rra
King Koopa
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Post by rra on Jan 31, 2008 10:15:40 GMT -5
The NFL, in the Green Bay Packers, had creamed the AFL representative in the first two Super Bowl games before Johnny Unitas and his Baltimore Colts....or actually Earl Morral.....were supposed to pound the hell out of the New York Jets this side of Andy Dick.
Of course you football fans know this myth. Jets were ridiculously expected to get slaughtered, Joe Namath makes his fateful guarantee for victory, and the AFL finally gets street cred in one of the biggest upsets in sports history.
But what if the Jets lost Super Bowl III?
Would the NFL/AFL merger have continued?
Would Joe Namath even be in the Hall of Fame? (I don't)
Would the Colts have dumped Unitas sooner and kept Morrall as their starter? (He was NFL MVP that season)
Would Jets fans be nicer?
Tomorrow's What If......The Kick
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Deleted
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Post by Deleted on Jan 31, 2008 11:06:26 GMT -5
I wish I can find the commercial that asked the same question, because I agreed with it all the way.
If the Jets never won Super Bowl III, The NFL and and everyone else would see no point in having the merger made, seeing how it was proven that they will always be superior. The merger would have never happened. There would be no Superbowl. We wouldn't have AFC/NFC, just East and West. Nameth would be just another QB in a inferior league. And I can go on, but to put it simply: Every Superbowl and AFC moment wouldn't exist if the Jets didn't win.
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Post by Confused Mark Wahlberg on Jan 31, 2008 11:08:34 GMT -5
Namath wouldn't be allowed anywhere near the HoF with his crap stats if they lost that game.
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Samoa Kenny
Unicron
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Post by Samoa Kenny on Jan 31, 2008 11:16:01 GMT -5
I wish they did... My roommates a Jets fan.. I'm a Pats fan... as if I don't crush him enough, I would really have him if it wasn't for Broadway Joe, who, in other news, didn't even have a good game in the SuperBowl
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Post by texaswhopper on Jan 31, 2008 12:35:07 GMT -5
Joe made a guarantee that the Jets would win and they DID.
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Post by normcoleman on Jan 31, 2008 14:17:02 GMT -5
I wish I can find the commercial that asked the same question, because I agreed with it all the way. If the Jets never won Super Bowl III, The NFL and and everyone else would see no point in having the merger made, seeing how it was proven that they will always be superior. The merger would have never happened. There would be no Superbowl. We wouldn't have AFC/NFC, just East and West. Nameth would be just another QB in a inferior league. And I can go on, but to put it simply: Every Superbowl and AFC moment wouldn't exist if the Jets didn't win. What he said. Namath is the man BTW |
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Post by Seth Drakin of Monster Crap on Jan 31, 2008 14:27:39 GMT -5
The NFL would have proved its dominance over the AFL.
The two leagues would have never fought again.
The AFL would have folded.
The Super Bowl would be dead.
Baseball would probably still be the sport that matters the most.
The End.
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Erik Majorwitz
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Post by Erik Majorwitz on Jan 31, 2008 15:19:24 GMT -5
I wouldn't have my Pats Dynasty. Oh the horror!
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Dynamic Dee
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Post by Dynamic Dee on Jan 31, 2008 17:07:19 GMT -5
That was HUGE for the AFL. It also helped when the Chiefs beat the Vikings the next year to show that an AFL team winning the big one wasn't a fluke. Whats sad for Jet fans is they never got to the Superbowl again and being in the Pats division doesn't do them any favors. Speaking of Broadway Joe, i always crack up at his interview with Suzie Kobler. youtube.com/watch?v=50KN74rC_jA |
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Post by Insomniac on Jan 31, 2008 17:17:51 GMT -5
I think the merger would've happened eventually. SB III and SB IV helped a lot, but there's no doubt in my mind that it would've happened at some point down the line.
And Namath most likely would not be in the HOF. Hell, I don't think he should be in there even with the win over the Colts.
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Post by HMARK Center on Jan 31, 2008 20:22:58 GMT -5
I think part of it would've also had to do with how WELL the Jets played. If they lost in a competitive game, I don't see what the merger wouldn't have eventually happened. But, oh, if only baseball were still the biggest game in the nation.  |
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Post by jmac950 on Jan 31, 2008 20:32:13 GMT -5
Long term, I don't see this changing football as we know it. Baseball still would be #2 due to '94.
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Post by Mr. Backlund on Jan 31, 2008 20:54:43 GMT -5
Nothing beyond the Jets having nothing to pull out in any sports debate they ever get in.
Too much gets made out of the game, to be honest and, while it did mark the turning of the tides, I think Super Bowl IV marked the arrival of the AFL as a legit threat to the NFL, which was previously thought dominant. If you look at what the Colts were, the schemes they used (particular defense, which played right into the Jets hands) and star players and the story kind of unravels and you realize it was a lesser team that exploited favorable matchups and benefited from injuries. It gets romanticized because, obviously, it was the first time the AFL beat the NFL, but there were so many sub-plots, it was almost a bad Hollywood script. New-Blood beat the Old-Guard, flash and style beat grit and determination, etc.
To answer the questions....
- Yes, the merger would've happened. Hard to say if there'd be major changes, but I highly doubt they'd give up a money-maker like the SB.
- No way Namath gets in. I don't even know how he's in now. Basically they let one moment made by the media punch his ticket.
- Morral was a journeyman, Unitas probably had to go, but it's not like they gave up a young, budding star. Side note: I got to meet Unitas later on in his life and shook his hand. Not a single finger was straight and seemed like they were still broken, every one of them.
- Jets fans are second-rate citizens in NY. Just like the Islanders, Mets, and Nets, there's a bigger NY team that has a larger fan base and gets more attention just by existing. Jets fans would continue to be obnoxious, just without any illogical fall-back to any argument, as I mentioned above.
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BRV
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Post by BRV on Jan 31, 2008 21:12:58 GMT -5
Okay, we need to get one big fact out of the way that everyone is seemingly ignoring:
- On June 8, 1966, representatives from the NFL and AFL agreed that the two leagues would merge to form an expanded, 24-team league in 1970, officially combining into one league with two seperate conferences, whose respective champions would meet in a championship game for the league.
So even if the Jets lost Super Bowl III, the merger still would've happened. Maybe the AFL/AFC wouldn't have had the legitimacy that it had going into the 1970 season, but the merger still would have happened. That is a 100% undeniable fact.
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Post by Insomniac on Jan 31, 2008 21:19:21 GMT -5
Okay, we need to get one big fact out of the way that everyone is seemingly ignoring: - On June 8, 1966, representatives from the NFL and AFL agreed that the two leagues would merge to form an expanded, 24-team league in 1970, officially combining into one league with two seperate conferences, whose respective champions would meet in a championship game for the league. So even if the Jets lost Super Bowl III, the merger still would've happened. Maybe the AFL/AFC wouldn't have had the legitimacy that it had going into the 1970 season, but the merger still would have happened. That is a 100% undeniable fact. Facts? Is that all you got?  |
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Post by HMARK Center on Jan 31, 2008 21:20:17 GMT -5
Nothing beyond the Jets having nothing to pull out in any sports debate they ever get in. Too much gets made out of the game, to be honest and, while it did mark the turning of the tides, I think Super Bowl IV marked the arrival of the AFL as a legit threat to the NFL, which was previously thought dominant. If you look at what the Colts were, the schemes they used (particular defense, which played right into the Jets hands) and star players and the story kind of unravels and you realize it was a lesser team that exploited favorable matchups and benefited from injuries. It gets romanticized because, obviously, it was the first time the AFL beat the NFL, but there were so many sub-plots, it was almost a bad Hollywood script. New-Blood beat the Old-Guard, flash and style beat grit and determination, etc. To answer the questions.... - Yes, the merger would've happened. Hard to say if there'd be major changes, but I highly doubt they'd give up a money-maker like the SB. - No way Namath gets in. I don't even know how he's in now. Basically they let one moment made by the media punch his ticket. - Morral was a journeyman, Unitas probably had to go, but it's not like they gave up a young, budding star. Side note: I got to meet Unitas later on in his life and shook his hand. Not a single finger was straight and seemed like they were still broken, every one of them. - Jets fans are second-rate citizens in NY. Just like the Islanders, Mets, and Nets, there's a bigger NY team that has a larger fan base and gets more attention just by existing. Jets fans would continue to be obnoxious, just without any illogical fall-back to any argument, as I mentioned above. I want to argue the point about the Mets, but this isn't the thread. But I wouldn't say Jets fans are "second-rate citizens" in this area. If anything, the fan bases of the Jets and Giants aren't THAT far separated. ...Now where are the Devils in that equation?!  But I agree in principle: a Super Bowl III loss by the Jets wouldn't have affected THAT much. |
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BRV
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Post by BRV on Jan 31, 2008 21:36:06 GMT -5
Okay, now here's the only thing that would've changed if the Jets lost Super Bowl III:
all these stupid, non-sensical predictions in regular season games would never happen. Guys like Chad Johnson, Anthony Smith, etc. all would sound like fools in their "I guarantee we'll win" trash talk.
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