Many and Much: American Football, The Super Bowl Spectacle, and the Meritocratic Importance of Style AND Substance

Open disclosure- I never was the biggest football fan. In fact, I was never much of a fan of the sport at all. I’d silently roll my eyes anytime the conversation switched to that topic. Over the years, though, I’ve softened my position. I’m not an active fan but I can certainly appreciate the importance of the sport…as well as every other sport, for that matter. I can also certainly appreciate the climactic showdown that every sport has at its given time of year.

Basketball has March Madness. Baseball has the World Series. Soccer has the World Cup. And football…. football has the Super Bowl, and let’s just say the Super Bowl speaks for itself. There are a few major events that can predictably stoke your average American—the Fourth of July, Christmas, and the Super Bowl.  We love our food, our freedom, our guns, and any “big show” we present to the world! But what is the story of the Super Bowl? In fact, what is the story of American football itself?

History of the Pig-Skin

American football evolved from both rugby and soccer. Like American football, rugby is a sport in which two competing teams vie for control of a ball. The players kick the ball through a set of goalposts or run into the opponent’s goal area to score points¹. The first official game was played on November 6, 1869, between Rutgers and Princeton college. There were 25 players on each team, and both teams used a round ball that they could kick, bat with their feet, hands, head, or sides, but not carry. The objective was, of course, to advance the ball into the opponent’s goal. Rutgers won 6-4^2,3. This collegiate sport continued for several years with numerous matches.

Yale, Princeton, Rutgers, and Columbia representatives met on October 19, 1873, to create a standard set of rules that all schools would abide by. They specified that fields sizes were to be 400 by 250 feet (122 meters x 76 meters) and teams would each have 20 players. Harvard, which had abstained from the conference, favored the more rugby-style game where players could carry the ball³. After a match with McGill University, the Harvard players stuck to the Canadian version of the sport^3,4.

Following an 1875 match between Harvard and Yale, the Professional Football Researchers Association compared the sport that the two teams introduced to Princeton to someone “selling refrigerators to [the Inuit]”³. Princeton, Harvard, Yale, and Columbia then formed the Intercollegiate Football Association and agreed to use a form of the rugby union rules with a modified scoring system³. Yale didn’t join this association until 1879. Yale player, Walter Camp, now regarded as the “Father of American Football,” secured the rules the following year^3,5. Gone were the days of the inconsistent, chaotic, and tightly packed scrummage³. The “snap” replaced it. Teams also shrunk in size from 15 to 11 people per side.

Establishing the Rules

In 1882, Camp successfully proposed limiting each team to three downs (“tackles”) to advance the ball 5 yards (4.6 meters). If the teams couldn’t advance the ball the required distance within those three downs, they’d forfeit the ball to the other team. The “5-yard” stipulation in turn resulted in fields that looked like gridiron grills. Four points were awarded for a touchdown, two points for a safety and goal following a touchdown, and five points for a field goal. Tackling below the waist became legal, and the association instituted a static “line of scrimmage.”

The sport remained very violent, though, and dangerous mass-formations such as the “flying wedge” resulted in serious injuries and deaths⁶. In the wake of at least 19 fatalities in 1905, President Theodore Roosevelt threatened to abolish the game unless major changes were made⁷. 62 colleges/universities met in New York City to discuss rule changes on December 28, 1905, and the proceedings resulted in the formation of the Intercollegiate Athletic Association of the United States (later, the National Collegiate Athletic Association or “NCAA”)³.

The association instituted the legal “forward pass” in 1906. They also reduced the playing time from 70 to 60 minutes and increased the distance required for a first down from 5 to 10 yards. A “neutral zone” was implemented along the width of the football field to reduce dirty play and infighting between teams, field goals were reduced to three points in 1909, and touchdowns raised to 6 points in 1912^3,7. In 1912, fields were also shortened to 100 yards, “end zones” were created, and teams were given four downs instead of three to advance the ball 10 yards^8,9. The association implemented the “roughing the passer” penalty in 1914 and first allowed catching the ball anywhere on the field in 1918¹⁰.

Professional Play

On November 12, 1892, Pudge Heffelfinger- widely regarded as the first professional football player- received $500 (equivalent to $16,825 in 2022) to play a game for the Allegheny Athletic Association in a match against the Pittsburgh Athletic Club. Before this match, many athletic clubs gave out trophies or watches, helped players attain employment, or paid double in expense money. Heffelfinger’s compensation was the first recorded instance in which athletic clubs paid someone money to participate in a game of American football.

Over time, though, professional players became increasingly common. Salaries rose and players moved unpredictably. A group of professional teams established the National Football League (NFL) in 1920. Their stated goals were to end bidding wars over players, prevent using college players, and abolish the practice of paying players to leave another team¹¹. Professional football distinguished itself from collegiate football in the late 1930s, and football itself became increasingly popular.

The NFL and AFL

The “Greatest Game Ever Played” occurred in 1958 between the Baltimore Colts and the New York Giants. The Colts won 23-17. Millions of people watched the match on television, and it had a major influence on the popularity of the sport. The American Football League (AFL) was introduced in the early 1960s, and by the mid-1960s, football became the most popular sport in the United States¹². With the AFL, various other new changes occurred. The official time was kept on a scoreboard clock instead of the referee’s pocket watch, names appeared on jerseys, and the optional two-point conversion by a pass or run after touchdowns was implemented.

The AFL also signed several star college players whom NFL teams had previously drafted. The New York Jets brought onboard rookie Joe Namath to a then-record $437,000 contract (equivalent to $3.11 million in 2022)¹². A five-year, $40 million NBC contract, which helped to sustain the young league, then followed. Player bidding wars ended in 1966 when the NFL and AFL approached each other and agreed to a merger (which didn’t take full effect until 1970). Every year a common draft would take place, and an annual World Championship game would occur. This championship game would become known as “the Super Bowl.”

The Big Show

What is it about the Super Bowl itself that Americans love so much? Well…the game itself, of course…and the commercials…and the half-time show. The Rolling Stones, Bruce Springsteen, Eminem, Dr. Dre, Snoop Dogg, Taylor Swift, Usher, Shakira, Jennifer Lopez, and Katy Perry are but a few of the many, many half-time performers. Budweiser, Doritos, and Go-Daddy are but a few of the many, many advertisers that went all out with expenses and ingenuity to produce their 30-second spots. The Patriots, Eagles, Chiefs, Buccaneers, and Rams are but a few of the many, many teams that clawed their way to the top. When the season finishes up, the winning team pours Gatorade over the coach’s head and heads off to Disney World…just a few of the many, many iconic traditions!

“Many” is certainly a critical part of our American ethos… “many” and “much”! Give us the enormous spectacle…the sweeping, panoramic views…the intense orchestral scores…the smashing, explosive action! We love it and we cannot get enough of it; give us fireworks, thunder, and lightning!! I’m not sarcastically criticizing these bombastic and ostentatious desires. There is something genuinely delightful about them…something vivacious and theatrical!

“Style” vs. “Substance”

The only real caveat to this phenomenon is if something is “all style and no substance.” Football, thankfully, doesn’t have that problem. It drafts the best of the best…Tom Brady, Aaron Rodgers, and the like. The best of the best give us their best, and we know they do, because if they don’t, they no longer become the “best.” Professional sports have that advantage. The “scoreboard always tells the truth.” Those who can pass and receive the highest number of times are the best. Those who can run the most touchdowns, kick the most field goals, or coordinate the most sophisticated and impressive moves are also the best!

Unfortunately, not every enterprise has this advantage. Politics has its useful place. Films and television shows are a wonderful and important part of our culture…as are universities and places of higher learning. But, within each of these domains, those who aren’t the best people for the job can masquerade as such. They can flatter and ingratiate themselves or share the same bloodline as those doing the hiring. Nepotism is a “tale as old as time”!

This obviously isn’t to say that politics, art, and higher learning haven’t brought on board the “best of the best.” Dwight D. Eisenhower, Daniel Day-Lewis, and Steven Pinker are but a few of the many, many names that one could list. But “substance” isn’t always a requirement in their respective domains…and therein lies the problem. It isn’t that we hate “style.” We love “style.” But we love “style” when it’s married to “substance” …when the two reflect each other (as people in any healthy relationship should). In every domain of life, give us all the fireworks and the Ushers and the Budweisers our hearts desire, but give us the successful touchdowns and passes as well!!

SOURCES

1. “The basics of rugby union”. BBC. September 2005. Archived from the original on March 1, 2014. Retrieved April 19, 2014.
2. “Rutgers – The Birthplace of Intercollegiate Football”. Rutgers University. Archived from the original on September 24, 2014. Retrieved November 24, 2012.
3. “No Christian End! The Beginnings of Football in America” (PDF). Professional Football Researchers Association. Archived (PDF) from the original on April 2, 2015. Retrieved November 24, 2012.
4. “Foot Ball”, clipping from The Boston Post, May 16, 1874, p. 3.
5. “NFL History 1869–1910”. NFL.com. Archived from the original on January 2, 2008. Retrieved November 24, 2012.
6. Bennett, Tom (1976). The Pro Style: The Complete Guide to Understanding National Football League Strategy. Los Angeles: National Football League Properties, Inc., Creative Services Division. Page 20.
7. Braunwart, Bob; Carroll, Bob. “Blondy Wallace and the Biggest Football Scandal Ever: 1906” (PDF). The Coffin Corner. Archived from the original (PDF) on September 28, 2014. Retrieved November 25, 2012.
8. Spick Hall (September 15, 1912). “Commodores Face The Hardest Schedule For Many Long Years”. The Tennessean. p. 19. Archived from the original on August 13, 2016. Retrieved June 17, 2016 – via Newspapers.com
9. Danzig, Allison (1956). The History of American Football: Its Great Teams, Players, and Coaches. Englewood Cliffs, N.J.: Prentice Hall. pp. 70–71.
10. Vancil, Mark (Ed.) (2000). ABC Sports College Football All-Time All-America Team. New York: Hyperion Books. Page 22.
11. Clary, Jack (1994). “The First 25 Years” (PDF). The Coffin Corner. 16 (4): 1, 4–5. Archived from the original (PDF) on September 28, 2014.
12. “Greatest game ever played”. Pro Football Hall of Fame. Archived from the original on May 15, 2013. Retrieved March 20, 2013.