Super Bowl Conspiracty: Jets v. Colts

[Oski]

My friend's dad played in the NFL for a number of years. He was on the Green Bay Packers for the 68-69 season (This was his rookie season, so he did not play in the first two Super Bowls).

Anyhow, there was a lot of talk among players and team personel (Not just those of the GBP's, either) that the NFL wanted the Jets to win the game. Some also speculated (no basis for such is provided) that Morrall was on the take.

As you may recall, the NFL was nowhere near the money-making juggernaught it is today. At that time, they were in their 3rd year of the AFL/NFL merger and the AFL teams were being dismissed as weak sisters. It was almost as if half of the teams were considered to be minor league ... that did not help promote growth of the sport.

Anyhow, the hoopla over Broadway Joe's prediction and the ensuing outcome did wonders for quickly bringing the AFL teams up to par. Also, it should be noted that this game was the first to by hyped as the "Super Bowl."

To this day, my friend (and his dad) are quite paranoid about fixing in sports and various and sundry "rig jobs."

Before dismissing this out of hand, recall that International soccer has had a host of match-fixing scandals, horse racing has had numerous fixing-scandals, and basketball has had point-shaving scandals.

Of course, most of these scandals have to go with the gambling aspect of the match, but many soccer scandals were orchestrated for better marketing, etc. for the league. Furthermore, every year the NBA playoffs seem to generate "theories" about helping the more popular teams into the finals.

Is it possible that the NFL orchestrated (or influence at least) the outcome of Super Bowl III?

Capsule Summary of game from Wiki:

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Super Bowl III was the third AFL-NFL Championship Game in professional American football, but the first to officially bear the name "Super Bowl" (The two previous AFL-NFL Championship Games would retroactively be called "Super Bowls" as well). This game is regarded as one of the biggest upsets in American sports history, and the most important Super Bowl ever played. The heavy underdog American Football League (AFL) champion New York Jets defeated the National Football League (NFL) champion Baltimore Colts, 16–7, in the first Super Bowl victory for the AFL.

The game was played on January 12, 1969 at the Orange Bowl in Miami, Florida. Entering Super Bowl III, the NFL champion Colts were heavily favored (in some books, by over 20 points) to defeat the AFL champion Jets. Although the upstart AFL had successfully forced the long-established NFL into a merger agreement three years earlier, the AFL was not generally respected as having the same calibre of talent as the NFL. Plus, the AFL representatives were heavily defeated in the first two Super Bowls.

After boldly guaranteeing a victory prior to the game, Jets quarterback Joe Namath completed 17 out of 28 passes for 206 yards, and was named the Super Bowl's Most Valuable Player. New York recorded 337 total yards, forced 5 turnovers and limited Baltimore to only one touchdown.

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[THAY3R]

If the Colts did throw the game, it would be because gamblers paid them lots of money, not because the NFL told them to.

[Oski]

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If the Colts did throw the game, it would be because gamblers paid them lots of money, not because the NFL told them to.

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Who had more to gain? the NFL or the gamblers? I would be interested to find out whether the casinos got tipped on Jets moneyline bets.

[Matt Williams]

Didn't Broadway Joe's gaurentee become a story AFTER the SB, and not before? At the time the game was played, it was just another mismatch between the AFL and NFL.

[Oski]

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Didn't Broadway Joe's gaurentee become a story AFTER the SB, and not before? At the time the game was played, it was just another mismatch between the AFL and NFL.

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I don't know. I did find this at Wikipedia:

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The apex of his career was his performance in the Jets' January 1969 win over the Baltimore Colts in the World Championship Game, now referred to as Super Bowl III. The Colts were touted as "the greatest football team in history". Former NFL star and coach Norm Van Brocklin ridiculed the AFL before the game, saying "This will be Namath's first professional football game." Writers from NFL cities insisted it would take the AFL several more years to be truly competitive with the NFL. Much of the hype surrounding the game was related to how it would either prove or disprove the proposition that the AFL teams were truly worthy of being allowed to merge with the NFL; the first two such games had resulted in blowout victories for the NFL champion champion in the two previous years, the Green Bay Packers, and the Colts were even more favored by media figures and handicappers than the Packers had been.



Three days before the game, Namath responded to a heckler with the now-famous line: "The Jets will win on Sunday, I guarantee it." His words made headlines across the country, but were dismissed as mere bravado by most observers.


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[TheNoodleMan]

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Is it possible that the NFL orchestrated (or influence at least) the outcome of Super Bowl III?


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So your theory is that there was an NFL conspiracy to to have the NFL team lose to the non-NFL team? That makes no sense whatsoever.

[AngusThermopyle]

[ QUOTE ]
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Is it possible that the NFL orchestrated (or influence at least) the outcome of Super Bowl III?


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So your theory is that there was an NFL conspiracy to to have the NFL team lose to the non-NFL team? That makes no sense whatsoever.

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June of '66, the two leagues agreed to a merger, to be completed by '70. So, essentially, the Jets were not a "non-NFL team". The argument is that the Jets' win legitimized the merger, showing the old AFL teams were on a par with the old NFL teams.

[damaniac]

What's the point of this? You can work out a way in which it would be in there interest to do so, I guess. But then what? There's no other evidence whatsoever, so what are you going to do? The whole idea that someone might have an interest in something crazy like this makes it possible/likely is stupid. If our only question is, as you asked it, is it possible, well, sure it's POSSIBLE, just not likely and there's no reason other than the bare metaphysical possibility that it happened to believe it. If by possible you mean likely/probable, then all we have is a possible motivation, which is of course nowhere near enough. And unless you or someone else has more information to present, we are at a dead end.

[THAY3R]

FWIW Oski does start some pretty absurd threads.

Exhibit A

[AngusThermopyle]

Back in '83 Bubba Smith made some comments about the game being fixed.
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"That Super Bowl game, which we lost by nine points, was the critical year. The game just seemed odd to me. Everything was out of place. I tried to rationalize that our coach, Don Shula, got out-coached, but that wasn't the case. I don't know if any of my teammates were in on the fix."

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Most people just consider it "denial".