R.I.P. Max McGee

I had been meaning to do this post since last Saturday, 20Oct07, when Max McGee, beloved former wide receiver of the Lombardi-era Green Bay Packers died after falling off the roof of his home while removing leaves with a leaf blower.

I say this with all due respect, but this was a fitting death for good ol' Max, who bucked convention all his life. I mean, picture a 75 year old man, probably with a drink or three under his belt, up on the roof of his house with a leaf blower, even though his wife warned him not to do it.

That was Max McGee in a nutshell - a free-spirited, hard partying iconoclast who never said never.

Now, I don't know if Max's death was a big story where you live, but here in Wisconsin, it's been a huge deal, if only because Max McGee was a larger-than-life character who was an essential part of life and culture here in Packerland for the better part of 50 years.

In the his first team meeting after being hired as the Packers' head coach, Vince Lombardi started by holding up a pigskin and telling his team, "This is a football." Max, being Max, responded, "Wait, wait, slow down, Coach." That was Max McGee.

In the first Super Bowl in 1966, McGee wasn't expecting to play, as he was an aging 9th year veteran who no longer started for the Packers, so he broke the team's curfew the night before to party hard in typical McGee fashion, and was in no condition, really, to play in the big game, even telling the starting WR, Boyd Dowler, "I hope you don't get hurt, cuz I'm not in very good shape." He was so sure he wouldn't play, in fact, that he left his helmet in the locker room. So when Dowler separated his shoulder very early in the game, McGee was called upon to get onto the field, and he had to borrow a teammate's helmet. That was Max McGee.

McGee went on to catch seven passes for 138 yards and two touchdowns, leading the Packers to victory over the KC Chiefs in Super Bowl I. That clutch performance, hangover and all, was Max McGee, too.

After his pro career ended, Max became the color commentator for the "Packers Radio Network", sitting alongside play-by-play man Jim Irwin, and that's where my own personal association and fond memories of Max McGee began, really. Max McGee put the COLOR in "Color Commentator"...Not only was he witty and fun, but he was informative as only an 11 year veteran of the NFL, and a Vince Lombardi player, can be. Sooo many Sundays me, my dad, my friends, whomever, would turn down the volume on the TV, turn on WTMJ, and listen to Max and Jim while watching the Packer game. This happened all over Wisconsin, because Max and Jim were infinitely better sportcaster than anyone the television networks were using.

Plus, he drank on the air, something that actually got him in trouble on more than one occasion.

But drunk Max, doing color for Packers radio, was a good and great thing, and made the long, lean years of the 70's and 80's, when the Packers outright sucked, more palatable. The Packers didn't win many games in those decades, but damn if Max didn't make all that misery somehow fun. That was Max McGee.

And if you think I'm just being crass for loving drunk Max, making jokes and ranting on the radio, keep in mind that he was named Wisconsin Sportscaster Of The Year an unprecedented TEN times in his 29 year broadcasting career. He was that good, drunk or not.

Finally, it needs to be noted that Max was also the major partner in developing the Chi-Chi's Mexican Restaurant chain. For those of you who are not bilingual, "Chi-Chi" is slang for "tits" in Spanish. Whether or not it was intentional, THAT was Max McGee as well.

The original OCHO CINCO...

Rest in peace, Max McGee. You were one of a kind, you are legendary, and you are already sorely missed.

Hotcha! Hank