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http://infowar.tribe.net/thread/5b6...8c0c7353#020ee65c-d20b-4407-bcc7-d39835323b31
NFL FOOTBALL STORY
FOOTBALL FOLLY / The NFL: Professional Fantasy Football?
Have you ever watched a professional football game that was "too good to be true"? In 1969, the National Football League (NFL) merged with the American Football League (AFL), and a multi-million dollar business was born. From the Super Bowl of 1969 through the 2001 "storybook" pictory of the appropriately patriotic New England Patriots, author Brian Tuohy uses quotes from the players themselves and other public sources to expose the NFL's hidden history. Tuohy wonders whether, in order to dramatize its "Cinderella stories" and "unabashed tragedies," and to get maximum output from it's product, the NFL fixes, tweaks, or scripts its games. As Tuohy concludes, the ticket you purchase is for amusement purposes only. There is nothing on your ticket stating otherwise. If you take the game to be real (as some do pro wrestling) who is at fault?
"Pro football provides the circus for the hordes." - Congressman Emanuel Celler
In 1969, the NFL was in the biggest developmental stage in its history. It was merging with its rival, the AFL, and fans of the NFL, werent accepting the new competition. In both Superbowl I & !!, the NFL (represented by the Green Bay Packers) had proven its dominance over the younger, weakerAFL. Now, with Superbowl III looming, and the merger and the resulting television contracts in the balance, something had to be done.
This time, the AFL would be represented by the New York Jets, led by the highest-paid player of the time, quarterback Joe Namath. Representing the NFL, was on of its oldest franchises, the Baltimore Colts, who were made 18-point favorites by the bookmakers to win the game. Yet, just a few days prior to the game, Joe Namath brashly guaranteed the Jets would win, Namath was proven correct when the Jets beat the Colts 16-7 in one of the biggest upsets in NFL history. More than an upset, it was a turning point for the NFL. Not only did it give credibility to the AFL teams in the fan's eyes, it further opened the NFL's doors to the TV networks, whose deep pockets finance football to this day.
The question remains, however, why was Namath so sure of victory? I would suggest Joe Namath is the "smoking gun" of the NFL, and thatSuper Bowl III was the first-but definitely not the last-time that the NFL fixed the outcome of one of its own games.
"Namath & his teammates" performance secured the two leagues, at the very least, $100,000,000 in future TV revenue. The game was almost too good to be true," commented former NFL player Bernie Parrish in 1971.
"Considering other devices imposed by TV's needs to lift fan interest & raise the advertisers' prices, perhaps it was too good to be true." Football great Bubba Smith, who played for the Colts in Super Bowl III, wrote in his autobiography that the game had been "set up" for the Jets in order to boost the AFL's credibility. In a later Playboy interview, Smith elaborated, "That Superbowl 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, Dan Shula, got out-coached, but that wasn't the case. I don't know if any of the teammates were in on the fix."
FIXES and TWEAKS
The NFL is a business, first & foremost. In 1996, Financial World magazine valued the worth of the average NFL franchise at $174 million. Consumers spent $3 billion dollars on NFL team related merchandise. On average, more that 12 million viewers watch a regular telecasted game. And it is television that feeds the most money to this ever-hungry beast.
Originally, each NFL team sold its broadcast rights individually. However, in 1961, thanks in part to President John F. Kennedy, Congress passed the Sports Antitrust Broadcast Act, which paved the way for the NFL to market it's games as a package. This first "package" was sold to CBS for $4.65 million. Three years later it was up to $14.1 million. By 1974, with the addition of Monday Night Football, it was a robust $57.6 million. A 1978 poll showed that 70 percent of the nation's sports fans followed football, compared to 54 percent pursuing baseball. The prices escalated accordingly. By 1984, the networks were paying the NFL $434 million. In 1998, the last time the networks purchased the rights to the NFL's games, CBS paid $4 billion dollars for 8 years, with ESPN shelling out over $600 million and ABC adding an additional $550 million a year. That doesnt include more than $1 billion the Fox network paid just a few years earlier.
The only way these numbers can be recouped is through the rating and the resulting advertising revenue. But how has football become America's number one spectator sport? Certainly, it offers drama, violence, and raw emotion for 12 hours every Sunday in the fall, and Cinderella stories, remarkable comebacks, & unabashed tragedies in every play, game, & season. However, to develop these stories & keep those ratings soaring higher, does the NFL fix, tweak, or script its games to get the maximum output from its product?
Over the years, there has been speculation about whether Super Bowls are "won," or whether they are "awarded." Some Super Bowls are awarded because of the stories they provide, others as rewards, but each for a reason: for instance, to Green Bay for bringing tradition back to the game; to Denver & John Elway in 1997 for their long-suffering seasons (perhaps at the League's insistence); to St. Louis & Tennessee in 1999 for their willingness to relocate for the league; to the relocated Baltimore Ravens in 2000 for their long-time owner, Art Modell, whose commitment to the NFL reaches back to the 1960s; and, most recently, in perhaps one of the most blatant examples of scripting an entire season, to the 2001 New England Patriopts. In an immediately post-9/11 America, what more symbolic team could the NFL crown its champion than the Patriots, who were the biggest underdog in Super Bowl's 36 year history?
PROFIT DRIVEN
Like any CEO, the NFL owners are profit driven. The fan is secondary in their scheme. Why else would they pull teams like the Baltimore Colts and the Cleveland Browns out of their respective cities when these teamsconstantly played to sell-out crowds? Both moves were made because the new cities (Indianapolis & Baltimore) offered the owners better stadium deals, and more cash in the owner's pockets, The media may label such moves "tragedies," yet according to author Jon Morgan in his book, "Glory for Sale: Fans, Dollars and the New NFL, "Television network executives said they didnt care where teams were based. The NFL had become a national broadcast product. It would garner high viewership wheever the games were played."
Another huge source of revenue for the League comes from expansion teams. New teams are asked to pay an "initiation" fee of $150 million or more just to join the League. What, exactly, is this money for? Nothing. It is simply "profit divided up among the other rich kids that got there first." Expansion is always on the NFL's mind. In fact, I believe it accounts for the success of the Carolina Panthers and the Jacksonville Jaguars in 1995. Both teams, in just their second year of existence, managed to reach their respective conference championship, just one win shy of the Super Bowl. Neither won, yet they were each hailed as success stories. This justified further expansion, with the addition of the new Cleveland Browns & Houston Texans.
"Football has become our national religion, & NFL owners are the druids. Men of business, men of state, men of war: All are inexorably drawn toward the people who won and control these teams." The idea that this elite group of 32 men sometimes reach down from their skybox & dabble in the happenings on the field is not a stretch of the imagination.
The NFL's Dirty Little Secret
According to Dan Molden, in Interference: How Organized Crime Influences Professional Football, many early NFL owners were known to be gamblers. Moldea alleges that the following owners were known to have bet on football games, and some even bet on their own teams: Onetime Dallas Cowboys owner Clint Murchison, Jr., Kansas City Chiefs owner Lamar Hunt (son of oilman H.L. Hunt Jr), Cleveland Browns/Baltimore Ravens owner Art Modell, New Orleans Saints owner John McCom, Jr, Chicago/St Louis/Arizona Cardinals owner Charles Bidwell, and Philadelphia Eagles owner DeBenneville "Bert" Bell.
Moldea alleges that Carroll Rosenbloom, one time owner of the Baltimore Colts, not only bet on his team, but also altered the outcome of a game because of it. Oddly enough, it was this very game that legitimized football for the television networks. It has been called the greatest game ever played: the 1958 NFL championship game. Rosenbloom's Colts were playing the New York Giants, who were 3 1/2-to 5 1/2-point underdogs. Moldea also alleges that Rosenbloom laid down $1 million on his boys to win."
The Colts were losing until the last seven seconds, when the Colts kicker, Steve Myhra, kicked a field goal to tie the game at 17-17 and send it into overtime. In overtime, the Colts marched 80 yards down the field to get to the Giants 8 yard line-easy field territory. But they never kicked. Instead, according to Moldea, Rosenbloom, knowing the game was won but his bet lost with the field goal, had his general manager force Coach Webb Eubank to go in for the touchdown. Final score: Colts 23, Giants 17, which covered the point spread, and Rosenbloom's money. (Sports gamblers generally bet not just on the victor, but on a particular "spread", or margin of victory.)
Players, too, have been tempted by the bookmaker. Several star players of the 1950s-1960's were known to have gambled, and some to have fixed games. Bookmaker/gambler Don Dawson has admitted that during those two decades, he had personally been involved in fixing no fewer than 32 NFL games." Washington Commanders quarterback Sammy Baugh, Pittsburgh/Detroit quarterback Bobby Layne, and Kansas City quarterback Len Dawson were alleged to have gambled (and perhaps shaved points), but were never charged or convicted of a crime. Green Bay Packers great Paul Horning and Detroit Lions star Alex Karras were not so fortunate.
On the January 16, 1963, edition of the NBC evening news program The Huntley-Brinkley Report, Detroit Lions star defensive tackle Alex Karras admitted that he had bet on football games in which he played. A national scandal erupted. It was quickly quelled on April 17, 1963, when NFL Commissioner Pete Rozelle suspended indefinitely Karras & Horning (who had also bet on games in which he played) and fined five other Detroit Lions players $2,000 each for betting on games in which they did not play. Rozelle also announced he had evidence that several other players around the League were gambling on the NFL, and these players had been "reprimanded, but not fined."
The NFL's FBI
As a result of the 1963 betting scandal, NFL Commissioner Rozelle created NFL Security. NFL Security (the League's FBI, if you will) has employed former intelligence officers, Justice Dept officials, and ex-FBI officers throughout its years. It has branches in every city in which the NFL plays. Former director of NFL Security Warren Welsh has said, "These representatives (NFL Security officials) are on retainer to the League, and they specifically report to the League. In addition to their game day coverage and their liason with the local law enforcement community, they would also do background investigations the we might have for game officials, an ownership group, impersonations, misrepresentations, whatever it might be, as opposed to just working for the local team." They are on the watch for gambling, drugs, and whatever other troubles the players and coaches can get into. And these men are kept very, very busy.
In their extensively researched book, Pros and Cons: The Criminals Who Play in the NFL, Jeff Benedict & Don Yaeger chronicle just how rampant criminal activity is in the League. According to their 1998 research, 1 out of 5 (21%
of the players in the NFL have been charged with a serious crime. The crimes they detail go beyond the drinking & driving offenses we often hear reported. These crimes include rape, kidnapping, assault & battery, domestic violence, and homicide. Of course, there is a big difference between being charged & being convicted, but the fact that this many pro football players have such problems is alarming. Even worse, these players are allowed to continue to play in the NFL.
DRUG DEALINGS
Drugs are a way of life in the NFL. One of the first things discussed at the NFL rookie camp are drugs, but these talks tend to fall on deaf ears. Be they illegal, like marijuana or cocaine, or legal prescription drugs, like steroids & pain killers, drugs are very much in use in the NFL. Former NFL player Tim Green claims in his book The Dark Side of the Game, "Moderate use of some drugs is just a neccessary reality of big-time football." He goes on to say "One of the main reasons performance drugs (steroids) have played such a major part in the evolution of the modern football player is because the players themselves feel like the will never die.......They'll do whatever it takes to be the best they can be."
Whether performance-enhancing or recreational, drugs are officially not allowed in the NFL. But this doesn't stop their use. The NFL's policy regarding drugs & drug testing has no effect because it is simply not enforced. Former Washington Commander Dexter Manley was caught using drugs several times & finally was banned for life-twice. In his book, You're Okay, It's Just a Bruise, former Oakland Raider team doctor Ron Huizenga, M.D., tells of one player who tested positive for cocaine 10 times with no action taken by the league. He also recounts the story of an unnamed member of the Denver Broncos who was going to be suspended because of a second positive drug test. He never was, and was in the line-up the following week. According to Huizenga, "I knew then that something was wrong with the new drug penalty system. Either the fix was in at the commissioner's office or some major legal roadblock had been thrown up.
Maintaining Ranks
"We have a basic rule in the NFL," says a former law-enforcement official who advises the NFL on security matters. "It is to keep it upbeat & keep it positive. But, above all, they want to keep everything quiet." That's the way it is in the NFL today. Keep all potential problems within the League. The only press allowed is cleared by the League. According to the NFL's drug program, the League's "drug czar" has been banned from speaking with the press."
In order to recieve his pension, former League treasurer Austin H. Gunsel had to sign a contract with a gag clause reminiscent of those required of retiring CIA officers: "Neither shall Gunsel, without the prior consent of the Commissioner of this League, publish any newspaper or magazine article, book or publication, nor submit to any newspaper, radio, or TV (an) interview or program which discusses, involves, or refers to the affairs or activities of the NFL, its officers or employees, or to any of the member clubs thereof, or their owners, officers, employees or others holding any interest therein."
Players, too, are not immune to this type of censorship. Both players & coaches are fined for speaking about things not deemed to be in the NFL's best interest (like baseball's John Rocker) "The very nature of a football player, and one of the essential elements to ever get to the NFL, is to maintain ranks... Football is a game that requires the discipline & unquestioning obedience of a soldier. Right or wrong, the fact is that all football players are programmed to march to a certain beat." This is true both on & off the field. Players, throughout their playing career are taught to toe the line. Break the rules, and you're out. Even after players leave the game, it is rare to hear a bad word spoken about the NFL. Maybe this is because all ex-NFL players draw some sort of pension from the NFL & the players union.
COINCIDENCE OR A FIX?
Anyone who has watched football has seen games or plays that seemed just too good to be true, games where the play on the field somehow matched or beat the pre-game hype. Could it be coincidence? Maybe. But I believe it to be more.
Take Super Bowl XXX, played in 1995 between the Pittsburgh Steelers & the Dallas Cowboys. The Steelers lost the game 27-17 because of two statistically-unusual plays-two Neil O'Donnell interceptions. Going into that game, O'Donnell has the lowest interception per pass attempt ratio in NFL history. Yet, here he threw two passes that were seemingly gift wrapped for Cowboy Larry Brown (who was named Super Bowl MVP). In the following off-season, both O'Donnell & Brown signed multi-million dollar free-agent contracts with other teams, going on to careers of mediocrity.
Absent evidence of outright payoffs, a subtler mechanism exists for the NFL to potentially coerce its players into fixing games. Consider a player who gets into trouble, be it for steroids, drunken driving, etc. With 21% of NFL players finding themselves in some sort of legal trouble, there is plenty to choose from. When caught, would he perhaps be pulled aside & given certain options? Keep in mind that just one play, and just one player, can alter the outcome of a football game. Be ita field goal attempt, an interception, or a fumble, one player can change everything. Something as simple as a missed block, a botched snap, or biting on a pump fake, can be the difference between maintaining a drive or being forced to punt.
Players & Patsies
Certainly, not all games are fixed, and many NFL players engage in honest play for their entire careers. In fact, It may be that most players are inwitting patsies in the NFL conspiracy.
Coaches have a huge sway over what happens on the field and are directly responsible to the owner. It is the coach who decides who plays & how. Conceivably, a player who won't "play ball" might not see the ball during the game. This might explain the unusual benching in the 1999 AFC playoffs, when Buffalo Bills starting quarterback, Doug Flutie, was benched in favor of back-up Rob Johnson. Johnson hadn't started a single game during the entire year, but he was coach Wade Phillips' choice to play this critical game, while a healthy Flutie sat the game out. Buffalo went on to lose the game to the Tennessee Titans on the famous "homerun throwback" play (itself a disputed call). Could it be that Flutie was benched because he wouldnt lose the game for the League?
Coaches influence every play. What might seem like a bad performance on a player's part may instead be an ill-advised play sent in from the sidelines. Take what happened in Super Bowl XXXII. Late in the fourth quarter, with Denver knocking on their goal line, Green Bay Packers head coach Mike Holmgren admittedly told his defense to lie down and allow Denver's Terrell Davis to score a touchdown. He defended his action, saying he wanted to leave enough time for his offense to come back and score. However they never did. Davis's touchdown won the Super Bowl for the Broncos.
Like the players they rule over, coaches also have "run-ins" with the law. As Detailed in Pro and Cons, Minnesota Vikings head coach Dennis Green and assistant Richard Solomon were investigated by the team for charges of sexual harassment on more than one occasion in the 1990's. To the frustration of their fans, the Vikings never seem to reach the Super Bowl despite a talented roster.
Then there are the referees-the only people on the field directly employed by the NFL. To a large degree, and despite claims to the contrary, they control what happens on the field. The penalties they call can alter a play, the score, and hence the outcome of a game. NFL referees are actually only part-time employees of the NFL, even so they have to have a minimum of 10 years of college experience & 3 years of monitoring by the League before even being considered to referee a game in the NFL. Each week, the NFL scrutinizes game tapes just to watch the officiating. They have to. Teams file weekly reports with the League on calls for which they want "further clarification." These reports never find their way to the media, however. "Conversations between the NFL officiating dept & teams are confidential. We do not comment on them," NFL spokesman Michael Signora told ESPN.
Instant replay, a device television helped usher into the League, was supposed to clear up any controversies that may arise in a game. However, a referee is supposed to have "conclusive evidence" in order to reverse a call that has been challenged. "Conclusive" being the key word. What may seem conclusive to viewers at home is not always what's deemed conclusive to the referee calling the game. It's still a judgement call. And no matter how well instant replay supposedly works, it cannot-ever-overturn a penalty called by a referee.
TV's Influence
With the wide variety of ways in which the game can be controlled, detecting a fix would be very difficult. The people who should be the public's eye's & ears, the sports reporters, are merely just another cog in the NFL's propaganda machine.
On a local level, the sports reporter is nothing but a cheerleader. He has to be. Should he begin to ask the "tough" questions, he will quickly find himself on the outside of the locker room looking in. Without the cooperation of the team, a local reporter will find it impossible to get close to the team, much less fill his column or broadcast.
On the national level, it is even worse. "All play-by-play TV and radio announcers are approved by not only the club management but by (the Commissioner) himself." The list of current announcers/anchors of NFL broadcasts almost reads like a Pro-Bowl roster: Dan Marino, Deion Sanders, Boomer Esiason, Terry Bradshaw, Howie Long, Steve Young, Tom Jackson, Sterling Sharpe, Troy Aikman, Chris Collinsworth, etc. Even legendary commentators like Pat Summerall & John Madden have direct NFL experience. So whose interests are they more likely to represent, the fan or their former or current employer?
When a sticky situation arises within the League, or if the League has an issue it needs pushed (a need for new stadiums, higher ticket prices, etc.), it often relies on it's phalanx of announcers to sway public opinion. As ex-NFL star, Bernie Parrish, put it, "The words we hear coming from our telvision sets don't seem to have the same meaning as they used to, whether they are coming from the White House or the NFL hucksters. The images we see are what the paid packagers want us to see. In the case of pro football, the packages are designed & decorated behind the closed doors of the Commissioner's office, and there is no consumer protection for the public."
Television has changed the way football is played. It is because of TV that the 2 minute warning exists (to allow for a commercial break when interest in the game has peaked). Former president of ABC Sports Roone Arledge (the man behind Monday Night Football), once said, "Most of what TV does wrong is done to generate more dollars for (NFL) owners & the Leagues are so damned greedy in what they ask for rights."
In 1965, when CBS paid over $14 million for the rights to NFL games, "they acted as if they had bought the sport, including the people who played it." Perhaps they did. Former NFL player Tim Green wrote, "If you think that the players in an NFL game arent only aware, but affected by the television cameras & microphones, youre wrong. Players often know when the cameras are on them, whether they can see the little red lights or not, and they play to them as if they were on a Hollywood movie set."
So, is the NFL closer to what some feared the defunct XFL would become: A scripted soap opera much like professional wrestling? It could very well be. If it's not neccessarily illegal for them to be so. There is nothing printed on your ticket indicating that the game you see will be played by certain rules. There is no attempt at defrauding you, because the ticket you purchase is for amusement purposes only. And what they give you is a form of entertainment. If you take it to be real (as some do pro wrestling) who is at fault?
Just because it seems real doesnt mean it truly is. There is nothing anywhere that states the NFL and the networks couldnt script the season to get the maximum amount of fan appeal if they desire. Does that mean every single game is fixed? No. But could they spot a potential story line in a team & play it for all it's worth? Certainly.
In 1971, former NFL star Bernie Parrish wrote, "With $139 million at stake for the owners, $84 million for the television networks, and up to $66 BILLION for organized crime's bookmaking syndicates, and with what I learned as a player, no one will ever convince me that numerous NFL games arent fixed." Now, 30 years later, with the dollar figures 10 times what they were then, one would have to be naive to believe that the NFL would leave everything-its name, its money, its very existence-up to chance!
NFL FOOTBALL STORY
FOOTBALL FOLLY / The NFL: Professional Fantasy Football?
Have you ever watched a professional football game that was "too good to be true"? In 1969, the National Football League (NFL) merged with the American Football League (AFL), and a multi-million dollar business was born. From the Super Bowl of 1969 through the 2001 "storybook" pictory of the appropriately patriotic New England Patriots, author Brian Tuohy uses quotes from the players themselves and other public sources to expose the NFL's hidden history. Tuohy wonders whether, in order to dramatize its "Cinderella stories" and "unabashed tragedies," and to get maximum output from it's product, the NFL fixes, tweaks, or scripts its games. As Tuohy concludes, the ticket you purchase is for amusement purposes only. There is nothing on your ticket stating otherwise. If you take the game to be real (as some do pro wrestling) who is at fault?
"Pro football provides the circus for the hordes." - Congressman Emanuel Celler
In 1969, the NFL was in the biggest developmental stage in its history. It was merging with its rival, the AFL, and fans of the NFL, werent accepting the new competition. In both Superbowl I & !!, the NFL (represented by the Green Bay Packers) had proven its dominance over the younger, weakerAFL. Now, with Superbowl III looming, and the merger and the resulting television contracts in the balance, something had to be done.
This time, the AFL would be represented by the New York Jets, led by the highest-paid player of the time, quarterback Joe Namath. Representing the NFL, was on of its oldest franchises, the Baltimore Colts, who were made 18-point favorites by the bookmakers to win the game. Yet, just a few days prior to the game, Joe Namath brashly guaranteed the Jets would win, Namath was proven correct when the Jets beat the Colts 16-7 in one of the biggest upsets in NFL history. More than an upset, it was a turning point for the NFL. Not only did it give credibility to the AFL teams in the fan's eyes, it further opened the NFL's doors to the TV networks, whose deep pockets finance football to this day.
The question remains, however, why was Namath so sure of victory? I would suggest Joe Namath is the "smoking gun" of the NFL, and thatSuper Bowl III was the first-but definitely not the last-time that the NFL fixed the outcome of one of its own games.
"Namath & his teammates" performance secured the two leagues, at the very least, $100,000,000 in future TV revenue. The game was almost too good to be true," commented former NFL player Bernie Parrish in 1971.
"Considering other devices imposed by TV's needs to lift fan interest & raise the advertisers' prices, perhaps it was too good to be true." Football great Bubba Smith, who played for the Colts in Super Bowl III, wrote in his autobiography that the game had been "set up" for the Jets in order to boost the AFL's credibility. In a later Playboy interview, Smith elaborated, "That Superbowl 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, Dan Shula, got out-coached, but that wasn't the case. I don't know if any of the teammates were in on the fix."
FIXES and TWEAKS
The NFL is a business, first & foremost. In 1996, Financial World magazine valued the worth of the average NFL franchise at $174 million. Consumers spent $3 billion dollars on NFL team related merchandise. On average, more that 12 million viewers watch a regular telecasted game. And it is television that feeds the most money to this ever-hungry beast.
Originally, each NFL team sold its broadcast rights individually. However, in 1961, thanks in part to President John F. Kennedy, Congress passed the Sports Antitrust Broadcast Act, which paved the way for the NFL to market it's games as a package. This first "package" was sold to CBS for $4.65 million. Three years later it was up to $14.1 million. By 1974, with the addition of Monday Night Football, it was a robust $57.6 million. A 1978 poll showed that 70 percent of the nation's sports fans followed football, compared to 54 percent pursuing baseball. The prices escalated accordingly. By 1984, the networks were paying the NFL $434 million. In 1998, the last time the networks purchased the rights to the NFL's games, CBS paid $4 billion dollars for 8 years, with ESPN shelling out over $600 million and ABC adding an additional $550 million a year. That doesnt include more than $1 billion the Fox network paid just a few years earlier.
The only way these numbers can be recouped is through the rating and the resulting advertising revenue. But how has football become America's number one spectator sport? Certainly, it offers drama, violence, and raw emotion for 12 hours every Sunday in the fall, and Cinderella stories, remarkable comebacks, & unabashed tragedies in every play, game, & season. However, to develop these stories & keep those ratings soaring higher, does the NFL fix, tweak, or script its games to get the maximum output from its product?
Over the years, there has been speculation about whether Super Bowls are "won," or whether they are "awarded." Some Super Bowls are awarded because of the stories they provide, others as rewards, but each for a reason: for instance, to Green Bay for bringing tradition back to the game; to Denver & John Elway in 1997 for their long-suffering seasons (perhaps at the League's insistence); to St. Louis & Tennessee in 1999 for their willingness to relocate for the league; to the relocated Baltimore Ravens in 2000 for their long-time owner, Art Modell, whose commitment to the NFL reaches back to the 1960s; and, most recently, in perhaps one of the most blatant examples of scripting an entire season, to the 2001 New England Patriopts. In an immediately post-9/11 America, what more symbolic team could the NFL crown its champion than the Patriots, who were the biggest underdog in Super Bowl's 36 year history?
PROFIT DRIVEN
Like any CEO, the NFL owners are profit driven. The fan is secondary in their scheme. Why else would they pull teams like the Baltimore Colts and the Cleveland Browns out of their respective cities when these teamsconstantly played to sell-out crowds? Both moves were made because the new cities (Indianapolis & Baltimore) offered the owners better stadium deals, and more cash in the owner's pockets, The media may label such moves "tragedies," yet according to author Jon Morgan in his book, "Glory for Sale: Fans, Dollars and the New NFL, "Television network executives said they didnt care where teams were based. The NFL had become a national broadcast product. It would garner high viewership wheever the games were played."
Another huge source of revenue for the League comes from expansion teams. New teams are asked to pay an "initiation" fee of $150 million or more just to join the League. What, exactly, is this money for? Nothing. It is simply "profit divided up among the other rich kids that got there first." Expansion is always on the NFL's mind. In fact, I believe it accounts for the success of the Carolina Panthers and the Jacksonville Jaguars in 1995. Both teams, in just their second year of existence, managed to reach their respective conference championship, just one win shy of the Super Bowl. Neither won, yet they were each hailed as success stories. This justified further expansion, with the addition of the new Cleveland Browns & Houston Texans.
"Football has become our national religion, & NFL owners are the druids. Men of business, men of state, men of war: All are inexorably drawn toward the people who won and control these teams." The idea that this elite group of 32 men sometimes reach down from their skybox & dabble in the happenings on the field is not a stretch of the imagination.
The NFL's Dirty Little Secret
According to Dan Molden, in Interference: How Organized Crime Influences Professional Football, many early NFL owners were known to be gamblers. Moldea alleges that the following owners were known to have bet on football games, and some even bet on their own teams: Onetime Dallas Cowboys owner Clint Murchison, Jr., Kansas City Chiefs owner Lamar Hunt (son of oilman H.L. Hunt Jr), Cleveland Browns/Baltimore Ravens owner Art Modell, New Orleans Saints owner John McCom, Jr, Chicago/St Louis/Arizona Cardinals owner Charles Bidwell, and Philadelphia Eagles owner DeBenneville "Bert" Bell.
Moldea alleges that Carroll Rosenbloom, one time owner of the Baltimore Colts, not only bet on his team, but also altered the outcome of a game because of it. Oddly enough, it was this very game that legitimized football for the television networks. It has been called the greatest game ever played: the 1958 NFL championship game. Rosenbloom's Colts were playing the New York Giants, who were 3 1/2-to 5 1/2-point underdogs. Moldea also alleges that Rosenbloom laid down $1 million on his boys to win."
The Colts were losing until the last seven seconds, when the Colts kicker, Steve Myhra, kicked a field goal to tie the game at 17-17 and send it into overtime. In overtime, the Colts marched 80 yards down the field to get to the Giants 8 yard line-easy field territory. But they never kicked. Instead, according to Moldea, Rosenbloom, knowing the game was won but his bet lost with the field goal, had his general manager force Coach Webb Eubank to go in for the touchdown. Final score: Colts 23, Giants 17, which covered the point spread, and Rosenbloom's money. (Sports gamblers generally bet not just on the victor, but on a particular "spread", or margin of victory.)
Players, too, have been tempted by the bookmaker. Several star players of the 1950s-1960's were known to have gambled, and some to have fixed games. Bookmaker/gambler Don Dawson has admitted that during those two decades, he had personally been involved in fixing no fewer than 32 NFL games." Washington Commanders quarterback Sammy Baugh, Pittsburgh/Detroit quarterback Bobby Layne, and Kansas City quarterback Len Dawson were alleged to have gambled (and perhaps shaved points), but were never charged or convicted of a crime. Green Bay Packers great Paul Horning and Detroit Lions star Alex Karras were not so fortunate.
On the January 16, 1963, edition of the NBC evening news program The Huntley-Brinkley Report, Detroit Lions star defensive tackle Alex Karras admitted that he had bet on football games in which he played. A national scandal erupted. It was quickly quelled on April 17, 1963, when NFL Commissioner Pete Rozelle suspended indefinitely Karras & Horning (who had also bet on games in which he played) and fined five other Detroit Lions players $2,000 each for betting on games in which they did not play. Rozelle also announced he had evidence that several other players around the League were gambling on the NFL, and these players had been "reprimanded, but not fined."
The NFL's FBI
As a result of the 1963 betting scandal, NFL Commissioner Rozelle created NFL Security. NFL Security (the League's FBI, if you will) has employed former intelligence officers, Justice Dept officials, and ex-FBI officers throughout its years. It has branches in every city in which the NFL plays. Former director of NFL Security Warren Welsh has said, "These representatives (NFL Security officials) are on retainer to the League, and they specifically report to the League. In addition to their game day coverage and their liason with the local law enforcement community, they would also do background investigations the we might have for game officials, an ownership group, impersonations, misrepresentations, whatever it might be, as opposed to just working for the local team." They are on the watch for gambling, drugs, and whatever other troubles the players and coaches can get into. And these men are kept very, very busy.
In their extensively researched book, Pros and Cons: The Criminals Who Play in the NFL, Jeff Benedict & Don Yaeger chronicle just how rampant criminal activity is in the League. According to their 1998 research, 1 out of 5 (21%
of the players in the NFL have been charged with a serious crime. The crimes they detail go beyond the drinking & driving offenses we often hear reported. These crimes include rape, kidnapping, assault & battery, domestic violence, and homicide. Of course, there is a big difference between being charged & being convicted, but the fact that this many pro football players have such problems is alarming. Even worse, these players are allowed to continue to play in the NFL.DRUG DEALINGS
Drugs are a way of life in the NFL. One of the first things discussed at the NFL rookie camp are drugs, but these talks tend to fall on deaf ears. Be they illegal, like marijuana or cocaine, or legal prescription drugs, like steroids & pain killers, drugs are very much in use in the NFL. Former NFL player Tim Green claims in his book The Dark Side of the Game, "Moderate use of some drugs is just a neccessary reality of big-time football." He goes on to say "One of the main reasons performance drugs (steroids) have played such a major part in the evolution of the modern football player is because the players themselves feel like the will never die.......They'll do whatever it takes to be the best they can be."
Whether performance-enhancing or recreational, drugs are officially not allowed in the NFL. But this doesn't stop their use. The NFL's policy regarding drugs & drug testing has no effect because it is simply not enforced. Former Washington Commander Dexter Manley was caught using drugs several times & finally was banned for life-twice. In his book, You're Okay, It's Just a Bruise, former Oakland Raider team doctor Ron Huizenga, M.D., tells of one player who tested positive for cocaine 10 times with no action taken by the league. He also recounts the story of an unnamed member of the Denver Broncos who was going to be suspended because of a second positive drug test. He never was, and was in the line-up the following week. According to Huizenga, "I knew then that something was wrong with the new drug penalty system. Either the fix was in at the commissioner's office or some major legal roadblock had been thrown up.
Maintaining Ranks
"We have a basic rule in the NFL," says a former law-enforcement official who advises the NFL on security matters. "It is to keep it upbeat & keep it positive. But, above all, they want to keep everything quiet." That's the way it is in the NFL today. Keep all potential problems within the League. The only press allowed is cleared by the League. According to the NFL's drug program, the League's "drug czar" has been banned from speaking with the press."
In order to recieve his pension, former League treasurer Austin H. Gunsel had to sign a contract with a gag clause reminiscent of those required of retiring CIA officers: "Neither shall Gunsel, without the prior consent of the Commissioner of this League, publish any newspaper or magazine article, book or publication, nor submit to any newspaper, radio, or TV (an) interview or program which discusses, involves, or refers to the affairs or activities of the NFL, its officers or employees, or to any of the member clubs thereof, or their owners, officers, employees or others holding any interest therein."
Players, too, are not immune to this type of censorship. Both players & coaches are fined for speaking about things not deemed to be in the NFL's best interest (like baseball's John Rocker) "The very nature of a football player, and one of the essential elements to ever get to the NFL, is to maintain ranks... Football is a game that requires the discipline & unquestioning obedience of a soldier. Right or wrong, the fact is that all football players are programmed to march to a certain beat." This is true both on & off the field. Players, throughout their playing career are taught to toe the line. Break the rules, and you're out. Even after players leave the game, it is rare to hear a bad word spoken about the NFL. Maybe this is because all ex-NFL players draw some sort of pension from the NFL & the players union.
COINCIDENCE OR A FIX?
Anyone who has watched football has seen games or plays that seemed just too good to be true, games where the play on the field somehow matched or beat the pre-game hype. Could it be coincidence? Maybe. But I believe it to be more.
Take Super Bowl XXX, played in 1995 between the Pittsburgh Steelers & the Dallas Cowboys. The Steelers lost the game 27-17 because of two statistically-unusual plays-two Neil O'Donnell interceptions. Going into that game, O'Donnell has the lowest interception per pass attempt ratio in NFL history. Yet, here he threw two passes that were seemingly gift wrapped for Cowboy Larry Brown (who was named Super Bowl MVP). In the following off-season, both O'Donnell & Brown signed multi-million dollar free-agent contracts with other teams, going on to careers of mediocrity.
Absent evidence of outright payoffs, a subtler mechanism exists for the NFL to potentially coerce its players into fixing games. Consider a player who gets into trouble, be it for steroids, drunken driving, etc. With 21% of NFL players finding themselves in some sort of legal trouble, there is plenty to choose from. When caught, would he perhaps be pulled aside & given certain options? Keep in mind that just one play, and just one player, can alter the outcome of a football game. Be ita field goal attempt, an interception, or a fumble, one player can change everything. Something as simple as a missed block, a botched snap, or biting on a pump fake, can be the difference between maintaining a drive or being forced to punt.
Players & Patsies
Certainly, not all games are fixed, and many NFL players engage in honest play for their entire careers. In fact, It may be that most players are inwitting patsies in the NFL conspiracy.
Coaches have a huge sway over what happens on the field and are directly responsible to the owner. It is the coach who decides who plays & how. Conceivably, a player who won't "play ball" might not see the ball during the game. This might explain the unusual benching in the 1999 AFC playoffs, when Buffalo Bills starting quarterback, Doug Flutie, was benched in favor of back-up Rob Johnson. Johnson hadn't started a single game during the entire year, but he was coach Wade Phillips' choice to play this critical game, while a healthy Flutie sat the game out. Buffalo went on to lose the game to the Tennessee Titans on the famous "homerun throwback" play (itself a disputed call). Could it be that Flutie was benched because he wouldnt lose the game for the League?
Coaches influence every play. What might seem like a bad performance on a player's part may instead be an ill-advised play sent in from the sidelines. Take what happened in Super Bowl XXXII. Late in the fourth quarter, with Denver knocking on their goal line, Green Bay Packers head coach Mike Holmgren admittedly told his defense to lie down and allow Denver's Terrell Davis to score a touchdown. He defended his action, saying he wanted to leave enough time for his offense to come back and score. However they never did. Davis's touchdown won the Super Bowl for the Broncos.
Like the players they rule over, coaches also have "run-ins" with the law. As Detailed in Pro and Cons, Minnesota Vikings head coach Dennis Green and assistant Richard Solomon were investigated by the team for charges of sexual harassment on more than one occasion in the 1990's. To the frustration of their fans, the Vikings never seem to reach the Super Bowl despite a talented roster.
Then there are the referees-the only people on the field directly employed by the NFL. To a large degree, and despite claims to the contrary, they control what happens on the field. The penalties they call can alter a play, the score, and hence the outcome of a game. NFL referees are actually only part-time employees of the NFL, even so they have to have a minimum of 10 years of college experience & 3 years of monitoring by the League before even being considered to referee a game in the NFL. Each week, the NFL scrutinizes game tapes just to watch the officiating. They have to. Teams file weekly reports with the League on calls for which they want "further clarification." These reports never find their way to the media, however. "Conversations between the NFL officiating dept & teams are confidential. We do not comment on them," NFL spokesman Michael Signora told ESPN.
Instant replay, a device television helped usher into the League, was supposed to clear up any controversies that may arise in a game. However, a referee is supposed to have "conclusive evidence" in order to reverse a call that has been challenged. "Conclusive" being the key word. What may seem conclusive to viewers at home is not always what's deemed conclusive to the referee calling the game. It's still a judgement call. And no matter how well instant replay supposedly works, it cannot-ever-overturn a penalty called by a referee.
TV's Influence
With the wide variety of ways in which the game can be controlled, detecting a fix would be very difficult. The people who should be the public's eye's & ears, the sports reporters, are merely just another cog in the NFL's propaganda machine.
On a local level, the sports reporter is nothing but a cheerleader. He has to be. Should he begin to ask the "tough" questions, he will quickly find himself on the outside of the locker room looking in. Without the cooperation of the team, a local reporter will find it impossible to get close to the team, much less fill his column or broadcast.
On the national level, it is even worse. "All play-by-play TV and radio announcers are approved by not only the club management but by (the Commissioner) himself." The list of current announcers/anchors of NFL broadcasts almost reads like a Pro-Bowl roster: Dan Marino, Deion Sanders, Boomer Esiason, Terry Bradshaw, Howie Long, Steve Young, Tom Jackson, Sterling Sharpe, Troy Aikman, Chris Collinsworth, etc. Even legendary commentators like Pat Summerall & John Madden have direct NFL experience. So whose interests are they more likely to represent, the fan or their former or current employer?
When a sticky situation arises within the League, or if the League has an issue it needs pushed (a need for new stadiums, higher ticket prices, etc.), it often relies on it's phalanx of announcers to sway public opinion. As ex-NFL star, Bernie Parrish, put it, "The words we hear coming from our telvision sets don't seem to have the same meaning as they used to, whether they are coming from the White House or the NFL hucksters. The images we see are what the paid packagers want us to see. In the case of pro football, the packages are designed & decorated behind the closed doors of the Commissioner's office, and there is no consumer protection for the public."
Television has changed the way football is played. It is because of TV that the 2 minute warning exists (to allow for a commercial break when interest in the game has peaked). Former president of ABC Sports Roone Arledge (the man behind Monday Night Football), once said, "Most of what TV does wrong is done to generate more dollars for (NFL) owners & the Leagues are so damned greedy in what they ask for rights."
In 1965, when CBS paid over $14 million for the rights to NFL games, "they acted as if they had bought the sport, including the people who played it." Perhaps they did. Former NFL player Tim Green wrote, "If you think that the players in an NFL game arent only aware, but affected by the television cameras & microphones, youre wrong. Players often know when the cameras are on them, whether they can see the little red lights or not, and they play to them as if they were on a Hollywood movie set."
So, is the NFL closer to what some feared the defunct XFL would become: A scripted soap opera much like professional wrestling? It could very well be. If it's not neccessarily illegal for them to be so. There is nothing printed on your ticket indicating that the game you see will be played by certain rules. There is no attempt at defrauding you, because the ticket you purchase is for amusement purposes only. And what they give you is a form of entertainment. If you take it to be real (as some do pro wrestling) who is at fault?
Just because it seems real doesnt mean it truly is. There is nothing anywhere that states the NFL and the networks couldnt script the season to get the maximum amount of fan appeal if they desire. Does that mean every single game is fixed? No. But could they spot a potential story line in a team & play it for all it's worth? Certainly.
In 1971, former NFL star Bernie Parrish wrote, "With $139 million at stake for the owners, $84 million for the television networks, and up to $66 BILLION for organized crime's bookmaking syndicates, and with what I learned as a player, no one will ever convince me that numerous NFL games arent fixed." Now, 30 years later, with the dollar figures 10 times what they were then, one would have to be naive to believe that the NFL would leave everything-its name, its money, its very existence-up to chance!
