NBC honors John Madden on Thanksgiving by taking the original Madden Cruiser on one last trip

John Madden’s love of football and family came through the most on Thanksgiving.

On Thursday, NBC will continue to honor Madden’s legacy when it opens its broadcast before the nightcap between the Miami Dolphins and Green Bay Packers.

The two-minute open features the original Madden Cruiser traveling from the Pro Football Hall of Fame in Canton, Ohio, to Lambeau Field last week. It has remained in Green Bay and will also be featured during the game.

Lambeau Field was always one of Madden’s favorite stadiums, which made this year’s Thanksgiving game on NBC game even more special.

“It’s been unbelievable to see the way John’s legacy is still so important and prevalent,” said Ellie Wright, who produced the opening and was on the trip last week.

The idea of bringing the bus out of retirement first came up during NBC’s “Sunday Night Football” production meetings in early June. Madden donated the Madden Cruiser to the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 2018.

The Hall was all in on the idea of the cruiser taking one final ride around the Midwest. It is a featured attraction during enshrinement week activities, but most of the year, it is stored in a warehouse in northeast Ohio.

On its trip through the Midwest, the cruiser also went through Chicago, where it made a brief stop at Soldier Field and a Boys & Girls Club in Wisconsin before reaching Lambeau Field.

J.J. Johnson, who drove for Madden for the final six years of his broadcast career (2003-08), drove the cruiser last week and narrated the opening.

“As I was driving between locations, the crew would ask me questions, or I’d share stories, and it just brought back so many fond memories. And, for me, it’s honoring John in this way,” Johnson said.

After having a panic attack on a flight before calling a game at Tampa Bay in 1979, Madden would travel to games via train before Greyhound donated the first bus in 1987.

The first Madden Cruiser traveled more than 600,000 miles. It was replaced with an upgraded one in 1994 when Madden went from CBS to Fox.

There ended up being five Madden Cruisers. The Madden family has access to the last two, while the whereabouts of the other two are unknown.

Madden will be honored during all three games on Thursday. It is the third year the NFL has had the “John Madden Thanksgiving Celebration” after the Hall of Fame coach and iconic broadcaster died in December 2021.

Madden called 20 Thanksgiving games on CBS and Fox from 1982 through 2001. He went to ABC for “Monday Night Football” in 2002 and joined NBC in 2006 when “Sunday Night Football” started, but neither network had a game on Thanksgiving.

CBS has the first game, between the Chicago Bears and Detroit Lions, and Fox has the late afternoon matchup between the New York Giants and Dallas Cowboys.

The NFL expanded to three Thanksgiving games in 2006. NBC took over broadcasting the night game in 2012.

This is the second time Green Bay has hosted the night game and the first since 2015.

Even though Madden retired from broadcasting after Super Bowl 43 at the end of the 2008 season, his impact on NBC’s games continues to resonate.

“Sunday Night Football” coordinating producer Rob Hyland, who was Madden’s replay producer when NBC got back NFL rights in 2006, said Madden had a significant role in his development in terms of being a storyteller, not only with football but in producing the Kentucky Derby and prime-time coverage of the Olympics.

“John Madden was the most curious person I’ve ever worked with, and I think his curiosity has definitely rubbed off on anyone that’s worked with him,” Hyland said. “How a player’s ankles are taped may look different than the previous week. He would question a lot, and I discovered a lot because of his curiosity.”

In keeping with other Madden Thanksgiving traditions, NBC will award turkey legs to the game’s most valuable players and turduckens to the winning team.

Hall of Fame safety Leroy Butler, who played for the Packers for 12 seasons, has become an accomplished chef and will prepare the turkeys and turduckens, with some being done on the bus.

“One of our production trucks has a dedication to John on the outside of it. And when it comes to Thanksgiving, when we step out the door, we’re going out to do our jobs on game day, we think of one person, we think of John, and it’s Thanksgiving, and you have to smile,” said Johnson, who drives one of the “Sunday Night Football” production trucks. “Love of football and the love of Thanksgiving and now we’re here in Lambeau Field, one of his favorite locations. I mean, this is a game he would love to broadcast. And we just go out with pride to do the best job we can in honor of John.”

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FIEL - Buffalo Bills wide receiver Stefon Diggs (14), safety Jordan Poyer (21), quarterback Josh Allen (17), and tight end Dawson Knox (88) eat a Thanksgiving turkey after an NFL football game against the New Orleans Saints, Thursday, Nov. 25, 2021, in New Orleans. (AP Photo/Tyler Kaufman, File)

FILE - A John Madden Thanksgiving sign is shown at Ford Field during the second half of an NFL football game between the Detroit Lions and the Buffalo Bills, Thursday, Nov. 24, 2022, in Detroit. (AP Photo/Paul Sancya, File)

FILE - TV sports personality and former Oakland Raiders head coach John Madden enjoys the comforts of his custom-made bus while in New York June 10, 1987. (AP Photo/G. Paul Burnette, File)

NEW YORK (AP) — Stocks wavered in afternoon trading on Wednesday, as losses for several Big Tech companies offset gains elsewhere in the market.

The S&P 500 fell 0.5% in afternoon trading, even though more stocks were rising than falling in the index. The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 78 points, or 0.2%, as of 12:33 p.m. Eastern time. Both indexes set records on Tuesday.

The Nasdaq composite fell 1.1%.

Losses for tech heavyweights helped pull the broader market lower. Semiconductor giant Nvidia slipped 3.3%. Its huge value gives it outsized influence on market indexes. Microsoft fell 1.1%

Several personal computer makers added to Big Tech's heavy weight on the market following their latest earnings reports.

HP sank 12.6% after giving investors a weaker-than-expected earnings forecast for its current quarter. Dell slumped 12.1% after its latest quarterly revenue fell short of Wall Street forecasts.

Gains for financial and health care companies helped counter Big Tech's downward pull.

The U.S. economy expanded at a healthy 2.8% annual pace from July through September, according to the Commerce Department, leaving its original estimate of third-quarter growth unchanged. The growth was driven by strong consumer spending and a surge in exports.

The update follows a report on Tuesday from the Conference Board that said confidence among U.S. consumers improved in November, but not by as much as economists expected.

Consumers have been driving economic growth, but the latest round of earnings reports from retailers shows a mixed and more cautious picture.

Department store operator Nordstrom fell 10.3% after warning investors about a trend toward weakening sales that started in late October. Clothing retailer Urban Outfitters jumped 15.9% after beating analysts’ third-quarter financial forecasts. Weeks earlier, retail giant Target gave investors a discouraging forecast for the holiday season, while Walmart provided a more encouraging forecast.

Consumers, though resilient, are still facing pressure from inflation. The latest update from the U.S. government shows that inflation accelerated last month. The personal consumption expenditures index, or PCE, rose to 2.3% in October from 2.1% in September.

Overall, the rate of inflation has been falling broadly since it peaked more than two years ago. The PCE, which is the Federal Reserve's preferred measure of inflation, was just below 7.3% in June of 2022. Another measure of inflation, the consumer price index, peaked at 9.1% at the same time.

The latest inflation data, though, is a sign that the rate of inflation seems to be stalling as it falls to within range of the Fed's target of 2%. The central bank started raising its benchmark interest rate from near-zero in early 2022 to a two-decade high by the middle of 2023 and held it there in order to tame inflation.

The Fed started cutting its benchmark interest rate in September, followed by a second cut in November. Wall Street expects a similar quarter-point cut at the central bank's upcoming meeting in December.

“Today’s data shouldn’t change views of the likely path for disinflation, however bumpy," said David Alcaly, lead macroeconomic strategist at Lazard Asset Management. "But a lot of observers, probably including some at the Fed, are looking for reasons to get more hawkish on the outlook given the potential for inflationary policy change like new tariffs.”

President-elect Donald Trump has said he plans to impose sweeping new tariffs on Mexico, Canada and China when he takes office in January. That could shock the economy by raising prices on a wide range of goods and accelerating the rate of inflation. Such a shift could prompt the Fed to rethink future cuts to interest rates.

Treasury yields slipped in the bond market. The yield on the 10-year Treasury fell to 4.24% from 4.30% late Tuesday. The yield on the two-year Treasury, which more closely follows expected actions by the Fed, fell to 4.21% from 4.25% late Tuesday.

U.S. markets will be closed Thursday for Thanksgiving.

A sign marking the intersection of Wall Street and South Street is shown in New York's Financial District on Tuesday, Nov. 26 2024. (AP Photo/Peter Morgan)

FILE - People pass the New York Stock Exchange on Nov. 5, 2024, in New York. (AP Photo/Peter Morgan, File)

People walk past the New York Stock Exchange on Tuesday, Nov. 26 2024. (AP Photo/Peter Morgan)

A person walks in front of the Tokyo Stock Exchange building at a securities firm Tuesday, Nov. 26, 2024, in Tokyo. (AP Photo/Eugene Hoshiko)