It took a year, but Madden's finally back in San Diego

By: JOHN MAFFEI - Staff Writer | Thursday, January 6, 2005 11:45 PM PST ∞

Two years ago, John Madden liked what he saw of the Chargers, young quarterback Drew Brees and stud running back LaDainian Tomlinson.

He liked the team so much that the former Raiders head coach recommended ABC put the Chargers on its "Monday Night Football" schedule. And when Madden speaks, network officials listen.

That's why the 2003 "MNF" schedule included the Chargers hosting the Miami Dolphins and former Chargers great Junior Seau on Oct. 27 at Qualcomm Stadium.

But the Chargers fizzled last year. The devastating wildfires in San Diego County forced the game to be moved to Tempe, Ariz., at the last minute. And the game was a dud.

On Saturday, the Chargers will get another chance in the national spotlight when Madden, Al Michaels and ABC's "Monday Night Football" crew will call the Jets-Chargers AFC first-round playoff game at 5 p.m. from Qualcomm Stadium.

"Two years ago, the Chargers were a surprise team," Madden said. "I thought they were on the rise with Brees and L.T. Then they went boom ---- went down fast. Now, this is the team I thought it would be last season.

"Brees has matured, the offensive line has been a big help, L.T. is still a great back, the receivers are good and Antonio Gates has been super. On defense, the switch to a three-man front has been huge. The kicking game is a forgotten area, but the Chargers have a good one.

"Tie all those things together, and the Chargers have had a great season and are in the playoffs. And we're back in San Diego."

Last season, Madden, Michaels and the "MNF" crew were in San Diego for several days, but were forced to scramble to Arizona because of the fires.

"We sat around the Sunday before that game, watching the fires on TV and wondering what we were going to do and where we were going to do it from," Madden said.

"When they finally switched the game to Phoenix, I loaded up the bus and headed across the desert. But I was disappointed for the Chargers."

Madden is fired up now. He's back in San Diego for a prime-time game.

"I'm very much looking forward to this game," Madden said. "The network had the choice of sending us to Green Bay or San Diego, and I'm happy we're in San Diego. The Chargers are fresh and new, and I like doing new teams. I think I prepare better for teams we haven't done in a while.

"You always watch practice, look at film and talk to the players and coaches, but there are so many great stories with the Chargers. When you've done a team three or four times, you try to be fresh with your material, but you find yourself manufacturing stuff.

"ABC is only doing two playoff games. Al, Michele Tafoya and I are only doing this game. So this is our Super Bowl."

Football follies

  • Wonder why ABC chose the Jets-Chargers game for Saturday in prime time on the East Coast? Check out the numbers from last week: Sunday's meaningless Chiefs-Chargers game pulled a 30.7 rating and a 58 share of the audience in San Diego. In New York, the Jets-Rams game did a 17.4 rating with a 36 share of the audience.

  • Saturday's early playoff game is the Rams-Seahawks NFC contest from Seattle, scheduled to kick off at 1:30 p.m. ESPN's Sunday night crew of Mike Patrick, Joe Theismann, Paul Maguire and Suzy Kolber will call the game.

  • ABC will have a pregame show Saturday starting at 1 p.m. Chris Berman will host the show, which includes Steve Young, Giants defensive end Michael Strahan and Ravens coach Brian Billick.

  • CBS' top NFL team of Jim Nantz, Phil Simms and Bonnie Bernstein will work Sunday's Broncos-Colts AFC playoff game, which kicks off at 10 a.m. The network's pregame show starts at 9 a.m.

  • Fox has Sunday's Vikings-Packers NFC playoff game at 1:30 p.m.

  • USC's blowout of Oklahoma in Tuesday's Orange Bowl didn't help the ratings on ABC. Things started well with a 15.8 rating at kickoff, with a peak of 16.6 in the second quarter. By the end of the game, however, that number had slipped to an 8.8. That left ABC with an overall rating of 13.7, down 7 percent from last year's LSU-Oklahoma Bowl Championship Series championship game in the Sugar Bowl. Still, the Orange Bowl was the night's highest-rated program.

  • Is the BCS working? Not only were TV ratings for the Orange Bowl down, the Fiesta Bowl was down 5 percent and a sensational Rose Bowl game was down 3 percent.

    Padres update

    The Padres had hoped to announce a new radio voice before the holidays. But vacations and workload prevented that.

    Now the announcement could come any day.

    The buzz is that former Padres Wally Joyner and Tim Flannery are the finalists ---- and could even share the duties.

    "It's down to two guys, a very, very short list," said Steve Violetta, executive vice president of business affairs for the Padres. "We were hoping to have it done by this week, but we still need to settle on a person, then make him an offer.

    "It could be done as soon as today or it could drag out for a few days. But we want to get it done quickly now."

    Violetta wouldn't reveal the names of the finalists, but did indicate the rumored names are accurate.

    In addition to Joyner and Flannery, Jon Sciambi ---- a veteran announcer with the Florida Marlins ---- had an on-air tryout at The Mighty 1090, while Dan Hoard from Cincinnati and Charlie Slowes, who has been a member of the Tampa Bay Devil Rays' radio team since the team's birth in 1998, have been mentioned.Ý

    Around the dial

  • ESPN's latest made-for-TV movie "Tilt" debuts at 6 p.m. Thursday. Starring Eddie Cibrian, Kristin Lehman, Todd Williams and Michael Madsen, the film explores the world of professional poker.

  • ESPN's audience for 2004 was up 3 percent in the day and 5 percent in prime time. On ESPN2, the audience for 2004 was up 6 percent in the day and 8 percent in prime time.

    John Maffei's TV-Radio column appears every Friday. He can be reached at (760) 740-3547 or jmaffei@nctimes.com.

    • More Stories

    Ads by Yahoo!

    Post your Comments[-]Go to Top

    First name only. Comments including last names, contact addresses, e-mail addresses or phone numbers will be deleted. Attempts to misrepresent your identity or impersonate any person will not be approved. All comments are screened before they appear online, so please keep them brief. Comments reflect the views of those commenting and not necessarily those of the North County Times or its staff writers. Click here to view additional comment policies.

    Submit Comment[-]

    (optional)
       

    Advertisement

    Videos