Curse of Caliendo Claims John Madden

When talking about John Madden's legacy, MDS has it right: he's an "American original", and football will be worse off without him. NBC has already named Cris Collinsworth as his successor, and that softens the blow, but no one will ever replace Madden.

It's not all bad news, though; Madden video games will live on, and Frank Caliendo's impersonation of Madden will not. Via CNBC.com's Darren Rovell:

Caliendo said Thursday that Madden's retirement won't immediately put him out of business. He's actually inked for two more years to do work with NFL on FOX.

"Then that will probably be it," Caliendo told the "Bickley and MJ Show" on XTRA Sports 910.

"It's a fantastic job," said Caliendo, who also does a strong impression of Bill Walton. "It's probably my favorite job in all the stuff I've done. I've had some opportunities where people wanted me to host some gameshows and things like that. Looked at that, but never really thought, 'This is for me.' I want to get out of the just character stuff."

I suppose there are worse fates than being pigeon-holed as "that comedian who wears funny outfits and does the voices" (off the top of my head: Carrot Top, Gallagher, Dane Cook -- all worse), but for a guy who has built his career on mocking others, transitioning to something else could be tough. (For instance, the game show route hasn't exactly worked out for Louie Anderson and Drew Carey.)

Of course, he may not have a choice. As Brinson pointed out to me, the Caliendo curse continues unabated. First, George W. Bush's reputation went in the tank, and he subsequently lost out on a third term in office* thanks to a Barack Obama beat down. Nice work, Frank.

Then, Charles Barkley was arrested for DUI (and other stuff), and now, Madden has retired. Somebody should talk Caliendo into doing an entire Cold Pizza 2.0 bit, or even better: Rory Sabbatini. Maybe use his comedic super powers for good for a change.**

*joke
** obvious exception: ruining W's legacy