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Years ago, the New England Patriots were the media's hoist team. Rivaling the 49ers and Steelers dynasties, people couldn't figure out why, despite the media hoisting them with every ounce of effort, the Patriots didn't garner the love and even begrudged admiration that those teams did.
Of course, like most things, there are many reasons. One was that by the 2000s, the million cable channels, Internet and rise of Social Media had wrecked the easy way in which America could unite around a story without even trying. For instance, as a kid who never watched the show, I still knew that somebody shot JR. And my grandma, who hadn't graced a movie theater since Clark Cable was on the marquee, knew who Darth Vader was in 1977. We were just a more homogenous culture and it was easier to get the whole country talking. So even if I didn't follow the NFL back then, I knew the Steelers dominated, knew the reference when someone said 'Thanks Mean Joe', was aware that all the girls swooned over Joe 'Cool' Montana, and understood the Immaculate Reception.
That national breakfast table conversation isn't as easy to accomplish nowadays without strong, coordinated, even brutal, efforts - see Covid. But there were also other factors behind the lack of national respect, like the Patriots caught cheating and being smug, rather than contrite, about it. And, to be honest, even then, there were whispers that the Patriots just seemed to have it easier. That odd things like bad calls on the part of the officials just always seemed to go their way.
After a decade or so of watching the NFL once I hit college, I stopped following it pretty much when the Browns shut down back in the 90s. I would still watch the Super Bowl for some years after, but that was it. Nonetheless, during the Patriots' fifth run for the Super Bowl - which would put Brady ahead of all quarterbacks ever - I decided to watch for myself.
Yeah. I could see what they meant. There seemed to be a new rule in football called 'Tackling Tom Brady Penalty.' And on the other hand, I do think Patriots defenders could pull out a .44 Magnum, the most powerful handgun in the world, and blow a receiver's head clean off and the refs just always seemed to miss it.
It isn't only the NFL. Has there been anyone shoved down our national throats like Lebron James in recent memory? Despite many saying he exemplifies the observation that statistics don't always tell the whole tale, the very openly left leaning James is all but treated like the greatest athlete god in history by the press because they say so. He is mentioned sometimes just for the sake of mentioning LeBron James.
Not that the press wouldn't pick its darling athlete or next new sports superstar over the years even before things happened. But there was a glitch there, that in the world of sports the athletes in question still had to win. So when Debbie Thomas crashed and burned at the 1988 Olympics, all the hype about her being America's next sweetheart faded away. And even though the press more or less ignored the two skaters who won gold at the 1998 and 2002 Olympics and focused on the endorsement laden Michelle Kwan anyway, it just never took because in skating, it's all about the gold.
Nevertheless, sometimes it seems like in recent years the 'storylines' laid out by the press have strange ways of coming true, no matter what is happening on the field of competition. From ESPN's promoting its own college conference and things often strangely going its way, to the odd World Series that just seems to fit that perfect scenario in a city ravaged by disaster, to, well, this Super Bowl this year. Many are starting to wonder just how miraculous all of these coincidences really are. I mean, I've watched the clips of the officials' calls against the Chiefs, and either they are the luckiest team in history where all of the crazy bad calls just went their way, or, well, you know.
Right now, the bets are that the Chiefs win, Travis Kelce retires but not before proposing to Taylor Swift, and Ms. Swift then launches another media promoted super tour based on her NFL inspired album. Though it will be in another year, to give Beyonce room. This coming year will be Beyonce's year if the press has anything to do with it. After all, was anyone shocked that she won best album for her foray into Country Music, the criticism of which was immediately labeled racist, and her award being yet another 'making history in our racist nation' moment? FWIW, people also see the awards shows with the same skepticism as the sporting world.
Of course whether it happens or not is hard to say. Some are suggesting the Chiefs must lose to allay the growing suspicion that the games were fixed. But just the fact that this alternative theory is gaining steam, based only on how the fix needs to be played, is telling. It suggests that a growing number of Americans are believing that the NFL, like sports, like pop culture as a whole, if not like our whole society, is one giant fix. And that shows where things have gone over the years since we stopped being like that bad country we were back in the day.
I was just thinking the other day ot seemed like there was a lot of effort recently to paint the 80s & 90s as "the bad Ole days" when - you know - I lived them.
ReplyDeleteYeah I wasn't very old, and I know all times had people and people can always be bad, but on the whole? It was really good.
I don't follow the sports ball except when watching it with my father but I do follow games and one concern in a lot of them is how easy it is to cheat or not. Even I could notice the other day that if one wanted to determine whether a ref was honest or crooked, it would be near impossible with some of the calls. (Holding penalty especially baffles me.) There's not even seemingly an effort by them to avoid the appearance of impropriety. Which would be important for a position like that of high trust.
Even in the 80s there was a hatred among the Left for the 80s. Though I noticed back then it didn't stop those bemoaning that 'decade of greed' from trying to get bigger houses, better cars, and the latest home entertainment centers. But the 80s (and no decade really) ever enjoyed that 20 year worship and praise fest that the 60s were enjoying at the same time. By the 90s, the 'Bad 80s' narrative was becoming common. My sons learned little of the 80s in school, but the Challenger disaster, and Gorbachev ending the Cold War. By their time, even MTV had become irrelevant.
DeleteAs for the sports, this is no small thing. And it seems to fit the bigger problems. It's also not only the refs. The Patriots won their record breaking 6th Super Bowl because the Rams called a play a middle school coach would never do. Yet we run into a greater problem with the country. There is still speculation that Michigan cheated for the previous few years when playing OSU. They're still looking into that I believe. But I'm shocked at how many say they don't care. If you get cheated, it's on you. Cheat, lie, steal - as long as we get what we want or win, that's good for us. This was actually said by a woman who was on one of our local news outlets who went back to her home in Michigan and is now on a local newscast there. Many pointed out it's shocking to see someone working in journalism all but say honesty and truth are irrelevant as long as my team wins.
"It suggests that a growing number of Americans are believing that the NFL, like sports, like pop culture as a whole, if not like our whole society, is one giant fix."
ReplyDeleteHere's a wild idea; just because the majority of people believe something, doesn't mean its true.
I've never been much of an athelete; the only time I was involved in sports in high school was when I became the cameraman for both of our soccer and basketball teams, and that was because the coaches of said teams were also my favorite teachers, and they asked me personally. I began to develop a greater appreciation for sports at that point, but I also noticed (in our Deep South private school league) that every loss is treated like a fix by the ref.
I'm not a huge fan of LeBron myself, but thank God Jordan has his career in the 90s rather than today, or we wouldn't be praising him as the GOAT for six championships, we'd accuse him of cheating. Was there a fix that kept the Lakers winning the championship again and again and again, or was it simply that Kareem and Magic were damn good players who had a good team at their backs?
Sometimes the stars align, and you get a good team together (DiMaggio's Yankees, Brady's Pats, the Dream Team, our Women's Olympic teams in 2012 and 2016); sometimes the win is expected, and sometimes you beat the odds (the Miracle of Ice, Celtic's 1967 UEFA championship, the Giants finally winning a Super Bowl after 14 dry seasons).
Sure. Sometimes. But sometimes blaming the stars or blind luck becomes, in itself, the conspiracy theory. I'm slow to assume vast conspiracies, and I don't mean it is like some CSI episode with everyone from Goodell to the third string left tackles in on it. But there comes a time when you have to admit that "Wow. Out of dumb blind luck, those bad calls, controversial calls, questionable calls, and strange calls all seem to benefit one team over another for game after game, aligning with prepackaged media narratives, so dumb luck those stars aligned like that” becomes the most difficult conspiracy to believe.
DeleteAnd in James' case, we can never know. The games change over the years, and it's tough to measure athletes from different eras. For instance, could Brady have survived in the 70s? By his time, the rules had changed so that a quarterback can retire from old age due to the protections that have been put in place that didn't exist when Namath or Bradshaw were playing (when hit the quarterback and hit him hard were part of the game). In James' case, it's the media hoisting him up beyond the mere stats, which are debatable. Which, of course, is how stats sometimes are. Because mere stats are not always the only measure of greatness or legend (though stats never hurt, they may not tell the whole tale). But his case was not necessarily a case of cheating for the cause.