The death of John Madden reminded me of why I am here.
It was the summer of 2020, and I was still drawing editorial sports cartoons for the Los Angeles Times.
American cities were still burning and rioters looting when EA Sports released Madden21. The popular and massively profitable video game was released on August 28th, just two weeks before the NFL was to resume a full schedule.
Madden21 was riddled with programming errors, like players who couldn’t be tackled, or players scoring touchdowns by downing a ball in their own end zone. The game also contained new “social justice” messaging and that messaging was purposeful.
In Madden21, Colin Kaepernick was back. Kaepernick was a selectable player even though he had been out of the league for years. Players could “take a knee” after scoring touchdowns. Players could raise a fist. The theater of the absurd had now invaded Madden Football. Read the rest at redstate.com.
