Can't the NFL convince* John Madden to come out of retirement for Thanksgiving games?

And they'll watch the game and it'll be as if they dipped themselves in magic waters. The memories will be so thick they'll have to brush them away from their faces.  - James Earl Jones, Field of Dreams (1989)

I've always wondered why the NFL hasn't been able to get John Madden to broadcast a Thanksgiving Day Game since his retirement 10 years ago. With the Turducken award and Holiday repartee it would bring back the nostalgia of those days when as Madden says, "it doesn't get any better than this". Perhaps, there have been quiet efforts by the NFL or TV Networks to coax John Madden to announce the Dallas or Detroit game on Thanksgiving and we don't know about them but, I've never heard any rumors.

After his successful coaching career with the Oakland Raiders, Madden was for 30 years the best color commentator in Football. Growing up and listening to Madden and Pat Summeral announce games throughout the 80's and 90's with a drink and a whap and a boom and his love of Brett Favre's moxie, Barry Sanders' ellusiveness, or Nate Newton's pancakes were almost as big a draw for the games as the action on the field itself.

But, like most things, perhaps it's the old MacArthur line about Old Soldiers fading away. Madden is after all 83 and has been retired since 2009 and only a smattering of players are still playing in the league when he last announced a game. And, most likely, Madden simply no longer wants to announce a game. But, no matter how long it's been Madden knows football and it would be something on Thanksgiving to hear Madden's sound effects and see his telestrator pen light up a game.

*- perhaps convince is the wrong word and the title should be; Can't the NFL give John Madden what ever he would want/need to come out of retirement for a Thanksgiving game?