Neil Leifer/Sports Illustrated
John Madden’s football career, suffering the unusual disadvantage of an increasingly interesting life, has long passed into irrelevance. He was one of the NFL’s greatest coaches, sure, but his years with the Oakland Raiders were so long ago, and so comparatively few, that it’s no longer possible to remember his shambling hulk on the sidelines, even if it was at a Super Bowl. Not when, in that athletic aftermath, he became one of our most unlikely celebrities, his mug on everything from magazine covers to video games, his cartoon commentary the soundtrack of our Sunday afternoons, his portfolio of endorsements an important part of the United States economy, his avuncular enthusiasm a reassuring respite every weekend.