John Madden and I went to the same college, at different times, and played football there, on different teams. I also once covered the Oakland Raiders, and he wasn’t the coach. Today, amazingly, he retired from NBC, which I watch! (For the record, I played in 1960 for the Grays Harbor College Chokers – it refers to a choker chain used by loggers, not what we became in the late stages of many a game – and Madden played in 1956). In Aberdeen, Madden swept up the card room at the Mint Cafe where, he proudly recalls, he learned his football poker skills. I worked in the pulp mill, where I learned my pulp skills. The coincidences never stop.