John Madden on Madden NFL
I love the Redskins. In fact, I am watching the Washington Redskins play the Dallas Cowboys as I type this up. With the Cowboys’ playoff picture looking more grim as the weeks pass, Dallas decided it was time for Tony Romo to earn his salary- busted pinky or not. I didn’t catch if Jessica Simpson decided to come to the game…
Not only is this a coveted game for the Skins (Dallas is more hated by the Skins’ Fans than Duke by the Terp fans), but John Madden is also calling the game on NBC tonight. As part of his usual routine, he was at Redskins Park in Ashburn, VA to watch the Skins practice and to interview coaches and players so he has something to talk about when he’s not slurring his words or drooling on the mic.
Someone from the press decided to ask John Madden about our red-headed friend, Ethan Albright. If you don’t know the story about Ethan Albright, read about it quickly here at Gunaxin.
Short story is Ethan Albright “hypothetically” writes a letter to John Madden expressing his disgust for his low player ranking in Madden NFL Football 2007.
From the The Redskins Blog:
Rabach came to the sidelines of practice, where I was standing with Executive Director of Communications Zack Bolno, and encouraged Bolno to go ask Madden if he ever received Ethan Albright’s letter about Albright’s legendarily atrocious ranking in Madden’s video game. Bolno shrugged and headed to where Madden was standing, and I came along.
Madden laughed when Bolno explained what was up. “I never saw the letter,” he said, “I’ve heard all about it. Getting those ratings right can be really tough for some guys.”
Madden continues to explain how Ethan Albright and other players are upset about their rankings and how his hands are tied…
How do you handle a guy like Ethan in the ratings?
Special teams are hard, because you don’t rate them just on special teams. Take a guy like Dante Hall years ago.
He was a wide receiver, and to get him where he was a third or fourth receiver, you had to knock him down or he would’ve been Jerry Rice. So what they did was they knocked his speed down, to get him to be the equivalent of a third receiver. But now he’s slow.
So he gets on me that we made him too slow. He says, when a guy gets hurt, the trainers run in faster than he can run. The doctor waddles on the field faster than he does. And he was right, but if you gave him all the things, the speed and all the things that he has, he would be a top wide receiver. And at that time, he was a fourth wide receiver.
Read more on how John Madden helps EA Games rate the players when the new season is coming up: The Redskins Blog.
See what else John Madden had to say on the Late Show with David Letterman:
