MADDEN TO SKIP ‘HAWKS-BUCS GAME?

Apparently, the Madden Cruiser won’t be making the cross-country trek from San Diego to Tampa this week. Per the St. Petersburg Times, Madden won’t be participating in Sunday night’s coverage of the game between the Seahawks and the Buccaneers. Madden worked Sunday night’s game between the Pats and Chargers in San Diego. Last week, Madden’s custom bus carried him from Jacksonville to San Diego. But the Times also reports that an NBC official declined comment, and then commented by saying that Madden is still scheduled to attend the game in Tampa. We’re not sure how the whole “paid leave” thing works when a guy is making multiple millions of dollars to work 20 or so days per year, but if Madden simply didn’t want to complete the Florida-California round trip, then shouldn’t he give back a chunk of his annual pay? Cris Collinsworth is the most likely candidate to replace Madden, who teams up regularly with Al Michaels. UPDATE: We’ve confirmed that Madden indeed will miss this weekend’s game, and that the one-week break was offered to him by NBC back in April, after the schedule came out. So it isn’t a case of Madden asking out of work. The powers-that-be threw him a bone. And he’ll spend the rest of the week gnawing on it. Perhaps after repeatedly dipping it in that sauce that comes with a Bloomin’ Onion.