WEBVTT - TV, Football, and Broadway Joe

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<v Speaker 1>Lessons from the world's top professors anytime, any place, world

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<v Speaker 1>history examined and science explained. This is one day university.

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<v Speaker 1>Welcome and we're back on the untold history of sports

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<v Speaker 1>in America. I'm your host, Mike Coscarelli. Today we have

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<v Speaker 1>a fun one. We'll be discussing the evolution of athlete

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<v Speaker 1>marketability as TV revolutionizes sports and every home in America

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<v Speaker 1>gets a TV in their living room. And who is

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<v Speaker 1>the first professional athlete television star Broadway? Joe Namath, quarterback

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<v Speaker 1>from My New York Jets. Matt also tells the story

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<v Speaker 1>of Super Bowl three, one of the most famous and

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<v Speaker 1>important professional football games of all time. It's also the

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<v Speaker 1>last great memory in New York Jets history and lucky

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<v Speaker 1>for me, it happened thirty years for I was born.

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<v Speaker 1>Here's Matt with more. Okay, as a reminder, we have

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<v Speaker 1>already talked about the role of radio in popularizing sports

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<v Speaker 1>in America. Americans sitting at home and hearing the crack

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<v Speaker 1>of Babe Ruth's bat at Yankee Stadium, or or the

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<v Speaker 1>whole country coming to a halt and listening to that

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<v Speaker 1>Joe Louis Max Schmelling fight, which also took place at

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<v Speaker 1>Yankee Stadium. Well, if the radio helped popularize sports in America,

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<v Speaker 1>the television transformed sports in America. The effects that TV

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<v Speaker 1>had on sports in the United States were massive, and

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<v Speaker 1>early on not all the effects were positive. The American

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<v Speaker 1>TV boom began in the nineteen fifties, and I have

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<v Speaker 1>some statistics for those of you who like your American

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<v Speaker 1>history and numerical form. In one in five American families

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<v Speaker 1>owned a television set by nineteen sixty. It was in

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<v Speaker 1>nineteen sixty, the same year that American voters watched the

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<v Speaker 1>first televised presidential debate between John F. Kennedy and Richard Nixon.

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<v Speaker 1>More American families had television sets than had indoor bathrooms

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<v Speaker 1>priorities baby Well, in the nineteen fifties, baseball was America's

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<v Speaker 1>pre eminent professional sport, and it was Major League Baseball

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<v Speaker 1>that was really the first sports league to test out

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<v Speaker 1>the promise of television. In ninety three, CBS Television and

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<v Speaker 1>Major League Baseball they launched the Game of the Week

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<v Speaker 1>on Saturday afternoons. Those were the first regular season games

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<v Speaker 1>available on TV, one game a week. But here's what

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<v Speaker 1>baseball owners found out televised baseball cut into game attendance.

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<v Speaker 1>Major league baseball attendance dropped during the nineteen fifties, and

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<v Speaker 1>one of the reasons that more and more of the

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<v Speaker 1>games were beginning to be on TV, and the real

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<v Speaker 1>disaster was in the minor leagues. Minor league baseball attendance plummeted.

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<v Speaker 1>You know, faced with the choice of watching the Hopkinsville

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<v Speaker 1>Hoppers live or the New York Yankees on TV, most

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<v Speaker 1>people chose the Yankees, and minor league baseball dropped seventy

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<v Speaker 1>percent in the nineteen fifties. The number of minor league

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<v Speaker 1>teams it dwindled from four hundred and eight to one

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<v Speaker 1>hundred and fifty five. Minor league baseball attendants would really

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<v Speaker 1>not rebound until the nineteen nineties, and that actually has

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<v Speaker 1>a lot to do with a movie about minor league

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<v Speaker 1>baseball called Bull Durham. The effect of TV on boxing

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<v Speaker 1>was even more profound, and we might say even more

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<v Speaker 1>damaging to the sport. You know. At first, boxing enthusiasts

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<v Speaker 1>saw massive potential in television physical violence in a small, contained,

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<v Speaker 1>easy to film squared ring. It seemed like a match

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<v Speaker 1>made in heaven, and initially, TV boxing ratings were high,

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<v Speaker 1>but like I just told you about minor league baseball,

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<v Speaker 1>televised boxing led to the collapse of local boxing venues,

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<v Speaker 1>those small local boxing clubs and gyms where fighters learned

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<v Speaker 1>their craft and boxing fans connected with young fighters on

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<v Speaker 1>a regional basis. People stopped going to those places on

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<v Speaker 1>Friday nights. Men were staying at home and watching boxing

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<v Speaker 1>from the comfort of their couch. Boxing fans abandoned the

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<v Speaker 1>local boxing clubs, and the foundation of the sport eroded.

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<v Speaker 1>Boxing today is pretty much at an all time low

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<v Speaker 1>point in terms of modern popularity. I really believe that

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<v Speaker 1>this is where boxing would have been sixty years ago

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<v Speaker 1>had it not been for one guy, Muhammad Ali. Interest

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<v Speaker 1>in boxing was drying up. But Ali reignited fascination with

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<v Speaker 1>the sport, So bright was his star all least single

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<v Speaker 1>handedly gave boxing another half century of relevance. So early

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<v Speaker 1>on television. It was a problem for baseball and for boxing,

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<v Speaker 1>but not so for football. Television turned professional football from

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<v Speaker 1>a marginal game into America's game. Professional football had very,

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<v Speaker 1>very very modest beginnings up until World War Two. Americans

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<v Speaker 1>by and large were pretty suspicious of professional football. You know,

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<v Speaker 1>football was supposed to be an amateur sport. It was

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<v Speaker 1>the great amateur college team sport. And professional football, by contrast,

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<v Speaker 1>it was hidden at the start of the twentieth century.

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<v Speaker 1>You might find evidence of it in the tough mining

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<v Speaker 1>in mill towns in western Pennsylvania and Ohio. You know

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<v Speaker 1>what today, I suppose is considered Pittsburgh Steelers in Cleveland

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<v Speaker 1>Ounds Territory. Back then, local clubs were formed and they

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<v Speaker 1>were sponsored by a particular company, like a coal mine

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<v Speaker 1>or a railroad company. And these companies would pay men

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<v Speaker 1>a few dollars to play football on Sunday afternoons. The

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<v Speaker 1>players would wear the name of that company on their uniform.

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<v Speaker 1>But no formal leagues existed. Each team scheduled its own matches.

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<v Speaker 1>There was chaos, there was disorder. Then group of men

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<v Speaker 1>gathered in a car dealership in Canton, Ohio, and they

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<v Speaker 1>created a league, the American Professional Football Association, which two

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<v Speaker 1>years later they renamed the National Football League the NFL.

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<v Speaker 1>The teams of the early NFL, they were from the

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<v Speaker 1>Midwest and the Northeast, I suppose what today we would

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<v Speaker 1>call the Rust Belt. You know, there were teams you've

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<v Speaker 1>never heard of. There were the Columbus Panhandles, and the

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<v Speaker 1>Muncie Flyers, the Rochester Jefferson and said, I could go

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<v Speaker 1>on and on, and it would take a while. And

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<v Speaker 1>that's because during the NFL's first thirty years, over forty teams.

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<v Speaker 1>Forty different teams joined, the league, struggled, and then folded.

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<v Speaker 1>The Great Depression of the nineteen thirties wiped out all

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<v Speaker 1>of the franchises in the smaller cities, but all except one,

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<v Speaker 1>a team from a tiny Wisconsin town that was sponsored

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<v Speaker 1>by the local Indian meat packing company. They went by

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<v Speaker 1>the name that Acme Packers, and since they are in

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<v Speaker 1>Green Bay, Wisconsin, they are now known as the Green

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<v Speaker 1>Bay Packers. But other than tiny Green Bay, the only

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<v Speaker 1>teams that made it through the depression were the ones

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<v Speaker 1>in the big city. You had the Bears and the Cardinals.

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<v Speaker 1>In Chicago, there were the Boston Redskins. This is a

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<v Speaker 1>team that moved to Washington, d C. In n seven.

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<v Speaker 1>There were the New York Giants, and there were the

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<v Speaker 1>Pittsburgh Steelers in the Philadelphia Eagles. These big city teams

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<v Speaker 1>and the Packers, they were the early essence of the NFL,

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<v Speaker 1>but the league could never get on firm footing, and

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<v Speaker 1>then World War Two came and almost killed the NFL entirely.

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<v Speaker 1>In fact, in order to survive in ninety three, the

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<v Speaker 1>Pittsburgh Steelers and the Philadelphia Eagles they combined forces. Literally,

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<v Speaker 1>they merged their teams and during the war they played

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<v Speaker 1>as the Stiegels. This is how tenuous things were in

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<v Speaker 1>the early years, that the league was always just one

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<v Speaker 1>season away from folding forever. And to say that Major

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<v Speaker 1>League Baseball was the more popular sport than the NFL

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<v Speaker 1>is to suggest a hierarchy where there really wasn't one.

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<v Speaker 1>I mean, professional baseball was everything, professional football was nothing.

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<v Speaker 1>But in the nineteen fifties the NFL began to find

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<v Speaker 1>it stride. And when people point to the moment that

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<v Speaker 1>the NFL finally made it, they point to nineteen fifty

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<v Speaker 1>eight and the nf FEL Championship Game, when the Baltimore

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<v Speaker 1>Colts defeated the New York Giants three to seventeen and

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<v Speaker 1>it was an overtime in Yankee Stadium. It's still referred

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<v Speaker 1>to by many as the greatest game ever played. But

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<v Speaker 1>the key factor is that the game was on TV.

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<v Speaker 1>It wasn't just seventy thousand people who saw the game

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<v Speaker 1>in Yankee Stadium. Eleven million Americans watched this game on

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<v Speaker 1>their television sets. And this was the moment that NFL

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<v Speaker 1>players were transformed in the American imagination. You know, playing

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<v Speaker 1>this hard game on TV under the bright lights. This

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<v Speaker 1>is when NFL players went from working men to American legends.

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<v Speaker 1>You know, this is when they became folk heroes. TV

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<v Speaker 1>opened the game up. TV helped make football understandable to

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<v Speaker 1>the masses. Put yourself in the place of a nineteen

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<v Speaker 1>fifties television view or what used to appear from the

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<v Speaker 1>stands to be this distant, incomprehensible tangle of colliding bodies.

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<v Speaker 1>Now you could see it up close. Now it started

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<v Speaker 1>to make sense. And then, with the invention of instant

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<v Speaker 1>replay and slow motion in the early nineteen sixties, the

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<v Speaker 1>televised game became even more understandable. It made the game

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<v Speaker 1>more intimate. Now on TV, we can literally see the

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<v Speaker 1>whites of the player's eyes as he jumps for the

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<v Speaker 1>ball or tries to elude a tackler. There's an undeniable

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<v Speaker 1>allure about live games, the spectacle, the sensory overload, the camaraderie,

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<v Speaker 1>and the stands. But There's also something to be said

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<v Speaker 1>about watching a game on TV where each play has

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<v Speaker 1>shown five times from five different angles, and where it

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<v Speaker 1>is a very comfy seventy four degrees in your house

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<v Speaker 1>and not well below freezing like it is in Green

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<v Speaker 1>Bay where the meat Packers play. So that Baltimore Colts

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<v Speaker 1>New York Giants game the greatest game ever played. Again,

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<v Speaker 1>that was in the next year. Something else, very important happened.

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<v Speaker 1>In ninety nine, another professional football league was created, the

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<v Speaker 1>American Football League the a f L. This was the

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<v Speaker 1>creation of a twenty seven year old Texas businessman named

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<v Speaker 1>Lamar Hunt, and Hunt secured a TV contract for his

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<v Speaker 1>new league right away. That was key. ABC Sports was

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<v Speaker 1>locked out of the pro football game and they wanted in,

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<v Speaker 1>so they gave a nice contract to this new league.

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<v Speaker 1>And what happens in the nineteen sixties is this The

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<v Speaker 1>two professional football leagues, the NFL in the a f L.

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<v Speaker 1>They did battle with each other, not on the field,

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<v Speaker 1>off the fields that they fought for the top players

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<v Speaker 1>coming out of colleges at salaries for written players went up,

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<v Speaker 1>and something interesting occurred. Though the NFL and the a

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<v Speaker 1>f L owners they did not relish a bidding war

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<v Speaker 1>with each other, the fight for the players and these

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<v Speaker 1>escalating salaries, it attracted even more interest in professional football.

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<v Speaker 1>Americans are fascinated with the question of how much money

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<v Speaker 1>people meant, and suddenly there was a very public, open

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<v Speaker 1>market competition between these two football leagues. But rather than

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<v Speaker 1>escalating salaries killing one of these leagues, the competition for

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<v Speaker 1>the players it seems to have increased interest in both

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<v Speaker 1>leagues and so realizing that neither league was gonna outlast

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<v Speaker 1>the other, it's gonna be able to kill the other

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<v Speaker 1>league off. In nineteen sixty six, the two leagues agreed

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<v Speaker 1>to coexist and they agreed to play an end of

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<v Speaker 1>the year game between the best team from each league.

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<v Speaker 1>When reporters asked Lamar Hunt about the championship game, a

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<v Speaker 1>game called the a f L NFL Championship Game him,

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<v Speaker 1>Lamar Hunt said that he jokingly called it the super Bowl,

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<v Speaker 1>a name that he came up with after watching his

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<v Speaker 1>kids play with a brand new toy, the super Bowl.

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<v Speaker 1>Hunt said, I know that's a ridiculous name, but the

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<v Speaker 1>media like the name super Bowl, and so it became

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<v Speaker 1>the super Bowl, a super duper championship football game. But

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<v Speaker 1>it was not officially called the Super Bowl until Super

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<v Speaker 1>Bowl three. This is when the owners also decided to

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<v Speaker 1>mark the game with Roman numerals, thus giving the game

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<v Speaker 1>gravitas and linking professional football with the gladiatorial spectacles of

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<v Speaker 1>the Roman Colosseum. And the star of that game, Super

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<v Speaker 1>Bowl three was Joe Namath. After the break, Joe Nameeth

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<v Speaker 1>makes a guarantee. Joe Namath belongs in the pantheon of

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<v Speaker 1>American sports stars, but but not so much because of

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<v Speaker 1>his athletic accomplishments. I mean, don't get me wrong, he

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<v Speaker 1>was good, but no one with any real knowledge of

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<v Speaker 1>the game of football would call him one of the

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<v Speaker 1>best quarterbacks of all time. Now, it's what Nameth brought

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<v Speaker 1>to sports in a non athletic way. He was a

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<v Speaker 1>different type of American athlete, not entirely different. I'll compare

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<v Speaker 1>him to Muhammad Ali a couple of times. No Nameth,

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<v Speaker 1>for example, he brought an Ali like style and and

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<v Speaker 1>boastfulness to football. But I think more than any other

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<v Speaker 1>athlete in this era, it was Joe Namath who expanded

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<v Speaker 1>the idea of what the modern athlete could be. Joe

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<v Speaker 1>Namath was a brilliant but often injured quarterback at the

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<v Speaker 1>University of Alabama and then was onto pro football and

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<v Speaker 1>the question was which league would he choose, or the

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<v Speaker 1>NFL or the a f L, And most assumed it

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<v Speaker 1>would be the established NFL. That's where most of the

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<v Speaker 1>stars were. That was the the big boys league. Both

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<v Speaker 1>the NFL St. Louis Cardinals and the a f L

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<v Speaker 1>s New York Jets they both drafted Nameth, and Nameth

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<v Speaker 1>shocked a lot of people by going with the Jets

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<v Speaker 1>in the a f L. He wanted the bright lights

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<v Speaker 1>of New York City and the Jets offered him an

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<v Speaker 1>unheard of four hundred and twenty five thousand dollars for

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<v Speaker 1>three years. This was the largest rookie contract ever in

0:15:46.840 --> 0:15:50.720
<v Speaker 1>any sport. The owner of the Jets was a man

0:15:50.800 --> 0:15:54.640
<v Speaker 1>named Sonny Werblin, and Sonny Werblin had made his fortune

0:15:54.640 --> 0:15:59.360
<v Speaker 1>in the music and television industries, and Sonny Werblin new

0:15:59.600 --> 0:16:03.800
<v Speaker 1>star power when he saw it. When he met Nameth,

0:16:04.040 --> 0:16:06.520
<v Speaker 1>he knew he had to have him. He knew this

0:16:06.640 --> 0:16:09.800
<v Speaker 1>was the guy who could bring instant fame and credibility

0:16:10.040 --> 0:16:12.840
<v Speaker 1>both to the New York Jets and the entire a

0:16:12.920 --> 0:16:16.960
<v Speaker 1>f L. Werblin said that Nameth had the same qualities

0:16:17.000 --> 0:16:20.800
<v Speaker 1>as Babe Ruth and Jack Dempsey, two larger than life

0:16:20.800 --> 0:16:25.400
<v Speaker 1>figures that we've talked about. The New York Press they

0:16:25.440 --> 0:16:27.880
<v Speaker 1>got their first taste of Joe Namath when the Jets

0:16:27.920 --> 0:16:31.440
<v Speaker 1>introduced him at a press conference, and sports reporters were

0:16:31.480 --> 0:16:34.320
<v Speaker 1>clearly a gas that all the money Nameth was making,

0:16:34.360 --> 0:16:37.280
<v Speaker 1>he hadn't even thrown a professional pass yet, and one

0:16:37.360 --> 0:16:42.960
<v Speaker 1>reporter asked, suppose you don't make it now. Joe Namath

0:16:43.040 --> 0:16:45.520
<v Speaker 1>is supposed to say, I don't know, but I'm going

0:16:45.560 --> 0:16:48.160
<v Speaker 1>to try my hardest and God willing, I'll fit in

0:16:48.200 --> 0:16:51.720
<v Speaker 1>and do okay, But he didn't say that. He just

0:16:51.800 --> 0:16:55.760
<v Speaker 1>smiled and said I'll make it. You know, it may

0:16:55.800 --> 0:16:59.600
<v Speaker 1>not seem like much today, but this ali like assured

0:16:59.680 --> 0:17:03.560
<v Speaker 1>nous and boastfulness. This was new to the conservative team

0:17:03.600 --> 0:17:08.320
<v Speaker 1>sport of professional football. All one other thing that happened

0:17:08.359 --> 0:17:11.960
<v Speaker 1>today of the press conference, the Jets team doctor took

0:17:12.080 --> 0:17:15.319
<v Speaker 1>Nameth into a bathroom stall and asked to see his knees,

0:17:16.239 --> 0:17:20.199
<v Speaker 1>and he was shocked. Nameth, he said, had the knees

0:17:20.239 --> 0:17:22.600
<v Speaker 1>of a seventy year old man, that he had torn

0:17:23.119 --> 0:17:26.200
<v Speaker 1>so much cartilage in college that the team doctor thought

0:17:26.320 --> 0:17:32.319
<v Speaker 1>Nameth would last two years tops. Joe Namath's ability to

0:17:32.359 --> 0:17:34.759
<v Speaker 1>play through tremendous pain is going to be one of

0:17:34.760 --> 0:17:38.439
<v Speaker 1>the things that will eventually win him fans and admirers.

0:17:39.040 --> 0:17:43.080
<v Speaker 1>But not right away. No, no, no. The more traditional

0:17:43.159 --> 0:17:48.359
<v Speaker 1>sports fans did not like Nameth. They disliked his cocky attitude.

0:17:49.359 --> 0:17:51.999
<v Speaker 1>They hated his hair when he grew it long. No,

0:17:52.080 --> 0:17:55.519
<v Speaker 1>football players were supposed to be square heads with military

0:17:55.639 --> 0:17:59.119
<v Speaker 1>style crew cuts. Now, Joe Namath was no hippie, but

0:17:59.199 --> 0:18:01.919
<v Speaker 1>he liked his hair in the longer, more modern style.

0:18:03.399 --> 0:18:07.279
<v Speaker 1>The traditionalists dislike Nameth even more when he showed up

0:18:07.280 --> 0:18:12.999
<v Speaker 1>on the field wearing horror of horrors, white cleats. Nope,

0:18:13.719 --> 0:18:18.560
<v Speaker 1>I'm sorry, football players wore black cleats. White cleats were

0:18:18.600 --> 0:18:23.200
<v Speaker 1>a flagrant violation of football's militaristic ethos. You know, everyone

0:18:23.239 --> 0:18:26.080
<v Speaker 1>wore the same color cleats, and that color was black.

0:18:27.520 --> 0:18:29.879
<v Speaker 1>But name of thought, he looked better in white shoes,

0:18:30.119 --> 0:18:33.800
<v Speaker 1>so he went with white. And he might as well

0:18:33.840 --> 0:18:37.520
<v Speaker 1>have showed up in a mesh bikini. Fans yelled anti

0:18:37.639 --> 0:18:40.159
<v Speaker 1>gay slurs at him from the stands. I mean, they

0:18:40.239 --> 0:18:45.600
<v Speaker 1>really did. But Joe Namath just smiled, winked, and kept

0:18:45.600 --> 0:18:48.600
<v Speaker 1>slinging the football. Call him what you wanted. What did

0:18:48.600 --> 0:18:52.040
<v Speaker 1>he care? After all, you were paying your hard earned

0:18:52.040 --> 0:18:57.039
<v Speaker 1>money to watch him play, and people watched him play

0:18:57.119 --> 0:19:02.080
<v Speaker 1>at home on the road on TV. New York Jets

0:19:02.119 --> 0:19:05.000
<v Speaker 1>games were not New York Jets games. They were Joe

0:19:05.119 --> 0:19:07.800
<v Speaker 1>Aimeth games. They just happened to be other guys dressed

0:19:07.800 --> 0:19:10.600
<v Speaker 1>in those kelly green uniforms that were playing with them.

0:19:11.879 --> 0:19:16.119
<v Speaker 1>The TV cameras especially, they followed Joe Namath everywhere, but

0:19:16.199 --> 0:19:18.959
<v Speaker 1>when he was captaining the offense, of course. But they

0:19:19.000 --> 0:19:21.719
<v Speaker 1>showed him getting more eye black applied to his face,

0:19:21.840 --> 0:19:25.319
<v Speaker 1>talking on the phone to his offensive coordinator, getting his

0:19:25.399 --> 0:19:28.799
<v Speaker 1>knees looked at by the trainers. They showed him when

0:19:28.800 --> 0:19:31.280
<v Speaker 1>he was injured, sitting on the bench in his fur

0:19:31.399 --> 0:19:36.239
<v Speaker 1>coat and his and his sunglasses. Joe Namath was the

0:19:36.280 --> 0:19:39.479
<v Speaker 1>first football player to be shown for any significant amount

0:19:39.479 --> 0:19:42.199
<v Speaker 1>of time without his helmet on. He was the first

0:19:42.199 --> 0:19:45.879
<v Speaker 1>football player to be given a face and identity separate

0:19:45.919 --> 0:19:50.639
<v Speaker 1>from his team. It was Joe Nameth first, the football

0:19:50.679 --> 0:19:59.159
<v Speaker 1>game second, and then there was the sex. Previously, athletes

0:19:59.199 --> 0:20:02.840
<v Speaker 1>wanted their sex lives to be very, very off the

0:20:02.919 --> 0:20:08.800
<v Speaker 1>record and sports writers that subject was taboo. Babe Ruth

0:20:08.959 --> 0:20:13.679
<v Speaker 1>was legendary among the sportswriters for his sexual exploits. But remember,

0:20:13.679 --> 0:20:16.959
<v Speaker 1>in the age of gee whiz journalism, the point of

0:20:17.000 --> 0:20:20.919
<v Speaker 1>sports writers was the turn players into gods, so sexual

0:20:21.080 --> 0:20:26.679
<v Speaker 1>indiscretions went unreported. But Joe Namath didn't care. In fact,

0:20:26.840 --> 0:20:28.919
<v Speaker 1>he wanted the ladies of the world to know that

0:20:29.000 --> 0:20:32.520
<v Speaker 1>he was single and interested in mingling. And the sports

0:20:32.560 --> 0:20:36.399
<v Speaker 1>writers followed him along his name Hath drank and caroused

0:20:36.399 --> 0:20:41.920
<v Speaker 1>and shot pool. They lived vicariously. Day after day. There

0:20:41.919 --> 0:20:46.239
<v Speaker 1>were photos of Joe Namath socializing with models and actresses

0:20:46.359 --> 0:20:48.840
<v Speaker 1>and for the record, and we know this because he

0:20:48.919 --> 0:20:54.160
<v Speaker 1>told us Joe preferred blonds. He did advertising that played

0:20:54.199 --> 0:20:57.999
<v Speaker 1>on his sex appeal. He did a shampoo commercial showering

0:20:58.040 --> 0:21:02.040
<v Speaker 1>with the TV star in nineteen seventies eight girl Fara Fawcett.

0:21:03.199 --> 0:21:06.960
<v Speaker 1>Very famously, he did an advertising for pantyhose. He put

0:21:07.040 --> 0:21:10.439
<v Speaker 1>those old Nora old knees of his and legs panty

0:21:10.439 --> 0:21:13.600
<v Speaker 1>hose and showed women how pretty their legs could be.

0:21:15.159 --> 0:21:19.639
<v Speaker 1>So like Muhammad Ali, who liked to call himself pretty,

0:21:19.840 --> 0:21:26.359
<v Speaker 1>Nameth blurred gender lines. He was both hyper heterosexual, but

0:21:26.439 --> 0:21:30.719
<v Speaker 1>he was also willing to reject that conventional masculine model.

0:21:32.320 --> 0:21:36.399
<v Speaker 1>So look, Joe Namath was not Mohammed Ali critiquing the

0:21:36.399 --> 0:21:39.439
<v Speaker 1>war in Vietnam. He was not Tommy Smith or John

0:21:39.479 --> 0:21:43.119
<v Speaker 1>Carlos critiquing racism in the United States. He was not

0:21:43.280 --> 0:21:47.840
<v Speaker 1>Billy gene King attacking sexism in America, her story still

0:21:47.840 --> 0:21:52.439
<v Speaker 1>to come in this course. Joe Nameth's radical nous was

0:21:52.479 --> 0:21:55.639
<v Speaker 1>the way in which he challenged the stereotype of what

0:21:55.760 --> 0:21:59.320
<v Speaker 1>the successful athlete was supposed to look like and how

0:21:59.359 --> 0:22:03.639
<v Speaker 1>he was supposed to act off the field. NFL quarterbacks

0:22:03.639 --> 0:22:08.840
<v Speaker 1>were supposed to be humble, crew cut, god fearing field generals,

0:22:09.280 --> 0:22:12.080
<v Speaker 1>and Joe Namath looked and acted like he belonged on

0:22:12.119 --> 0:22:18.119
<v Speaker 1>a Hollywood movie set or or at Woodstock. Nameth's moment

0:22:18.199 --> 0:22:21.119
<v Speaker 1>in the Sun came at the aforementioned Super Bowl three,

0:22:21.159 --> 0:22:24.639
<v Speaker 1>which was between the very established Baltimore Colts of the

0:22:24.760 --> 0:22:28.199
<v Speaker 1>NFL and the upstart Jets of the a f L.

0:22:29.919 --> 0:22:33.399
<v Speaker 1>The NFL's champion team had demolished the a f L

0:22:33.520 --> 0:22:37.479
<v Speaker 1>champion in the previous two Super Bowls, and oddsmakers thought

0:22:37.479 --> 0:22:40.239
<v Speaker 1>this would be exactly the same. The Jets were huge

0:22:40.800 --> 0:22:45.559
<v Speaker 1>seventeen point underdogs. The week before the game, Nameth was

0:22:45.560 --> 0:22:50.760
<v Speaker 1>speaking at a press conference and he guaranteed a Jets victory. Now,

0:22:50.800 --> 0:22:53.159
<v Speaker 1>he did not say the Jets had a chance. He

0:22:53.239 --> 0:22:56.520
<v Speaker 1>did not predict a Jets victory. He said in front

0:22:56.520 --> 0:22:59.320
<v Speaker 1>of the nation sports writers, We're gonna win the game.

0:22:59.919 --> 0:23:05.359
<v Speaker 1>I guarantee it. You athletes are semi reluctant to do

0:23:05.439 --> 0:23:09.559
<v Speaker 1>this today. But back then this was unheard of, and

0:23:09.719 --> 0:23:13.319
<v Speaker 1>worse than unheard of, this was stupid. Everyone knew it.

0:23:13.399 --> 0:23:16.079
<v Speaker 1>There was no way the Jets could beat the Colts.

0:23:17.560 --> 0:23:21.200
<v Speaker 1>But of course that's exactly what people said about Cassius

0:23:21.280 --> 0:23:26.159
<v Speaker 1>Clay against Sunny Liston Super Bowl one and Super Bowl two,

0:23:26.479 --> 0:23:30.159
<v Speaker 1>they had not sold out, not even close, but seventy

0:23:31.080 --> 0:23:34.080
<v Speaker 1>people packed themselves into the Orange Bowl in Miami to

0:23:34.080 --> 0:23:36.639
<v Speaker 1>see if Joe Namath could live up to his boast

0:23:37.040 --> 0:23:41.520
<v Speaker 1>or to watch him get flattened by the Colts. More

0:23:41.560 --> 0:23:44.639
<v Speaker 1>people would watch Joe Namath playing Super Bowl three on

0:23:44.719 --> 0:23:48.800
<v Speaker 1>TV than watch Neil Armstrong walk on the moon later

0:23:48.840 --> 0:23:51.999
<v Speaker 1>that summer. And there's a lesson here, and it's the

0:23:52.080 --> 0:23:56.279
<v Speaker 1>same lesson we saw with Muhammad Ali. Flapping your lips

0:23:56.479 --> 0:24:01.239
<v Speaker 1>sells tickets. The iconic quarterback of the other team, the

0:24:01.280 --> 0:24:05.600
<v Speaker 1>Baltimore Colts, it was Johnny Unitis, and with his military heuristic,

0:24:05.679 --> 0:24:10.359
<v Speaker 1>buzz cut and quiet attitude, he was like Gary Cooper

0:24:10.399 --> 0:24:13.119
<v Speaker 1>in high noon in a football uniform. And he was

0:24:13.199 --> 0:24:17.679
<v Speaker 1>everything Joe Namath was not. And so this football game

0:24:18.040 --> 0:24:23.840
<v Speaker 1>was sold as a battle between sensibilities, between generations. You know.

0:24:23.959 --> 0:24:29.239
<v Speaker 1>It was crew cut versus long hair, tradition versus rebellion,

0:24:29.840 --> 0:24:37.280
<v Speaker 1>square versus cool and cool. One Nameth and the Jets

0:24:37.439 --> 0:24:41.320
<v Speaker 1>beat the Colts sixteen to seven. Joe Namath had backed

0:24:41.399 --> 0:24:44.359
<v Speaker 1>up his guarantee and as he ran off the field,

0:24:44.879 --> 0:24:48.999
<v Speaker 1>he held up his index finger were number one? Or

0:24:49.159 --> 0:24:52.719
<v Speaker 1>was he saying I'm number one? Holding up your finger

0:24:52.760 --> 0:24:56.239
<v Speaker 1>in this boastful manner. This was also something athletes didn't

0:24:56.280 --> 0:25:01.639
<v Speaker 1>do back then. There was a Philadelphia sportswriter named Larry

0:25:01.679 --> 0:25:04.600
<v Speaker 1>Merchant who was at the game, and I just love

0:25:04.800 --> 0:25:07.600
<v Speaker 1>how he described the impact of Joe Namath and the

0:25:07.679 --> 0:25:11.960
<v Speaker 1>Jets and Super Bowl three. I'm going to quote him.

0:25:12.040 --> 0:25:16.319
<v Speaker 1>For three hours, seventy million viewers on television saw the

0:25:16.439 --> 0:25:19.000
<v Speaker 1>end of the world as they knew it, and it

0:25:19.320 --> 0:25:22.680
<v Speaker 1>blew their minds. They had been convinced by the pro

0:25:22.760 --> 0:25:25.639
<v Speaker 1>football mystique that a quarterback had to be Bart Star

0:25:26.000 --> 0:25:32.879
<v Speaker 1>or Johnny Unitis to win championships, leading by example, modesty, discipline, character,

0:25:33.359 --> 0:25:38.279
<v Speaker 1>and attendance at communion breakfasts. For the fans who bought

0:25:38.320 --> 0:25:42.800
<v Speaker 1>that theology whole, it was a three hour horror show.

0:25:43.719 --> 0:25:48.039
<v Speaker 1>Nameth changed the face of professional football with one or

0:25:48.239 --> 0:25:54.320
<v Speaker 1>gasmic victory. Man, that is a great paragraph of writing,

0:25:54.800 --> 0:25:57.240
<v Speaker 1>but I actually think he's under selling it a little bit.

0:25:57.879 --> 0:26:00.959
<v Speaker 1>Joe Namath did more than just changed professional football. He

0:26:01.199 --> 0:26:05.719
<v Speaker 1>changed American sports. You know, I like compared Daring Nameth

0:26:05.800 --> 0:26:08.439
<v Speaker 1>with Ali. Clearly, I've done that a couple of times today.

0:26:08.600 --> 0:26:13.240
<v Speaker 1>But let me end by contrasting them. Even Muhammad Ali,

0:26:13.280 --> 0:26:18.279
<v Speaker 1>for all his boastfulness and radical nous, he was spartan.

0:26:19.239 --> 0:26:22.759
<v Speaker 1>Ali did not drink. You know. Sure he caroused, but

0:26:22.800 --> 0:26:25.080
<v Speaker 1>it was all done in private. And when it was

0:26:25.159 --> 0:26:27.840
<v Speaker 1>time to train for a fight, Ali went up into

0:26:27.879 --> 0:26:34.000
<v Speaker 1>the mountains and isolated himself. But not Broadway, Joe. All

0:26:34.040 --> 0:26:37.879
<v Speaker 1>their lives, American athletes and sports fans, they've been told

0:26:37.959 --> 0:26:41.920
<v Speaker 1>that modesty and hard work and sober living, these are

0:26:41.959 --> 0:26:46.959
<v Speaker 1>all requirements for athletic excellence. Well, hard work still was.

0:26:47.639 --> 0:26:50.239
<v Speaker 1>But it turns out you could be a hard drinking

0:26:50.359 --> 0:26:53.879
<v Speaker 1>out all night on the make Playboy and still win

0:26:54.040 --> 0:26:58.600
<v Speaker 1>the biggest game of the year. It was, as they say,

0:26:59.159 --> 0:27:05.479
<v Speaker 1>a whole new ball game. That's all for now. Next

0:27:05.520 --> 0:27:09.520
<v Speaker 1>time on the Untold History of Sports in America, presented

0:27:09.560 --> 0:27:17.999
<v Speaker 1>by One Day University, The Battle of the Sexes h