Daily Madden: Spotlight On Super Bowl Has Grown Since 'Oklahoma Raiders' Played

SAN FRANCISCO (KCBS) - If Denver wins the Super Bowl, Broncos safety Mike Adams plans to walk from the stadium to his hometown of Paterson, New Jersey wearing his helmet and shoulder pads. It's his way to show how far he's come from the troubled dead-end street where he grew up. John Madden said it's important to take in the magnitude of the moment, especially given the importance placed on the game these days.

"Walk home in your uniform, not a bad idea," Madden told the KCBS Radio morning crew. "You have to make a memory. This game and this day -- especially if you win the game now -- is going to be part of you, part of your life. It's going to part of who you are and part of who you were. If that's true and you really believe that, then doggone it, don't let it get away quickly."

As one of the first participants in a Super Bowl as an assistant coach for the Raiders in 1968, Madden is amazed at how big of an event it's become.

"It went from a game to a day to a weekend to a week, and even people that never watch a game will watch the Super Bowl... I always think back to Super Bowl II. We were playing the Green Bay Packers in Miami. And I was watching TV on that Sunday night and they had the Green Bay Packers coming in -- Vince Lombardi, Bart Starr, the whole thing. And then two hours later, we flew in and we were (identified on TV as) the Oklahoma Raiders... Way back then when we first started this, they didn't call it the Super Bowl, and they didn't know who was playing or where they were from." (7:25)

(Listen to the John Madden segment live weekday mornings at 8:15 on KCBS All News 740 AM/106.9 FM. And catch John's extra report at 9:15 am Mondays and Fridays on KCBS during the NFL season.)