One Size Doesn't Fit All [and Other Thoughts from the Road]

by Dave Anderson, John Madden

Focuses on the world in a series of anecdotal essays ranging from sports to spas, politicians to poker, and offering observations on television, fashion, celebrities, and more

Genres: Sports, Nonfiction, Football, Biography, Humor

227 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 1988

Reviews

[Charles · Rating 5 out of 5]

In my opinion, there will never be a football broadcast pair that will be able to equal Pat Summerall and John Madden. Both of them were football experts, but in many ways, they had the persona of regular guys. In this book, John Madden goes from topic to topic, sometimes with no real thread between two in sequence.
He talks about his life, on and off the road, as well as his approach to things. He is not one to adopt the appearance of a dandy and he often talks about his simple tastes in food. When he reached the point where his claustrophobia was too great to allow him to fly, he began taking trains. However, since the trains do not provide complete coverage of all locations where football is played, a bus was modified to be his traveling motel room.
Part of Madden’s broadcast persona was to be humorous when you were not sure if he actually meant it to be. He was folksy, yet you never doubted that he was an expert on football. Many people that watched games that he called did not know that his winning percentage as a coach was 0.759, the highest in the modern era. Even better than that of the storied Bill Belicheck. He drafted and molded many hall of fame players, some of which were rejected by other teams.
This book is not full of deep thoughts, just those of a guy that loved what he did, on the field, in the broadcast booth and everywhere else.

[Chris Schaffer · Rating 5 out of 5]

I know, laugh at the 5 star rating for an old sports book by a formerly famous announcer whose heyday was the ‘80s and early ‘90s but Madden comes across as such an authentic character - an everyday guy who likes good conversations, good food at unpretentious places like road stops throughout the country, a cold beer, traveling in a bus, his family, his friends and football. Much more than Tim Russert who lived in a leafy enclave in DC and sent this kid to St. Albans school and talked to senators, congressman and slimy DC insiders for a living. Oh but he supposedly roughed it in working class Buffalo for a couple years growing up. Please. Madden is the everyman and the book is filled with great anecdotes, simple lessons and good insights on a variety of topics sports and non-sports related.

[David · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was a terrific book. He comes across as a fun guy, someone you would enjoy spending time with even if you had no interest at all in football. He seems to have been very likable, not someone who ever takes himself too seriously or cared too much about his reputation.
All of which makes the announcement of his recent passing all the more difficult to understand. He was this guy eighty five years old, seemingly overweight forever, never a public advocate for healthy choices, etc. An announcement along the lines of, John Madden passed today from natural causes would have surprised no one. Instead we get this headline, John Madden passed away today from secret causes, don’t even try to guess, you will never find out.

[Aaron · Rating 3 out of 5]

Very lighthearted and entertaining.

[Andrew Haile · Rating 3 out of 5]

A lot of good knowledge in these madden books both on and off the field. A few repeated stories from the other two books, but overall I enjoyed them. Recommend for any football fan.

[Justin Slepicka · Rating 5 out of 5]

John Madden was just the darndest man

[Lani · Rating 3 out of 5]

The last of the three Madden books I borrowed from my dad and you can definitely see the improvement in Madden's writing and story-telling style. This book is more like Hey, Wait a Minute than One knee equals two feet, so it's more Madden anecdotes and non-football stories (inasmuch as Madden has any non-football stories).

Madden talks some about his pet bulldogs, his kids, and his infamous bus.

[J · Rating 2 out of 5]

I love that this book features 11 pages of John Madden saying what uniform numbers he thinks certain celebrities should wear. If you were wondering, Barbara Mandrell would have worn 26 on Madden's Raiders. Interestingly he includes in his list his long-term broadcasting partner Pat Summerall, picking for him No. 88 ... which, as it happens, is one of the numbers he did wear during his NFL career.

[Todd · Rating 2 out of 5]

A quick read, but it is very dated. I enjoyed the stories of his slant on things. But over all I wouldn't recommend this book to a friend, and I won't keep this one, I'm going to donate it to the library.

[Jenny T. · Rating 3 out of 5]

Here's a quick look into John Madden's life after coaching and before video games. Although a bit dated (the book was first released in 1988), it is a humorous and entertaining read about football and other things in life.

[Paul · Rating 3 out of 5]

outdated and a bit all over.