I would say the demographic of HN, being a plurality of American males, grew up watching football called by Madden or played videos games with his name on it.

There's a reason intellectual gratification is the bar and the goal for topicality, not emotional catharsis or pop-cultural notoriety. If simply being popular with American males became the standard, this place would degenerate into Reddit.

I think the occasional discussion of a notable person's death is an exception to the rule.

I think this would be a less controversial opinion if the deceased were a well known artist, but because Madden "only" is an icon to three generations of people by shaping the game of football and sports video games, it's too pedestrian.