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Daily Madden: LaRussa's Fine For Questioning Umps

SAN FRANCISCO (KCBS) - John Madden discussed his ideas for remodeling the KCBS newsroom with the morning crew Wednesday. The coach also weighed in on his friend Tony LaRussa's fine for criticizing an umpire's strike zone.

"That's the protection that they give officials," said Madden, who said criticzing officials is diffrent than calling out coaches and players. "If you're in the game, you can't criticize officials. I thought what Tony said was harmless. I think protecting them is ok, but overprotecting them is not ok."

KCBS' John Madden Reports:

Madden also said the Raiders lost their shot to beat the Patriots on Sunday when they failed to take advantge of opportunities to get into the endzone.

"They were in it for a while...they're better. They are improving. But when you play Tom Brady they just arent that good," said Madden. "You have to go in with the mindsed that you have to score 40 points...you can't be kicking threes against the Patriots."

Madden said the Raiders can get away with that against divisional teams like Kansas City and Denver, but need to score consistently to be elite.  

The former coach also complimented Derek Jeter on his continued ability to come through in the clutch, and said he would be a top pick on his all time sports team.

(Copyright 2011 by CBS San Francisco. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.)

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