Hey internet friends.
The word “entertainment” can be traced back to old French and Latin with its roots
meaning “to hold” and “to keep someone in a certain frame of mind”, and there’s
no greater annual entertainment event that captivates the masses quite like the “big
game”.
Professional football’s annual ritual, the Super Bowl, has transformed from a mere championship
game to an economic juggernaut and cultural force, garnering more viewership than any
measly presidential debate.
Every year, friends and family gather around the television to watch the big game, the
most die-hard fans cheering for the team they view as an extension of themselves, and the
most luke warm viewers just watching for the commercials.
While this one moment a year serves as the the most universal, shared cultural experience
across the United States, the masses are, by and large, unaware that it’s not just
a football game being played out on America’s greatest stage.
That’s why today, we’re going to discuss the dark history of the Super Bowl.
The origins of the NFL trace back to 1920 Canton, Ohio, where a group of representatives
of professional football teams gathered in the showroom of the Ralph E. Hay’s Motor
Company to discuss the establishment of a league which would have its own line-up of
teams, set of standards, and an official schedule.
At the age of 33, olympian, pro-athlete, and coach Jim Thorpe became the head of the American
Professional Football Association, and the association adopted the National Football
League title two years later.
Sounds like pretty wholesome beginnings, right?
Well, let’s take a closer look, shall we?
Though the NFL has historically denounced any public affiliation with gambling at the
risk of taking the integrity away from the sport itself, the league’s very foundation
was built off of illegal and legal gambling proceeds.
Charles Bidwill, well-known race track owner and gambler with famous ties to Chicago mobster
Al Capone, used the proceeds from horse betting to purchase the Chicago Cardinals (now the
Arizona Cardinals).
The same tale can be relayed for Art Rooney, who bought the Steelers franchise in 1933.
Tim Mara, the founder of the Giants, was a bookie at the time of purchase, and owner
of the Cleveland Browns, Arthur McBride, was the former head of the mob gambling news service,
otherwise known as the Continental Racing Wire.
With the exception of the Cleveland Browns, all of the aforementioned franchises are still
owned by the same families.
Over the decades, the NFL absorbed the teams of rival leagues, establishing itself as a
monopoly over the professional football world—well, until the 1960s, when the American Football
League gave the NFL a run for its money.
The result?
The first Super Bowl.
The Super Bowl of 1967 started out as a championship game between both the NFL and AFL, and the
term “Super Bowl” was coined by Lamar Hunt, founder of the AFL, who allegedly got
the term from his children, who were playing with a bouncy toy called a “super ball”.
Again, what a wholesome tale on the surface.
Let’s dive a little deeper.
Lamar Hunt was the son of Haroldson Layfayette Hunt, a gambler who used his poker winnings
to buy the East Texas Oil Fields.
His fortune provided him great political influence as he developed what was then considered “extreme
conservative political views”.
His wealth financed conservative radio talk shows, the political career of Lyndon B. Johnson,
as well as an anti-Fidel Castro group who worked in cahoots with the mafia and CIA to
oust Castro, and he even set up a right-wing intelligence network with his sons, including
Super Bowl Lamar.
To top it all off, Haroldson Hunt was eventually accused of funding President John F. Kennedy’s
assassination.
Anyway, the AFL ended up merging with the NFL after several Super Bowls.
This was during a time when it was believed that no sport could compete with baseball
in the United States, but the lure of escapism spectatorship for an overworked middle class,
as well as sports betting for avid fans, was enough to turn a simple sporting event like
the Super Bowl into a cultural phenomenon.
But soon to follow were accusations of game fixing, and these rumors were only amplified
when the public learned about two of the NFL’s top players who were suspended for the 1963
season on accusations of illegal betting and gambling associations.
(Though, it should be noted that they both were reinstated a year later and went on to
have successful careers, how about that?).
Quarterback Joe Namath’s career was cut short when the NFL insisted that Broadway
Joe divest himself from a bar he owned in the Upper Eastside that was a favorite of
bookies and mob families like the Gambinos.
Instead of parting ways with his bar, Broadway Joe decided to retire from football altogether.
These historical examples of professional football’s ties to organized crime are really
just a taste of the true reality of this cozy relationship.
Spanning the decades, there have been numerous instances of franchise owners, coaches, referees,
and players all having ties to illegal gambling and organized crime, fueling suspicions of
games being rigged.
The NFL is, at its core, a business.
They’re in the sports entertainment business, and the product they sell is fantasy.
Their entertainment consists of gripping tales of the hometown hero, the rise of the underdog,
the team who beat the odds--the NFL is aware that die-hard fans view the their respective
teams as extensions of themselves, investing much of their free time, energy, and passion
into their team, as well as tribal rivalry.
So it’s a curious thing that although there are laws in place to prevent outside meddling
in professional sports, there are currently no laws in existence that prevent a league,
whether it be the NFL, NBA, whatever, from fixing its own contests.
It’s their business, their event.
By law, the business can, theoretically, rig their own event.
And according to the law, the media can absolutely lie to all of us.
How’s that for wholesome television programming?
The price of a 30-second Super Bowl ad in 1967 was $42,500.
Today, the price of a 30-second Super Bowl ad is just north of five million dollars.
While some of the most memorable Super Bowl ads include Joe Namath’s Noxzema ad and
Coca Cola’s “have a Coke and a smile” commercial, it wasn’t until 1984 (ironically)
that super bowl ads became their own genre.
That was when Hollywood filmmaker Ridley Scott produced a high-budget television ad to debut
Apple’s personal computers during the big game, and the outcome was a 60-second cinematic
commercial inspired by George Orwell’s 1984, in which the rebel heroine, running through
a society of conformity, launched a big ol’ sledge hammer right at a projection of big
brother, only to reveal a white light that introduced Macintosh.
The Apple’s 1984 really set the trend for corporations to up their marketing game during
the super bowl, which resulted in garnering viewership from individuals who didn’t give
a dang about football, they watched the Super Bowl for the sheer entertainment of being
sold a product in a clever, entertaining way.
And that’s why the power of one’s attention cannot be understated.This sporting event,
which was once predominately viewed by men, has in recent years been almost equally viewed
by both men and women.
And with the change in viewer demographics, there’s also been a change in the narrative
of the ads themselves.
Super Bowl television ads have shifted from funny, light-hearted, or even meaningful mini-stories,
albeit with the underlying message of “give us your money”, to corporations pushing
divisive social and political agendas in their short thirty second segments.
Not only do these corporations now want spectators to give them their attention and their hard-earned
cash, but they want viewers to adopt their paradigm or at the very least, trigger and
direct political discussion, earning them all the more publicity along the way when
viral outrage rips through social media and Super Bowl viewers debate their co-workers
at office on Monday.
It’s quite a trick.
One that most are not aware of: the corporate marketing techniques that not only prompt
subliminal impulses to act on the unconscious, but also prepare and condition individuals
to turn against their neighbor on largely manufactured issues, so that which was once
united can be divided, redirected, and conquered.
Since there’s no other regularly scheduled event seen by so many Americans, we can assume
that whatever is relayed during the game, whether it be a political statement by a player,
a corporate advertisement promoting social change, or a symbolic message portrayed in
the background of the half-time show, it’s not only important, but absolutely calculated
and intentional.Prior to the 1990s, the halftime show consisted of marching bands and pigeons
and flag routines, but in 1993, the Super Bowl halftime show was forever changed, when
the King of Pop, Michael Jackson, took the stage.
From then on, stars regarded as demi-gods exclusively performed at half-time shows,
with Katy Perry’s performance in 2015 becoming the most watched half-time show at 120 million
viewers, rivaled only by Lady Gaga’s 117 million in later years.
But still, rarely do people remember those half-time shows.
But everyone surely remembers Justin Timberlake and Janet Jackson’s sexually-charged wardrobe
malfunction, given that the entire United States got up-close and personal with Janet
Jackson’s boobie and that curious sunshiney nipple cover.
Like I said before, the power of one’s attention cannot be understated.
The entertainment of the half-time show boils down to most of the artists lip syncing and
playing fake instruments, with a plethora of background dancers and an impressive spectacle
of shiny, illuminated displays popping up.
But what is the purpose of the half-time show beyond breaking up the game and entertaining
the onlookers?
To condition individuals to various agendas like the surveillance state through Lady Gaga’s
performance, in which twinkling drones formed an American flag in the night sky behind her?
To declare whatever occult allegiance through symbolism and provide a peek into an invisible
reality, like with Katy Perry’s pawns on the masonic checkerboard?
To harvest some sort of energy in the form of shock value and outrage at intentional
wardrobe malfunctions?
By design, that line of questioning is very much subject to speculation, but what is clear
is that half-time shows have become a symbolic link between pop-culture and the modern day
equivalence of gladiatorial events.
Over the years, very little has changed in the way of professional football’s ties
to organized crime--the only thing that’s changed really is the level of interest the
general public has shown in professional sports and its televised product.
To make matters worse, all the illegal gambling and sports tourism associated with the Super
Bowl creates a surplus of cashflow, making the annual ritual the largest event for human
trafficking in the United States.
So, is the Super Bowl really just speaky-clean, family-friendly fun ? Or is this championship
game another engineered event leading to an endless array of bread and circuses?
This video is in no way demonizing the spectatorship or enjoyment of professional sports, but what
I hope this video has established, beyond the history of the Super Bowl, is awareness
of what entertainment actually is.
Let me know your thoughts, internet friends.
You know I always look forward to your comments.
Thank you all so much for watching, subscribing, hitting the notification bell, and supporting
my channel on Patreon.
Bye!