
from Friday Night Lights and even now because maybe they're

(13:43):
just starting to watch it streaming.

Speaker 5 (13:46):
It is. Streaming extended the life of Friday Night Lights
in a big way, and I don't think any of
us expected it to be handed down generationally the way
that it is currently. And when I was growing up,
I don't know that there was a lot of shows
that my folks were able to hand down to me,
just because it was harder to ever find those unless

(14:08):
somebody decided to put you know whatever, Cheers on VHS
or some late eighties early nineties show like Coach on DVD.
Like I would never have seen these shows, you know
what I mean. And there's a lot of really impactful
television back from back in the day that you can
start to finally watch now, and I think that's really
really cool. Friday Night Lights was kind of right on

(14:29):
the cusp of that. I remember we were one of
the first shows that NBC actually put up on their
website and you could stream it on the website, which was,
you know, that was crazy for us. In two thousand
and six, and seeing where it's at now, where it's
on like four different streaming services, it's just so easy
to say, hey, this show that allowed these people loved

(14:50):
twenty years ago, and you know, maybe their kids were
too young to watch at the time, and now they're watching,
you know, with their kids. It's awesome, man, It's really
really a cool thing to see. And so yeah, you know,
I would expect that Jason's read eventually would not be
a character that as many young kids recognize, but I
have a lot of and and and the fan base

(15:12):
is really cool because when they come up, they always
come up with like a measure of respect and they're
really heartfelt. And the way they speak about the show,
which is not the same way that all fan bases
are with other shows, but they're really respectful fan base,
even the the younger kids. And you know, we have
really cool conversations about a show that you know, was
canceled twice and almost didn't make it past season one

(15:35):
or season two, and now it's had this lasting effect.
So we have streaming to think for that, and it's
really cool.

Speaker 4 (15:40):
Well, my wife's a big fan. I'm not gonna lie.
She watches that show religiously. Still, if there's if there's
a moment where we get into the bed and we
finally get to watch something late at night, she wants
to watch that.

Speaker 1 (15:52):
It's comfort, that's her comfort, that's.

Speaker 4 (15:53):
Her comfort show. I don't know if it was because
she's an athlete or anything like that, but she loves
the show and I love the show, So congratulations on that.
But I want to talk about acting in general, just
because I'm always fascinated by people that go into that
profession because it's so competitive and there's a lot of
parallels in terms of playing in the NFL or what
Bobby does that it's super competitive and you got to

(16:15):
go in, you got to nail something when you're going
out for a specific role. But talk about what that's
like for you to go in for a specific role
and what that breakthrough moment was when you were younger.

Speaker 5 (16:27):
You know, for me, I was never in the line
of thought that I would be an actor. I played
football in high school and was an invited walk on
to University of Socral, Florida. I played receiver, and I
thought I would use athletics to help my academic you know,

(16:48):
cost come down a little bit I knew I was
never going to be a pro, but I did. I
ran a four five, a good hands. I was all right.
But you know, at the end of the day, I
went to school to be a structural engineer. My grandfather
was an Air Force colonel, very much wanted me to
be in the realm of academia. Parents were very artistic.
They had a rock band back in the eighties. I'd

(17:09):
go and help my dad set up his drums and
then spend the night like chilling with the bouncer playing foosball,
or like falling asleep in the office manager's you know
office in some saloon in the middle of Nebraska when
I was growing up, and you know, I had a
little bit of the bug from them, but I always
thought it'd be something that I do in my spare time,
make a little cash here and there. That's what my
parents did. That was their goal. And then things started

(17:32):
to kind of break the right way for me, and
I just kept saying yes. And for me, having the
athletic background actually played huge into, you know, moving into
the world of acting, because every audition is a game
in itself, right, and you don't stack yourself up against
the other team but you got to stack yourself up

(17:53):
against yourself. You got to answer for every loss that
you have. You have way more of them in this business.

Speaker 1 (17:58):
You know.

Speaker 5 (17:58):
I think I've gone out for I don't know, two
hundred television pilots and I've booked five of them, and
I'm a success. So it's even worse than base ball.
You know, the hitting percentages are kind of low, but
you just got to keep on competing. And my first
pilot season, I was told by somebody that I should
just stay in the world of theater because I was

(18:20):
up in New York. I was doing an off Broadway show.
It was it was a bit of a hit, you know.
I got a singing voice from my mom and a
sense of rhythm from my dad, so he's a drummer,
and I was I was doing the live music thing.
You know, i'd have been having success. And somebody from
Disney Theatricals told me when I said I wanted to
try to, you know, see if I could book a
TV show, that I wouldn't amount to anything, that I'd

(18:42):
just be the fourth guy on the left on some
WB show and be quickly forgotten, and I should keep
doing theater. And I took that as a big old okay,
just watch yeah, watch this, and I started really digging in,
you know, watching film, you know, watching as many shows
as I could, studying other actors, you know, so there's

(19:02):
that kind of element of you know, when when you're
breaking down a game versus what you're trying to do
to prepare for an audition. And just got myself in
the right mindset and went out and competed. And Friday
Night Lights was the fifth pilot I ever went out for,
and I knew that that show was going to be special,
and I just did my research. Man, I went and
watched that film over and over again. I've probably seen

(19:24):
the film of Friday Night Lights, you know, fifty times,
and I just kind of knew what the film style was,
I knew what they were aiming for. I knew what
the performance level they were looking for was. And I
just tried to deliver that set of plays when I
walked into the room and it worked out. And you know,
there's a lot of like you said, there's a lot
of parallels between the world of athletics and the world

(19:45):
of you know, artistry, especially in cinema, because you don't
always find a coach or the right offensive fit for you.
And it's the same thing in film. You don't always
find the director or the right writer for you, but
if you keep at it, maybe you're end up in
the right system. And luckily I've been able to find
the right systems.

Speaker 1 (20:20):
I have some buddies here in town because we live
in Nashville. Somebodies in town that are artists, like Sam
Hunt who played college ball, played you know, a little
in the NFL. Riley Green played college ball, but a
lot of male artists. There's a lot of former athletes,
and you look at your career the juxtaposition of being
able to sing, being able to do theater and act,

(20:40):
also being a great athlete, and again it seems like
that juxtaposition, it feels odd because both usually don't happen
at the same time. But what I've noticed with them
is as well, and I've talked about this with them,
is that a lot of what they learned in sports,
like the dealing with adversity. It's what you just talked
about is actually what makes them a great artist because
they can take a lot of the nose when they

(21:01):
come to town. Work ethic is a massive part of it.
So it's dealing with diversity. It's listening back watching bag
tape and then just continuing to go and grow. And
I feel like that's kind of what you just said.
But were you an athlete or a creative first?

Speaker 5 (21:21):
I was an athlete first. I mean I grew up,
like I said, in Nebraska, where you know, Husker football
is your religion. The College World Series happened in Omaha
where I was growing up. We went every single year.
And you know, there is a drive that you learn
through athletics that you can apply almost everywhere. There is

(21:42):
a stick toitiveness that you have to learn, you know,
get knocked down, get back up, get knocked down, get
back up. And I think a lot of people don't
understand in the world of music or television film, you
get knocked down so much and you just have to
be able to keep getting back up. And yeah, those
parallels are are all there. But I was athletic first,

(22:05):
and I was also academic first. You know. I took
AP courses in high school and college j ap CAALC
and AP physics and set myself up, like I said,
to be a structural engineer. And music to me is
all math and really filmmaking kind of has their own
formulas as well. So I think I come at this
business a little bit different than most people. I come

(22:27):
at it from a number standpoint to inform the artistry
and then allow the artistry to kind of come in
at the end. But I look at the numbers and
the formulas and you know, the rhythms and see how
to get everything lined up and then make you know,
like the last decisions. And that's kind of what like
a quarterback has to do. Right. You get up to
the line, you've got to play. Everything's all set, You've

(22:47):
completely prepared. You've done this thing over and over and
over again hundreds of times in practice. You walk up
and you see that the defense is doing something you've
never seen before, and you get the freestyle. And that's
like how I look at what I do. Kind of
you know, we prep, we prep, we prep, We get
to set, and then the actor on the other side
of you know, scene from me says something in a

(23:09):
way I'd never heard before, and then we get to
play and that's you know, that's that's set.

Speaker 3 (23:15):
Hut.

Speaker 5 (23:15):
Now we're we're moving and free freestyling, and that's kind
of cool.

Speaker 4 (23:18):
Yeah, Bobby I don't know if you saw last week
he's done with reality television, but you also were on
Reality Tells. You're on the Mass Singer. I don't know
if you saw that he went off, but you gotta
look it up. And that was awesome, by the way,
But do you have a beef with reality television? But
more importantly, talk to me about why you did Mass Singer.

Speaker 1 (23:37):
You finished second, right, you were incredible on it.

Speaker 5 (23:40):
I did finish second to somebody that Bobby mentioned earlier
in this interview, Vanessa Hudgens. We were we were competing
in the same season together, and I should have known
from the start that I wasn't gonna get it. But
at the end of the day, again like I did
it because for a long time Hollywood had rules and

(24:03):
boundaries set up that if you wanted to be a
film actor, you could be nothing but a film actor.
If you were a film actor and then you went
and did something on television, oh my god, you're not
allowed to be in film anymore. If you were a
you know, a television actor, and you went and did
like a run and a musical, oh my god, now
you can't be a television actor anymore. And it was

(24:24):
such an odd thing. So I came from a very
musical background and I came out to Hollywood and I
still wanted to sing, and a lot of people were
telling me, oh, that's cute. You did you know musicals
in New York. But now you're a television actor. Now
you got to be a television actor. And I had
to kind of put that part away for a while.
And it was such a big part of my life

(24:45):
growing up. And when they showed up and asked, I mean,
at first, I was definitely like, I don't know if
I can do this, And then I was like, but wait,
Meryl Streep's on a half hour on Hulu, and you know,
people you never knew could sing are on Broadway doing
It's like, it's such a cool world now where everybody's
really allowed to do all of the things that they're
good at, and it's applauded now, whereas it used to

(25:08):
be kind of poo pooed back in the day. As
far as reality television, you know, I'm a Survivor fan,
have been ever since it came on, Like to the
point that I lived in Tokyo for a year singing
and beatboxing, and my mom recorded Survivor Amazon on VHS
and sent it to me so I could watch it
when I was living in Japan. So massive fan of

(25:30):
the kind of competition reality stuff, not all of it,
but the stuff that has like real competitive elements. I
am a fan of because I look at them as
kind of like the world's greatest game shows, Like it's
a million dollar prize at the end of Survivor. That's
a game show. So I kind of, you know, I
lay out on most of the other stuff, the housewives
stuff all that. The only show I do watch with

(25:51):
my wife every week is Below Deck on Bravo, So
got to give that one a shout out. But I'm
not a huge fan of reality, but the experience of
Mass Singer was really pretty freeing for me. And everybody
does a show like that for different reasons, but that
was really for me, and it's rare in this business

(26:12):
you get to do something for you and and that
was my one.

Speaker 1 (26:18):
Yeah, I did Dance with the Stars because the network
made me do it still and then and then I won,
and then people still kill me for it. That's what
he's referring to. Ad A. I have a heart, I
can see my foot, but I tore my ankle recently,
and I was on pain pills last week and I
was just melted down about Dancing with the Stars. So
is a whole issue, Scott, Hey give me.

Speaker 5 (26:38):
But yeah, wow, you got You've got the Golden Crystal
Ball or whatever it's called.

Speaker 1 (26:45):
Yeah, the mirror Ball. I mailed it back because I
was pissed. I mailed it back. But I did win.
I did win the show. But hey, give me your
Mount Rushmore of I'm gonna do this double Mount Rushmore
of Denver Broncos all time your favorite, and then I
want non Bronco Mount Rushmore as well. So it's two
different sets of four.

Speaker 5 (27:04):
Oh man, you are really catching me here, All time
Mount Rushmore, Denver Broncos players, D Marius, John Elway, T
D Steve Atwater, M.

Speaker 1 (27:22):
That's a great list. Wow. No no, uh no McCaffrey.
No McCaffrey, but I mean Atwater unbelievable. But no Peyton,
No Peyton, but Peyton was only there for a few years.
But Peyton did win the Super Bowl. I'm not judging
his lest.

Speaker 5 (27:39):
Here's what you guys got to understand as an eighties
kid who is a Broncos fan, I don't think there's
many of me around. I came up. I watched Elway's
magic against the Browns, you know, a couple of times,
and I watched him take teams that were lower in
talent level and go up against these NFC Juggernauts, uh,

(28:01):
you know, losing against the former Redskins you know now commanders,
but Doug Williams watching them get you know, crushed by
the Giants and they get blown out fifty five to
ten by the Niners in nineteen ninety and Elway dragged
those teams to Super Bowls and then finally got to
in the late nineties. So anybody who's my age that's

(28:21):
been around for this long, I don't. I think a
lot of young fans are like, oh, Peyton's one of
the greatest of all time. But when Elway retired, he
led the league and wins. The one stat that matters
more than anything else. He also led the league in
fourth quarter or overtime comebacks when he retired, and that
is just a will to win, man. And that's where
like Bo gets little shades, you know, little shades of that.

(28:43):
A lot of fourth quarter comes back for this little kid,
you know, for this younger guy. You know, he's he's
a long way off. But Elway, I don't think people
understand how great Elway was and his arm oh god,
and the guy that I really struggle not putting up there.
And if DT's not on, there is Shannon Shark. Shannon
Sharps also on that Mount rushmore uh for me. So

(29:06):
if it's not DT, it's Shannon Sharp. And that's the
biggest decision point. That's why I took the pause in
the beginning. But but Atwater was just he was the
hardest hitty you've ever seen. TD came in and is
in the Hall of Fame with a shortened career because
they tours me up and in ol Way, I just don't.
I don't think there's an argument there.

Speaker 1 (29:24):
Do the other do the non Bronco for non Bronco
for non Bronco fur.

Speaker 4 (29:29):
He's like, I don't know anybody else that plays in
the league, Bronco, Broncos.

Speaker 5 (29:36):
Non Bronco four. I mean, it's got to be it's
got to be Brady, it's got to be Rice and
oh man, this is man. This the league is so deep,
it's been around for so long. Barry Sanders, I gotta

(29:59):
find somebody defensively, man, and it's it's really tough. You've
you know, you've got Dion, You've got Lawrence Taylor. LT
changed the league completely. The reason left tackles get paid
the day is because of what Lawrence Taylor did. So
I'm going to put LT on there. Lawrence Taylor, Barry Sanders,

(30:27):
Jerry Rice, Tom Brady.

Speaker 1 (30:28):
That's a solid that is to put Mac Castle on there.
My favorite quarterback of all time. But you know what,
that's you, it's yoursmore.

Speaker 4 (30:37):
Do you actually get to get out to any games
because that that environment, the Broncos Stadium mile at mile High,
There's not many places that you go and you're a
little bit intimidated by. But they yes played there multiple
times because I used to play for the Chiefs and
every time we went there. I mean that crowd gets
after it. Great cheerleaders too, We.

Speaker 5 (30:57):
Love it, man. I mean I get to go to games. Yeah,
I get to go even more now that the Chargers
are in LA as well, and I get to go,
you know, one game a year where I live, which
is kind of cool. But I go to Denver and
I still call it mile High. I know it's got
a bunch of other names, you know, but it's still
it's still to me mile high. But the coolest thing

(31:18):
was two thanksgivings, a go great game Broncos Vikings Thanksgiving weekend,
and I got to take my kids. My son is
a Rams fan. He's come by it naturally through the pandemic.
His favorite color was green. When he was four, he
thought he was an Eagles fan. Then he came to
his senses when he was five, Aaron Donald was his

(31:40):
favorite player. He's seen the Rams won a Super Bowl, so,
you know, and my daughter is kind of split. And
I asked him if they wanted to go, and they said, yeah,
we went. We got to go down on the field.
They got to meet Thunder, which is the horse's name.
We got to see the flyover. We got to see
guys parachute in. But the coolest thing about it is,

(32:00):
and even you can even hear it on radio calls.
Every time a quarterback throws an incomplete pass, the stadium
announcer comes on and says, and the opposing quarterbacks pass
is in. The entire crowd yells complete at the quarterback,
which is so good. They have little metal stanchions down

(32:21):
the on you know, over the cement. So when you
when you stomp that medal is hitting that concrete, it
gets so loud, it gets so great. I mean, you
played in one of the loudest stadiums that this world
has ever seen in Arrowhead. But I like to think
Mile High gives it a run for its money. And
we we love our franchise, especially the fans that came
up with Pat bowl and who's maybe you know what

(32:44):
he should be on Mount Rushmore. Pat Bowlan is the
greatest Bronco of all time because what he did as
an owner for so long, I mean set the record
for you know, consecutive playoff appearances by a franchise, made
all the right moves, made great coaching hires, really loved
and knew the sport of football. So you know, I

(33:04):
think we respect him so much and we were just
you know, I think we have a really solid fan
base because we had owners who cared and we had
players who would fight for them. And it's pretty cool
club to be a part of.

Speaker 1 (33:17):
Final question, greatest in person game you've ever been to?

Speaker 5 (33:23):
Oh man, you know, my wife would tell you it
was the Big Twelve Championship where Sue and Dominic and
Sue almost single handedly destroyed Texas, and Colt McCoy threw
a ball out of bounds and somehow there was still
one second left on the clock and then they kick
a field goal to beat us. That was one of

(33:45):
the greatest games I've ever been to, even though the
Huskers came out on the wrong side of it. But man,
let's see probably and it doesn't evolve my team. I mean,
I should say super Bowl fifty, you know, defensive battle.
I was there in Santa Clara. I watched a very
similar perform rmans by the Broncos defense shut Cam Newton

(34:07):
down and actually get the win. That was That was
I should say that. But I was in the end
zone as Plexico Buris caught a touchdown to beat the
undefeated Patriots in the Super Bowl in Arizona.

Speaker 1 (34:26):
And Day I was there too.

Speaker 5 (34:28):
He was there too, I mean, even as a even
as a guy, like as a Broncos fan at Super
Bowl fifty, but as just a fan overall. Like the
magnitude of that game and the plays that happened in it,
the Tyree catch, and I mean just so much happened
in that game.

Speaker 1 (34:46):
It was insane, so funny to hear two different perspectives
on that game. Yeah, that one hurt. That one hurt
for sure.

Speaker 4 (34:51):
I was right there witnessing the same thing going. It's
from such a different perspective point. Scott Porter knows ball.
That's awesome. Hey Scott, congratulations man.

Speaker 1 (35:00):
I know you're in the middle of filming Jenny and
Georgian now, but congratulations on it, and uh, just just everything.
It's really cool and it was fun to talk to
you because again, we we we tiptoe when we have
actors on because we don't know if they actually know
anything about ball. So thanks for coming on. I really
appreciate it. And what are your for the Broncos man?
I hope for your sake, I hope they continue to perform.

Speaker 5 (35:21):
Well, yeah, man, I do too. You know, Broncos country
stand up. You know we're gonna We're gonna stick by
our team. But let's do this again. Sometime we'll actually
jump in and talk a little bit, a bit of
deeper football or or whatever sport you know. But I
appreciate you guys having me on. You know, we finish
up season four here soon, so the fans will hopefully

(35:42):
settle down. Jenny and Georgia season four.

Speaker 1 (35:43):
Well, they told us not to ask them. They told
us not to ask about it at all. So they said,
don't ask about he's not saying anything. Yeah, So we
just said, hey, we know you're shooting it. So when
it's done, come back and we'll talk that way. That
we've cleared all the like life questions, we'll just talk ball. Yeah,
he's into that way, all right, Scott, good to see
about it, Thanks, Scott.

Speaker 3 (36:05):
Take it easy, all right.

Speaker 1 (36:21):
It is time for the weekend preview, presented by DraftKings.
From first touchdown scores to anytime touchdown props or the
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with opportunity. Let's look at the three biggest matchups coming
up this week. I think it's super fun because two
of these are on Thanksgiving and one's the Black Friday game.
And we'll start with Chiefs at Cowboys, both teams coming

(36:44):
off a massive win, both teams needing another win. I
think they both could probably lose a game. The Cowboys
really can't afford to lose a game. The Chiefs can
probably lose one more and be fine to go to
the playoffs. But I think the loser of this game
is kind of eliminated from can they make the playoff talk.

(37:07):
I think the Chiefs win that game, but I thought
the Chiefs were gonna win every single game for the
past season. Packers at Lions. We're gonna go with the
Packers going to the Lions. I think the Packers started
to come into form a little bit. They had a
bit of you know, it just kind of depends on
with every season. There's always two or three weeks for
pretty much every team where they kind of suck. I

(37:28):
think right now the Bucks are going through that, and
who knows what's gonna happen with Baker, but I think
the Packers already had theirs. I'm going with the Packers
over the Lions. And Bears at Eagles. That's so interesting
because the Eagles need to win. That's Black Friday. The
Bears they can actually afford to lose. If I'm the Bears,
I don't want to play the Eagles this week coming

(37:49):
off a loss, because the Bears have been getting by
the hair of their chinny chin chin every single week.
They are what eight and two, eight and three, eight
and three? They are eight and three, but they're an
eight and three again, they've been barely squirting by and
the Eagles are coming in probably angry. So I'm taking

(38:09):
the Eagles and they are in Philly on Black Friday.
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(38:52):
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Speaker 1 (39:16):
Now we're gonna go over and talk with John Madden's
longtime agent, Sandy Montag. Sandy has represented some of the
biggest names in sports over the years, like Bob Costas,
Jim Nants, Mike Arco, Scott Van Pelt, and many more.
Big thanks to Sandy for joining us as the NFL
continues to celebrate and honor the late John Madden with
their fourth annual John Madden Thanksgiving Celebration tomorrow. And with

(39:40):
that being said, here he is Sandy Montag. Hey, Sandy
is Bobby here? How are you, hey, Bobby? How you
doing pretty good? Where are you right now? You look
like you're up tall in the building.

Speaker 6 (39:50):
I am in New York City at our offices near
the World Trade Center site.

Speaker 1 (39:58):
Man, I love New York except for well, starting about December,
because I don't like the cold. Do you get out
of there when it gets cold? Sandy? Do you stay in?

Speaker 3 (40:05):
Is?

Speaker 1 (40:06):
Eat it?

Speaker 6 (40:07):
Both?

Speaker 1 (40:08):
You have to.

Speaker 6 (40:08):
I mean we're based here, so you got to eat
a little bit of it. I do have a place
in Miami that I like. I like Miami better in
the in the winter. But uh yeah, I born and
raised in New York, went to school in Syracuse, so
you just you just figure it out.

Speaker 1 (40:26):
Yeah, your blood's probably used to a little more than mine.
And you know, I was reading a lot about your
life and your history as we're going to talk about
John Madden a little bit. But when you leave Syracuse,
how long until you actually meet John.

Speaker 6 (40:38):
I was on the Madden Summer Role crew. I was
a stats guy at Syracuse besides going to school once
in a while, so I did, like when ESPN came
up to do like the biggest game of the week,
I did stats for the talent, and then when I
got out, I got on the Madden Summer Ole crew,
like doing stats in the truck. And then maybe two

(40:59):
months into that, someone says, hey, Madden needs someone to
travel with my train. You should talk to him, And
I said, all right, you know, so I met with
him and told him I love trains. I'd never been on.

Speaker 1 (41:11):
A train in my life and got the job. And so,
you know, we've heard the story forever about how he
did not like to fly. Can you lend to that
a little because it sounds like it was true, But
he just would not want to fly for any reason. Whatsoever.

Speaker 6 (41:24):
Well, he flew when he coached the Raiders, he they
charted and they chartered. I think DC ten is pretty
big airplane. He was never a great flyer, just.

Speaker 5 (41:35):
He but he did it.

Speaker 6 (41:36):
You know, when you fly private and you fly and charters,
you can move around. He sat with the pilots. Then
when he started doing broadcasting, you know, you sit in
even if it's first class, you're in Sea four B
and you're locked in. And he just started having panic
attacks and he didn't know. He didn't He went to
a doctor, like, is there something wrong with me? And

(41:57):
so he had claustrophobia, you know, And he didn't like
when he would stay at hotels. He wouldn't like going
you know, one of the twentieth floor here would not
come up to this office. He would always want to
be like only the only person in an elevator. So
he was not didn't have a fear of flying. He
had he had claust your phobia.

Speaker 1 (42:16):
And the relationship developed between you guys. What do you
think it was about your personalities that matched?

Speaker 3 (42:22):
Well?

Speaker 6 (42:23):
I was, you know, I was pretty street smart and
he was the smartest person that I ever met in
any subject, not just football. And I think that, you know,
we we just hit it off. Like I like traveling,
I liked seeing the country on trains. I like talking
to people. He would talk to strangers for hours. You know,

(42:46):
we just we just had a little just a fascination
over different things really and you know, a deal making
was kind of like growing up, I always had a
newspaper route or bagels or selling T shirts or I
just always selling stuff. And I think he liked the
this this act. Amen. We just kind of bonded over

(43:08):
certain things early on, you know, just as guys.

Speaker 1 (43:12):
You mentioned how smart he was. And for me, in
my mind, I can picture a few different things, but
they're all larger than life, so they don't seem like
a real person. Meaning I can see the videos. I
wasn't obviously alive when he was coaching the Raiders, but
I can see the videos of that. I can remember
him in the booth and some are all as an
Arkansas I gu I'm from Arkansas, so we were always
like super proud that that happened. And then I can

(43:33):
see him, you know, as part of the video game,
which I've had every single year since it has been out,
Like that has been a massive part of my life.
So I don't know. You say he was really smart.
Was he extremely studious?

Speaker 6 (43:46):
No, but he knew well, he read a lot. He
was a student of history. He all types of history,
you know, whether it's football history, whether it's American history.
You know, he loved John Steinbeck travels with Charlie. You know,
when we would travel the country, he would like to
go into small towns. He wouldn't want to go to

(44:08):
you know, a chain up on the Highway eighty. It's
always just like very inquisitive, you know, and just and
he just there were a lot of times like you know,
when I started traveling with him, I was twenty two,
you know, and then I was meeting people, maybe dating,

(44:28):
and he would, you know, he would tell me, these
are the type of people you should be dating. And
we just have an opinion about everything, you know, he
he uh, you know, it's like a master psychologist in
a way. And that that's really you know, he studied
that too.

Speaker 1 (44:44):
So he just.

Speaker 6 (44:47):
And throughout my life, you know, when I had a
problem or a question, or you come to a fork
in the road, I would ask him something and like
I hang up the phone, I'm like, why did I
think of that. He just he just knew a little
bit about everything.

Speaker 1 (45:04):
How would you prepare on the train for the games
that you were going to cover.

Speaker 6 (45:10):
Well, back in the day, he was a the first
broadcaster to go to practice number one. So when he
became a broadcaster nineteen eighty broadcasters basically what you did,
you get in the night before, you meet with the
pr director for the NFL teams, and you do the game.

(45:30):
And he was like, well, when are we going to practice? Well, like,
we don't go to practice, They're not going to let
us in. He goes, I'm going to prow I'm going
to get in a day early. I'm going to practice.
All right, go to practice. So now it's every broadcaster
and every sport goes to practice. You also get game tape.
Now it's sent on a you know, on the internet

(45:50):
or back then I carried a sixty pound bill and
hell projector where we would have teams would send us
the game tape and we would watch that, whether it's
on the train or whether it's when we got to
the city we're going to. And and you know, John
was a student of you know, of watching film and

(46:11):
even like on the Saturday before the game and the
production meeting myself, Pat summer Ale, producer director John. We
would watch hours of game tape and you know, summer
All probably was good for the first forty five minutes
to an hour, and then he a lot of times
he'd say I think we we have this, and John
would got to look at him. We're only halfway. So

(46:33):
it's it's John was over prepared, like he wanted to
feel when he was doing a game. In his mind,
he knew more about those two teams than any two
people besides the coaches, you know, and that's and he
wanted to feel.

Speaker 1 (46:46):
That when was the graduation from the train to the
bus that I think about when I think about the traveling.

Speaker 6 (46:53):
So we did a couple of years. I did a
couple of years on the train and then he had
to be somewhere fast, so CBS chartered him a bus.
It was Dolly Parton's bus, and he took it and
basically got off that thing and said we need to
get a bus. So he did an interview actually on

(47:15):
PBS saying y'all, we're gonna look at and the president
of Greyhound Lines in eighty seven contacted us and said
herd John's looking for a bus. We want to give
him a bus. And that really started the first Madden
Cruiser and really one of the first when I transitioned
from Gopher to quote unquote agent, that was really one

(47:36):
of the first deals I did. You know, Number one,
we lucked into a computer game which we had no
idea what it was or where it was going. And
then the bus and then that changed his life. Really,
you know, coast to coast Amtrak is seventy two hours.
You have to change trains in Chicago. He can now

(47:59):
go coast to coast in fifty hours, NonStop sleep, satellite television,
the whole Well, it just it's like having a private
plane that went seventy miles an hour.

Speaker 1 (48:10):
You talk about the Madden game, that to me is
the game I've by far played more than any game
of my entire life. I've had every year of it
since its existence. You say, you guys didn't know what
you were getting into. What do you mean by that?

Speaker 6 (48:22):
Well, EA, which was Electronic Arts, was founded by the
guy the name of Trip Hawkins. He went to Harvard,
designed his own major applied game theory. He had like
he had a basketball game. He had Larry bird doctor
J basketball. He had an Earl Weaver baseball, and he
approached us and said, hey, we want to do a

(48:43):
football game and put you know, call it John Madden Football.
And John was like, I have no idea what you're
talking about. So he came on for a train ride,
kind of explained what it is and how they're doing it,
and it came out on computers, on Apple computers, and
you know, the problem back then with computer memory, you

(49:04):
could only have eight on eight, so they didn't have
enough computer memory to have twenty two players. And John said,
I'm not putting my name on a game unless it's authentic,
and so we thought, you know, this guy will go away.
It took two years really for them to figure the
technology part of it out, but we never really had
the confidence that this was going anywhere.

Speaker 3 (49:27):
You know.

Speaker 6 (49:27):
I mean we're talking late eighties, so there was no
video games as we know it now, and we both
you know, they wanted to give him money and put
his name on it, and we just wanted to be
more involved in it really, and you know, I remember
us talking saying we should really ask for like a
buck or two a game, and he's he's like it

(49:49):
doesn't make a difference. They're never going to sell one.
And you know, one hundred and fifty million units later,
it's kind of worked. But you know, at the time,
we just didn't think it would ever come out.

Speaker 1 (50:15):
There are just so many elements of popular culture that
reflect John Madden's influence. If it's SNL when they would
do sketches, and if it's drawing on the screen, even
outside of SNL, if it's the video game. When for
you guys, did you start to realize that he was
being known as just more than a broadcaster.

Speaker 6 (50:36):
W you know, he did a Miller like commercial in
the early age that was number one, The Bus. You know,
he teamed with tat summerle The bus kind of became
a thing. And I think the video game came out
in nineteen eighty nine, and I think it was wildly
successful early on, and I think, you know, right around

(50:59):
the early nineties. To me, it used to it just
became like during that time, John and Michael Jordan were
the two biggest things in advertising. We were getting offers,
ace hardware, can act in you know, diet coke. It
just at that time we started, like, you know, I
was busy the phone was ringing, something's going on here,

(51:22):
you know. And and the thing about him though, like
he he never took himself seriously, like when we there
may have been articles on like the branding of John Madden,
and He's like, what are they talking about? I'm a
football coach, you know. And I think he was so authentic.
But I think in the in our world, he was

(51:42):
larger than life. And I think the video game and
I think the popularity of football on television really changed that.
And then you have Rupert Murdoch getting into, you know,
taking the NFL from from CBS, John moving over to
Fox in nineteen ninety four, that was big too, you know,

(52:03):
that was huge Fox getting in to the business. So
I think early nineties was a time where I think
he became larger, started to become larger than life.

Speaker 1 (52:12):
Was it a hard decision for you guys to switch networks?

Speaker 6 (52:15):
No, there's about eight million reasons why we wanted to
go there. But it was just one of those things
where look, CBS loses it, right, so we we have
to go somewhere, you know, And there was ABC was
interested in going you know, Monday night football. And you know,
I've told the story before, but basically Rupert Murdoch calls

(52:37):
me and Barry Frank, who is my boss at IMG,
and says, give me a number for John Madden. I'll
call you back in five minutes. And we gave him
a number. He didn't call back. A CFO called back
within five minutes and said, what's the address for the contract?
So it was just like Rupert Murdoch, it was It's

(52:59):
not like you know, it's playing poker at a different level. Really,
But I remember him telling me before John did the
first preseason game in the summer of ninety four for Fox,
Rupert said they earned back his entire four year contract
already in the amount of advertising they sold.

Speaker 1 (53:18):
Wow was it or how comfortable or uncomfortable was it?
Because you come on with John and you are so
much of an underlaying and now you're representing him and
you are eros tentacles outside talking to everyone. How did
that relationship mature? And was it so much easier for
you guys to trust each other because of all those
years you had invested each other in each other on

(53:38):
the training on the bus, Well.

Speaker 6 (53:40):
He didn't want me to leave the road, you know,
I did. I think two years on the bus. I
think I traveled with him with three or four years
and then Super Bowl maybe it was a Super Bowl
in eighty nine. You know, I said, hey, you know
I had met someone number one, and you know, I
was starting to represent you know, one or two other

(54:03):
people really and I said, look, I I want to
get someone else to go on the bus with you.
I want to stay in our offices. And i'mg in
New York and we and so we had an argument
about it, but we had a real emotional conversation about
it that you know, he said, you're never going to
amount to anything having your feet up on a desk
in New York eating a bagel that you got. If

(54:23):
you're going to be successful, you got to got out
there on the road. You have to meet people, you
have to you know. And even to this day, I
go to a lot of games and I see clients
who are broadcasters or gms or executives, coaches, and you know,
it's I think he instilled in me, like, to be
successful in this business, you can't just do it in

(54:46):
an office. So it was a hard thing. It worked,
you know, we found someone else to do the road job.
But you know, our relationship was deepen up where he
trusted me, and I made a point of I still
probably went to a half a dozen games of his
h each year, so you know, it worked, but I

(55:07):
couldn't really you know, Mark McCormack founded I AMG and
I really had something going at IMG, and I really
couldn't further that career, always being in Lincoln, Nebraska.

Speaker 1 (55:20):
How much did it matter to you that John made
the Hall of Fame?

Speaker 6 (55:23):
I he you know, he said to me, besides his
kids being born, it was the happiest day of his life.
You know, I was. We were there in Detroit when
you know, they announced it on the Saturday before and
it was on NFL network, and you know they announced
the names. There were six people that year, five it's

(55:44):
just his name and I, you know, it was just
like euphoria in that room. There were maybe half a
dozen of us, Fred Goadelli, john Son, Mike al Michaels
and you know, a lot of tears. It was he
he wanted to go in as a coach, not as
a contributor or as a broadcaster. You know, he was

(56:06):
one hundred and eight and thirty two. That's the highest
winning percentage of any coach who's coached one hundred games,
and you know, it was a long time coming, and
that was two thousand and six. He coached his last
game in nineteen seventy nine, thirty two losses in ten years.
I mean, he should have been in the Hall of
Fame earlier, but it was for him, it was just

(56:28):
it made it all worthwhile. And he went back every
year after that just to be part of the ceremony.
We donated the original Madden Cruiser to the Hall of Fame.
So underprivileged kids in the Midwest, can you know, come
to the Hall of Fame and learn about football history.
There's a broadcasting wing there name for him.

Speaker 5 (56:51):
It's just.

Speaker 6 (56:53):
You know that in the Super Bowl win super Bowl
eleven or the two biggest professional accomplishments for him sixteen Emmys,
he could care about.

Speaker 1 (57:03):
You know, we were actually worked for the ni This
is an NFL podcast. It's a property of NFL. And
so you know with the NFL and Mad and Thanksgiving
in that relationship and that celebration, how did that get started?
Like what were the strings and like what was the
what's the goal of it?

Speaker 6 (57:20):
Well, first, when when John retired in o eight oh nine,
and I got the sense he was just not enjoying
traveling as much. He missed his grandkids and all that.
And you know, his wife called me and said, look,
I don't know what you have planned, but I didn't
sign up for this retirement thing, so you got to

(57:40):
keep him find something to do. I had a conversation
with Commissioner Goodell about and then they have become friends,
and I said, you know, let's find a role for
John within the NFL where he can be have a meaningful,
you know, relationship and also do some meaningful work. So

(58:01):
he became a special advisor to Roger and also co
chaired the Player Safety Committee, which reported to the Competition Committee.
So he was engaged for a decade and then look,
he passed. It will be four years next month. And

(58:22):
you know, Roger is one of the first people I called.
I thought the NFL should announce this really, and you
know then we we kind of Roger wanted if he
formed a small committee. He said, all right, we want
to honor John in some way. What should we do?

Speaker 1 (58:39):
And you know the.

Speaker 6 (58:40):
Committee all agreed. John loved Thanksgiving. It was his favate holiday.
It's yeah, there are six legged turkeys and Turduckan and
he loved Thanksgiving. He loved being at a game, whether
it's Detroit or Dallas, he loved it. And I think
he became part of America on that day. And we

(59:00):
all agreed that, you know, we need to honor him
on Thanksgiving, and you know, the commissioner and the teams
that are playing, you know, basically agreed that with that.
And there will be you know, his name will be
on all on all three fields that are playing that day.
There'll be a special coin which I could probably show you.
I just got a copy of it, which will be

(59:22):
you know, flipped with his head and a production on
the tail, and they'll be a player of the game.
And you know it's I think he's probably looking down saying,
you guys got it right. If you're gonna honor me,
this is the way I want to be honored on Thanksgiving.
And I think, you know, I think we did get
it right. And it feels it just feels like Madden.

Speaker 1 (59:45):
Sandy. I really appreciate the generosity coming on with me
giving me twenty twenty five minutes to talk about John.
And I'm a massive fan of just all that you've
done in many capacities. But to be able to spend
this time and just talk about John means a lot.
So thank you for your time. I hope you have
a I.

Speaker 6 (59:59):
Just want to show you. I just want to show
you the coin.

Speaker 1 (01:00:01):
Oh, let me see. I didn't want to make you
get up.

Speaker 6 (01:00:03):
Oh it's okay. So they these are the coins.

Speaker 1 (01:00:07):
That will be uh oh, that's cool.

Speaker 6 (01:00:09):
Flip banks on Thanksgiving Day. All three those are three
different ones with the teams that are playing. So it's
gonna be uh real cool. And it was great being
with you and a happy Thanksgiving.

Speaker 1 (01:00:20):
Yeah you too, Sandy. Have a great day, man, Thank
you very much.

Speaker 6 (01:00:23):
Take care.

Speaker 1 (01:00:28):
All right, before we go, I've adjusted my power rankings
for the week. We are still sitting with the Rams
at number one. The Eagles fell from their loss with
the Cowboys. We'll hear more from them in a second.
I do have the Broncos at number two, even though

(01:00:48):
again they've been winning barely, barely barely. And I got
the chiefs Now number three at six and five. That's right,
they were number four last week. But I've got the
chiefs Now sitting right in that third spot with a
record of six and five. I got the Eagles at
fourth with eight and three and you know your past.
Oh I'm leaving them. They're not there for what are

(01:01:10):
they tended to? Yep, their fifth. I'm not letting them
jump over the Eagles quite yet. The Eagles did lose.
What the Pats do beat the Bengals. Yeah, but that count.
It shouldn't have been a tough, gritty win. You know,
Drake May's never thrown for three hundred yards. Yeah, when
they said that on the broadcast, that actually surprised me.
It surprised me too. The Colts were on deck last week.

(01:01:34):
They're still on deck. So I did think it was
a pretty good look for the Colts in a loss.
Meaning they did go to to Kansas City and lose
a close game. They played their faces off. So not
a lot has changed except the Chiefs are exactly who
I said they were. Everybody giving up on them. I'm
not even a Chiefs fan. I don't know why to

(01:01:54):
fit them so much. Okay, that's what's up. Thank you
guys for being here. I hope you have awesome holiday,
and thanks to our guests. And that's Matt Castle. That's Kickoff, Kevin,
that's Brandon. I'm Bobby Bones, We've had lots to say goodbye,
Everybody lots to say with Bobby Bones and Matt Castle

(01:02:16):
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