Madden had a WICKED sense of humor. He told this story on one of his Bay Area sports talk shows:
During a baseball strike/lockout in the 1980s he was golfing with a few baseball players. At the first tee he told them that they needed to make the round "interesting". He said, we'll play full-contact golf. Puzzled, the players asked what he meant. He told that when they would address the ball to hit it, he would blindside tackle them...
He quit coaching due to his fear of flying, which he would have to do to get to any games any distance from Oakland. Truly a great guy.