Sad news from the sports world with the passing of legendary coach and broadcaster John Madden at the age of 85.

Whether from his days as a coach, broadcaster or simply as the name on a video game, John Madden was a football legend known by fans of all generations.

Though more than a dozen years elapsed between his final broadcast after nearly three decades as the preeminent color commentator on television and his passing, Madden remained a legendary and well-known sports figure until his death. Just this past Christmas, Fox Sports broadcast a program recognizing his legacy and larger-than-life personality.

Despite his death, Madden’s influence on football and pop culture will continue to live on in the leading football video game known as Madden NFL.

The journey for Madden from a 21^st round NFL Draft pick to the most recognized person in the NFL was truly a remarkable one.

A talented multi-sport athlete, Madden was a boyhood friend of John Robinson, who would go on to a successful career as head coach at the University of Southern California and with the Los Angeles Rams.

Madden played college football at the College of San Mateo for a year, earning a scholarship to the University of Oregon. However, an injury forced him to redshirt and he ultimately finished his college career playing two seasons as a two-way player at Cal Poly in San Luis Obispo. He was also a catcher on the Cal-Poly baseball team.

The Philadelphia Eagles selected Madden in the 21^st round (244^th overall pick) of the 1958 NFL Draft. However, a knee injury suffered in training camp ended his dream of playing in the NFL.

After completing his degree, Madden became an assistant coach at Allan Hancock College in Santa Maria, California. He was promoted to head coach in 1962.

Following the 1963 season he was hired as a defensive assistant coach at San Diego State by head coach Don Coryell. Before becoming a successful NFL head coach with the St. Louis Cardinals and San Diego Chargers, Coryell turned San Diego State into one of the top small college football programs in the country.

After the 1966 season, Madden was hired by Al Davis as linebackers coach for the Oakland Raiders. During his first season in the AFL, the Raiders won the AFL Championship and played the Green Bay Packers in Super Bowl II.

Following the 1968 season, head coach John Rauch left the Raiders to become head coach of the Buffalo Bills. Davis tapped the then 32-year-old Madden to be head coach of the Raiders. Considering his age and that his only head coaching experience had been at the community college level, it was quite a bold move.

Fortunately for Davis and the Raiders, Madden proved to be up for the task. The Raiders posted a 12-1-1 record during his first season as head coach and reached the AFC Championship Game.

Over the next seven seasons the Raiders won at least eight games each year and reached the playoffs seven times. They advanced to the AFC Championship Game in each of the 1973, 1974 and 1975 seasons, but each year fell just short of reaching the Super Bowl.

After losing to the Miami Dolphins in the 1973 AFC Championship Game, the Raiders thought it was their turn after defeating the Dolphins in dramatic fashion in a game known as the “Sea of Hands” game for the final touchdown pass from Ken Stabler to Clarence Davis in the final seconds.

Unfortunately, the Raiders proved to again be the bridesmaids as they lost the conference title game to the Pittsburgh Steelers. The same occurred a year later when the game was played in Pittsburgh and Madden and the Raiders felt that the Steelers intentionally chose not to cover the field, thus creating a slick surface that neutralized the speed of the Raiders.

Finally, in 1976 the Raiders posted a 13-1 regular season record and then avenged their only loss of the regular season by defeating the New England Patriots 24-21 in the opening round of the playoffs.

Participating in their fourth straight conference championship game and third against the Steelers, Madden and the Raiders finally came out on top in a 24-7 decision to reach Super Bowl XI.

With 17 enshrinees in the Pro Football Hall of Fame among players, coaches, and executives who spent their whole careers or made their primary contribution with the franchise, the Dallas Cowboys have always been well represented in Canton, Ohio. This coming weekend of Aug. 7-8, three more primary Cowboys and a fourth who spent only one season in Dallas will be enshrined in the hallowed hall where their busts and bios will be preserved forever. These four Cowboys are part of 19 individuals who will be officially inducted this year. Dallas is one of several franchises with multiple enshrinees this year. Other franchises with multiple inductees who have at least some ties to them include the Pittsburgh Steelers, Indianapolis Colts, Oakland/Los Angeles Raiders, Chicago Bears, Detroit Lions, and Green Bay Packers among others. Both the classes of 2020 and 2021 are being inducted this summer due to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic that forced the 2020 enshrinement to be cancelled. The two classes total 28 inductees, nine who were elected posthumously. Special video tributes of these nine will be shown between the live speeches during the two enshrinement ceremonies. Each of them were enshrined in a separate ceremony on April 28 at the Hall of Fame.

Jimmy Johnson, Harold Carmichael, Cliff Harris, and Drew Pearson are the four former Cowboys being inducted this weekend who played or coached in Dallas. Harris and Pearson played their entire careers with the Cowboys and were teammates for much of the 1970s when Dallas appeared in five Super Bowls and won two. Johnson made his mark as head coach of the Cowboys for five seasons from 1989-93 leading them to the franchise’s only back-to-back Super Bowl Championships following the 1992 and ’93 seasons. Johnson also was the head coach of the Miami Dolphins from 1996-99. Carmichael played only one season for Dallas which came in 1984, his final season as a pro after playing 13 years for the Philadelphia Eagles.

After a year-long delay due to COVID-19, the Tokyo Olympics officially start on July 23^rd and will run until August 8^th. However, there’s still a couple of weeks until the event, and with certain obstructions to the Games popping up, such as the banning of spectators due to a rise in COVID cases in Tokyo, it’s an excellent time to go over the Tokyo Olympics—the games being shown and how the Olympics have adapted to COVID.

The Tokyo Olympics: Changes

The major change to the Tokyo Olympics will be the aforementioned banning of all spectators during the event. The reason for this ban is because Tokyo will be under a state of emergency throughout the event. Instead of delaying the event yet again, organizers will reduce the risk of infection during the Olympics by ridding the arenas of spectators.

Along with the ban, athletes will be tested for COVID every day of the event. However, athletes will not be required to receive their vaccinations, though the IOC expects most athletes to have received their vaccinations by July 23^rd.

The Tokyo Olympics: Sports Highlights

Not all changes to the Tokyo Olympics revolve around COVID, however. A few new sports and disciplines will be shown at the event, and they are definitely worth mentioning!

In total, six new sports will be broadcasted during the event, and out of those six, four will be making their debut.

Two of the “new” sports, baseball and softball, were previously cut from the Olympics in 2005 after a vote from the IOC. They will be making their long-awaited return in the 2021 Tokyo Olympics.

It probably comes as no surprise that the 4^th of July has seen a few more “special” sports moments than most other days on the calendar. As a national holiday occurring during the height of the season for baseball, there have been a significant number of special baseball moments on this date.

Even though July 4^th is a day that our friends in England are maybe not as enthusiastic in celebrating, July 4^th does have quite a history in that country as many Wimbledon titles have been claimed on that special date.

Over the years the date has also seen special moments in boxing history and women’s golf.

Below is a chronological look at a few of those special July 4^th sports moments:

1910 – In what was dubbed the “Fight of the Century”, World Heavyweight Boxing Champion Jack Johnson retains his title with a 15^th round TKO against James J. Jeffries.

1911 – Ty Cobb’s pursuit of Willie Keeler’s record hitting streak of 45 consecutive games ends at 40 games when Cobb is held hitless in four attempts by Ed Walsh of the Chicago White Sox. Cobb’s streak remains the sixth longest streak in MLB history.

1914 – Dorothea Chambers claims her seventh, and final, Wimbledon Women’s Singles title, beating Ethel Larcombe 7-5, 6-4.

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It’s the trendy outdoor leisure activity! This sport appeared about fifty years ago in Hawaii and is experiencing a comeback. Its practice is now within everyone’s reach. Here are some tips to get you started and, why not, to buy a board. Before that, we will see together the benefits of the practice of paddle boarding.

The Stand Up Paddle Boarding is accessible

This sport is quite easy to get the hang of after an hour. You will have fun from the first second. Many models of Stand Up Paddle Boards exist: from beginners to advanced. You can consider an outing with your family, as a couple, with friends or solo.

Work on your upper body, lower body and balance

The greatest challenge is to stand on the board and not fall… You will work your balance but especially your postural muscles in depth: from the legs to the shoulders through the abdominal belt, the back, the lumbar, the pectoral, the arms… After a few hours of practice, you will develop your balance, the proprioception of the lower limbs, the muscles of your back and your shoulders. The paddling movement is particularly adapted to gently develop your body.