(The main reason I named this blog "Super Fraud" is, after reading the book Interference, I decided to chronicle ways in which each and every one of the previous forty-four Super Bowls were rigged (or at least there was enough evidence, given the characters many of the players (and especially owners) hung around, that the games were manipulated or rigged).)
That will come later, including another look at one of the most farcical events in the history of American sport, Super Bowl XXXVI -- the New England Patriots vs. the St. Louis Rams -- February 3, 2002.
As noted in the previous post, there had already been significant controversy surrounding the New England Patriots. Not only had the New England Patriots been the beneficiary of "The Tuck Rule", previously referenced, but there was a fair degree of controversy surrounding the Patriots' AFC Championship win over the Pittsburgh Steelers. Much of this surrounded the apparent ignorance of the officials to take notice of the apparent holding and illegal contact of the defensive backs of the Patriots in the game.
Opposing the Patriots were the defending World Champions, the St. Louis Rams, "The Greatest Show on Turf". A prolific passing offense combined with an opportunistic defense (just ask the Green Bay Packers in the divisional game) and the rushing of Marshall Faulk made for the belief that we were about to witness the next NFL dynasty.
So much so, the Rams were two-touchdown favorites in the Louisiana Superdome.
But, after an initial long field-goal, the Rams appeared to put on a truly abysmal performance -- a performance completely unlike the St. Louis Rams, and doubly unlike a team which appeared to be on the cusp of immortality in the NFL.
I believed immediately after the game (and for several years afterward) that the Rams were ordered to "take a dive". Now, given more knowledge (Spygate, anyone?), it appears as if the Rams had been illegally compromised by members of the staff of the New England Patriots.
But it was worse than that... There was belief that the officials allowed the Patriots to get away with numerous penalties. But there is one moment that changed my sports fandom forever.
I also remember where I was for this situation. I was at the Mad Dog in the Fog, a British soccer pub in the Haight-Fillmore district in San Francisco. I was standing in front of the television set to get a look at this, and I saw the most obvious screw-job I had seen to date.
The winning field goal.
(YouTube clip of the FOX broadcast of the last 29 seconds of the game here.)
After a drive in which it appeared there was at least one questionable call benefiting the Patriots, Vinatieri was brought on once again to give the Patriots a three-point lead. The field goal begins with seven seconds remaining (on both the unofficial FOX clock on the top of the screen, as well as Pat Summerall's announcement).
One interesting thing, though: In most airings of big games, if a play to decide the outcome at the end of the game is about to occur, usually at least one dramatic shot of the scoreboard clock is taken. The only shot outside the game itself was a clip of Vinatieri's pre-game practice.
So the kick is up and it's good. Patriots lead 20-17.
The unofficial FOX clock appears to have 2 seconds still on it when the kick is declared "good".
No, the Patriots WIN 20-17.
The time is run off, the fireworks explode, and the game is over.
The field goal, on the clip, starts at 2:04. The uprights are placed on the end line -- so when the ball goes through them, the ball is out of play, the play is over and the clock is supposed to stop.
The ball is through the uprights and the field goal declared good at 2:09. Only five seconds had elapsed. Watch the clip. It's right there.
One second later (at 2:10) a Patriots player is seen streaking toward the end zone, ready to celebrate a Super Bowl Championship.
HE KNEW THE GAME WAS OVER!
He knew that, despite there clearly being two seconds remaining at the conclusion of the field goal attempt (and despite there still being one second left when he was seen running into the shot in which the two officials on the end line had both signaled the field goal "good" and the play over), that the St. Louis Rams were not going to be given their entitled opportunity to score a "miracle" touchdown on the ensuing kickoff a la "The Play" in Stanford-California a number of years back.
There was going to be no ensuing kickoff, despite the incontrovertible fact that time was supposed to still have been remaining on the clock.
Why? Simple. In fact, one of the most simply-explained sports farces of all time.
The NFL, having a vaunted position in the American national folklore (so much so that I refer to some NFL posts with the tag "The National Religion" -- people putting the NFL above everything else in life for at least six months!), basically placed themselves as an instrument of propaganda.
Remember what I said in the last post: To win any war, including the "War on Terror", you must first win the home front.
Remember, too, that everyone believed we were on the cusp of witnessing immortality in sport with the Rams. It turned out, though, that the immortality was the start of a campaign to make the Patriots into something more than a football team...
"Patriots are champions!!
To be a champion, you must be a Patriot!!
If you are a Patriot, you too are a CHAMPION!!!"
Propaganda, right out of the playbook.
The Patriots were made the centerpieces of the NFL for, basically, the next four years -- so much so that quarterback Tom Brady, during the playoffs of the second of three World Championships the league and government gave to the Patriots, was actually invited to and made part of the State of the Union address as a prominent athlete outside of the influence of performance-enhancing drugs. No less than the President of the United States gave his public endorsement to Brady's efforts, only a couple weeks before his team would be awarded Super Bowl XXXVIII.
That basically changed everything, as it was blatant and incontrovertible evidence to me, for the first time, that the games could be decided by factors completely contrary to the reality of what took place "on the field".
A little more than two years later, I saw what could happen when a league is that desperate to take even this to the extreme level.
Enter David $tern.
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