Madden, Passionate for the Pigskin

ABC Sports broadcaster John Madden won't be in Jacksonville for Super Bowl XXXIX because Fox is airing this year's gridiron championship. But the man considered the pre-eminent analyst in professional football recently chatted about his passion for the sport's marquee event, even as he worries that perhaps it's gotten too big for its own good.

How will you spend Super Bowl Sunday?

Like everyone else, I'll watch it on TV. . . . I'll go to a neighbor's party early for the pre-game stuff, and then go back home. . . . When you have a Super Bowl party, unless they have the game on in a special room, people don't watch the Super Bowl. I like to get the full experience of the game, so I'll watch it by myself or with my son.

What's been your favorite Super Bowl as a broadcaster?

Your first one is always your favorite because of the experience. My first was in 1982, working with Pat Summerall -- San Francisco beating Cincinnati in Detroit. It was a good game and it was one of those cold winter days. I know it was played indoors [at the old Silverdome in Pontiac, Mich.], but there was something about that day -- snow, ice, hard to get to the stadium -- that made it a great day for football. I also liked the fact that it wasn't in a warm weather city where all the rich people usually go. You really had to be a football fan to go to that game in Detroit.

What's been your favorite Super Bowl, period?

That's easy. You go back to the one you coached and won. . . . So my most memorable one was Super Bowl XI, the Rose Bowl, we [Oakland Raiders] beat the Minnesota Vikings. One of the happiest days of my life.

Was there ever a time when you were tempted to get back on the sidelines?

When Jimmy Johnson and I were at Fox in the mid-'90s, and he left to go coach the Miami Dolphins. He was real excited -- 'I'm gonna do this. I'm gonna do that.' And pretty soon, I'm getting real excited, too. I'm right there with him, 'Yeah, you need to do this, and you need to do that.' I was walking out of the restaurant with Matt Millen [then a broadcaster, now team president of the Detroit Lions] and I told him this was the first time since I stopped coaching that I actually felt like maybe I wanted to go back. I also told Matt that I hoped the feeling would go away when I woke up in the morning. It did, thank goodness.

We have a two-week span between the conference title games and the Super Bowl. Some people have said it's better to play a week after those championship games. What do you think?

The experience for everyone is better with two weeks, because that first week you can do all the administrative stuff, get organized with tickets and hotels for the players and their families. Then the next week, your team can focus totally on playing the game, like they do all season.

Pardon us for getting a little provincial, but do you think Joe Gibbs can turn around the Redskins?

There's no question in my mind that he can do the job. You don't get to be a Hall of Fame coach, a great offensive mind, and just lose that.

The big thing is he needs better players. Sometimes people think they can have a quick fix of a bad team by changing the coach, and that will change the team. . . .