There are few people in modern American life that can be considered universally beloved. John Madden, famed broadcaster, video game pioneer, and arguably the greatest Eagle to never play a snap, was one such figure. So naturally on Tuesday, when it was announced he had died there was an outpouring of condolences and grief.

People who knew John Madden expressed their love

Overall, other sports broadcasters, athletes, and just general NFL fans were all united in their respect and love for Madden.

Then the contrarians came crawling out of the woodwork.

Suddenly, John Madden was up for debate. That’s right, they tried to cancel John Madden. He was using alchemy to make concussions into video games.

Or was he a monster hellbent on exploiting the working class? I’ll probably go with Victor here and say that Dr. Andrew McGregor was just ass at Madden so instead of actually acknowledging that, he turned it into a race baiting Twitter thread and shared his “opinions” which literally NO ONE agreed with.

These people are never satisfied with anyone being lauded because of a deep self loathing. They put on a pair of glasses and create nothing. They know they’ll be forgotten so it burns them up to see someone get remembered.

But let’s address the idea that John Madden was some kind of secret monster. He lived pretty much his entire adult life in the public eye. He spent several decades talking freely into a microphone for millions of people to hear for hours on end. How many problematic statements did he make? How many times did he “accidentally” use a slur?

I’ll wait while you look it up. 

John Madden never did anything like that. Probably the worst thing he did was contribute to the belief  that Brett Favre was “just having fun out there.”

John Madden was just a giant goofball that saw three different types of bird and thought, “I’m hungry.”

The odds are that over the next few days and weeks we’ll see even more nerds try to tear down John Madden. If you see them just ignore them. Ever since this country stopped manufacturing goods, it’s been focused on manufacturing outrage. I, for one, refuse to allow a bunch of smarmy wannabe social commentators tear down the greatest Football commentator to ever live.

Since this is a Philadelphia/Eagles based website, I leave you with this clip of him using his bare hands to tear open a Turducken while Al Michaels fights the urge to vomit during an Eagles game back in 2002.

RIP to the GOAT

Mandatory Credit: Craig Sjodin/ABC via Getty Images