The Back Story

I thought you might enjoy the story behind the story published today in the Pleasanton Weekly.

*****

When the Weekly asked me to write a story about John Madden a couple of weeks ago, I thought, "No big deal. I can do that." The Madden family lives in the same city as I do, and everyone in town has a story of seeing John Madden somewhere incredibly normal, like the Burrito Place. He's a very down to earth guy.

I envisioned calling up Mr. Madden's office, setting up an interview, chatting with him for an hour and going about my story. I called his office and left a message. It was a Monday, which meant the kids were both home. When the phone rang at 2:30, I just assumed it was his secretary setting up my interview. Wrong! It was the booming voice of John Madden that greeted me and he wanted to do the interview right then and there.

I was smart enough to realize if I wanted the story, I had to go for it. The downside was that I hadn't even thought about what I wanted to ask the man, the Magster was due to wake up at any moment and I couldn't find my note pad. I grabbed a random pad of paper and a pen, and started asking some basic questions. I knew my story angle was "Why Pleasanton?", so I was asking him about his decision to move to Pleasanton 40 years ago, where he first lived, etc., etc. But I was scrambling, big time.

About half way through the interview, my husband emerged from his office. He had figured out what was happening in the kitchen and was listening intently to my side of the interview. My husband is a much bigger sports fan than I, so he was trying to feed me a question. I watched his mouth as I was trying to take notes and praying the Magster didn't wake up. All I could see was, "Something lame." I assumed he was saying, "Don't sound lame." I thought "Thanks dear. I'm working hard on that right now."

A few more minutes went by of classic Madden story-telling (which was totally delightful to hear first hand) and the Magster woke up. Coming out of slumber is ugly for the Magster, so I dashed into the office and her dad had to deal with a very cranky Magster. Even worse, the Magster saw me, heard me, but couldn't have me. Not good.

The entire interview lasted 25 minutes. I was grateful I got anytime at all. When I came out of the office, I grabbed my bitter daughter and asked my husband what he was trying to say to me. The answer: Hall of Fall. Madden had just been inducted into the Hall of Fame. Ooops! I guess the fact I don't watch much television bit my behind on that one. I had no idea. The good news is that fact was to become an assumption for my story and the lack of a quote on the topic was irrelevant.

The one thought I couldn't get out of my mind as I wrote this story was how much my grandfather and my brother, both die-hard Raider fans from the Madden era, would have enjoyed spending a few minutes with John Madden. I'm sure they were both listening into my entire interview and guiding my research as I wrote this story. I hope I did them proud.