“Why can’t we just keep a first-down line on the screen the whole game?” he asked. Everybody shrugged their shoulders. Somebody said it’d be too distracting. Somebody else said the technology wouldn’t allow it. “You’re wrong — we should do it,” Madden said, shaking his head. He let it hang in the air, and producers in the room started to wonder whether maybe Madden was right. “The yellow line is a direct descendant of that moment.” As he turns 85, we look back on the career and quotes of one of the most colorful people in sports. Inside the legacy of John Madden.

+ Line of 2021 so far: Colin Jost, “Who’s next, the ghost of Jeffrey Epstein?” Jost and Michael Che are the best SNL news deliverers ever, by a mile. (By the way, I need to make contact with Michael Che if anyone has a connection, please let me know.)

+ The Iceberg that sank the Titanic, Bowen Yang, stops by Weekend Update to discuss his new album. (I can’t explain this, but it’s amazing.)