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From Ted Cox, Daily Herald columnist on Madden and Michaels: "As usual — it’s the quality that makes him an exceptional analyst — Madden was expressive even when words failed him in comparing his long partnerships with Michaels and, before that, with Pat Summerall on CBS and Fox.

“You grow and you work together, and it’s bigger than that,” Madden said. “There’s some real there there.”

That’s Madden at his best, mixing a passion for football with admittedly unconscious references to Gertrude Stein."

Perhaps. But in my opinion it's the epitome of his analysis--banal and boring and just old. As an analyst he'll be remembered mostly for his onomatopoeic style of explaining the game, not any original thought. When you think of how he describes the game it's all "Boom!" and "Thwap" and all that. There was a time that Madden was fun to listen to. He added some spice. But his schtick became old, at least for me, long ago. I love the team of Patrick, Theismann and McGuire. I understand it is a totally subjective thing. But I love their energy, tension and bickering. They make the game seem important and I think Patrick is the essence of what a play-by-play man should be.

As far as Michaels goes, now we will be getting even more of him. While I'm still trying to figure out how he was anywhere near the NBA telecasts, I'll have to try and understand why we also will be getting the privilege of having him on ESPN's Sunday NFL Countdown, NFL PrimeTime and SportsCenter. Swell.

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