As we close the door on the 2024 NFL season and postseason, it is fitting to look back on a weekend of Super Bowl programming beyond the big game itself. From pregame shows to profiles to historic features, there was a plethora of programming to view as we prepared for the Kansas City Chiefs versus Philadelphia Eagles tilt in Super Bowl LIX. However one program served as a hidden gem in his television treasure chest, modeled after a man named Madden and his legendary transportation.
It was called The Madden Cruiser: A Bayou Adventure with Bill Belichick. This one-hour FOX sports program aired on Super Bowl Sunday at noon featuring Belichick aboard legendary coach and broadcaster John Madden’s iconic bus. I buckled in for an unforgettable road trip through the heart of New Orleans, site of this year’s Super Bowl.
It wasn’t just a bus trip, however. It was a trip through some amazing football history. Belichick hosted and narrated the show – a wide ranging and vivid journey through the deep New Orleans pigskin culture. A master historian of the game, Belichick is a coaches’ coach who has great admiration for those who came before him. The ex-Patriots czar and current University of North Carolina Tar Heels football head coach has done a lot of television this year. The Madden Cruiser: A Bayou Adventure with Bill Belichick is his best work.
The program had style, character, texture, and feel. Belichick’s first cohort on the trip was NFL on FOX analyst Michael Strahan. The pair looked back on the larger than life figure that was John Madden and his impact on football. Belichick stated that Madden called more Super Bowls in New Orleans than in any other city.
In another historic feature, Belichick returned to the site of New Orleans’ famed Tulane Stadium. The production values on this program were unbelievable. As Belichick walked through this hallowed ground, you heard sound of historic broadcasts from the stadium. One of my favorite parts of the show was when former Saints’ QB Archie Manning joined Belichick. The elder Manning, father of Cooper, Peyton, and Eli, is one of the truly great men of the NFL, all about credibility, integrity, and a gentlemanly manner.
As a quarterback at Ole Miss, Archie Manning won the 1970 Sugar Bowl in Tulane Stadium before joining the Saints. The Madden Cruiser: A Bayou Adventure with Bill Belichick did a great job reflecting on the players and coaches who brought personality to New Orleans Super Bowls – men like Hank Stram, Roger Staubach, Terry Bradshaw, Mike Ditka, Bob Griese, Bob Lilly, and so many more. Manning and Belichick also shared one of John Madden’s famous Turduckens.
Belichick’s next stop on the tour took him to New Orleans’ voodoo priestess Madame Cinnamon Black. They talked about the fact that the Superdome was built on an old burial ground supposedly cursing the Saints as losers for their first 20 seasons.
Belichick then took out an actual voodoo doll that he received before Super Bowl XXXVI where his Patriots upset the Rams. He joined former Patriot Ty Law inside the Superdome reflecting on previous Patriots’ losses in that stadium before Law and company broke the Pats’ ‘curse’ in 2002. Law was legitimately freaked out by the voodoo doll in a really fun exchange between the coach and his former player.
Belichick looked back on a couple of his favorite New Orleans Super Bowl moments including Super Bowl XXVIII where Emmitt Smith had a tremendous second half helping the Cowboys beat the Bills and, of course, Super Bowl LI, where Belichick’s Patriots erased a 28-3 second half deficit to win the championship.
The Madden Cruiser: A Bayou Adventure with Bill Belichick visited famed Preservation Hall, a historic jazz venue in the Big Easy since 1961. Belichick talked about the history of Preservation Hall and its intimacy as well as the dynamic and rhythmic Southern University band that played at several Super Bowls. He also recalled several players who came out of New Orleans including Steve Van Buren, Fred Dean, Peyton and Eli, as well as Louisiana natives Jim Taylor, Marshall Faulk, and Dak Prescott.
Another terrific stop was at Saint Augustine High School for a chat with Louisiana football icon Tyrann Mathieu on the many NFL players who came out of that school’s football program. Mathieu, a St. Augustine product, talked about some of the players as their high school game clips ran on screen. Next on this wild ride was a visit with Louisiana native and Hall of Fame safety Ed Reed who won Super Bowl XLVII in New Orleans with the Ravens.
In the conversation, Belichick told Reed that he and Tom Brady always had to game plan around Reed. In fact, Belichick once told Reed face-to-face that he is the greatest free safety ever to have played the game. Reed grew up just 10 minutes from the Superdome and looked back on his Super Bowl win, a game that featured brotherly opposing head coaches John and Jim Harbaugh as well as a power outage in the Superdome.
I absolutely loved the many clips of past New Orleans Super Bowls – Cowboys’ fullback Robert Newhouse throwing a touchdown pass in Super Bowl XII versus Denver, the Niners scoring 55 points against the Broncos in Super Bowl XXIV, and Chicago’s Refrigerator Perry scoring a touchdown versus New England in Super Bowl XX.
The program also looked back on 2005’s Hurricane Katrina and how the Superdome was used to house 20,000 people forced to leave their homes. Belichick also visited the Hurricane Katrina Memorial joined by FOX’s Curt Menefee and New Orleans’ own entertainment personality Rocsi Diaz. They paid homage to those whose lives were lost and looked back on the first game at the Superdome following the hurricane where the Saints beat Atlanta highlighted by Steve Gleason’s blocked punt.
As the show wound down, Diaz gave us an inside look at the Madden Cruiser with some great still shots of the legendary John Madden himself. Strahan then met up with Tom Brady and Erin Andrews of the NFL on FOX with Brady talking about his New Orleans Super Bowl memories and both discussing their Super Bowl pregame jitters.
Honestly, this was one of the finest Super Bowl pregame offerings I have ever seen. It eschewed the overdone ramblings on the Eagles and Chiefs, instead giving viewers some real football memories and knowledge.
Bill Belichick cruising through a historic football city like New Orleans with the joyous spirit of John Madden hovering over the entire production was my absolute favorite program of Super Bowl weekend. It provided fans with a spectacular sendoff as another NFL season ended. Forget baseball and Iowa, The Madden Cruiser: A Bayou Adventure with Bill Belichick was absolute football heaven.
Barrett Media produces daily content on the music, news, and sports media industries. To stay updated, sign up for our newsletters and get the latest information delivered straight to your inbox.
John Molori is a weekly columnist for Barrett Sports Media. He has previously contributed to ESPNW, Patriots Football Weekly, Golf Content Network, Methuen Life Magazine, and wrote a syndicated Media Blitz column in the New England region, which was published by numerous outlets including The Boston Metro, Providence Journal, Lowell Sun, and the Eagle-Tribune. His career also includes fourteen years in television as a News and Sports Reporter, Host, Producer working for Continental Cablevision, MediaOne, and AT&T. He can be reached on Twitter @MoloriMedia.
