Super bowl myths and the truths behind them.
By Gerald Eskenazi
DETROIT (Jan. 31, 2006) – It is as American as Thanksgiving – in fact, it even has a capitalized day: Super Sunday. Yet, for an event that has been around only since 1967, the Super Bowl has created so many myths it has a core of beliefs as if it were an organized religion.
Here are some of the things we believe could happen during Super Bowl XL on Sunday:
Myth: At halftime, water pressure drops in many cities because so many toilets will be flushed. Viewers reportedly do not leave their television sets until the second quarter ends, then dash into their bathrooms.
Truth: This wonderfully nutty myth has been around since I was a kid in the 1950s. I remember reading that, on Tuesday nights, when Milton Berle ruled America as “Mr. Television,” everyone would rush to the bathroom when his show ended at 9 p.m. But this urban legend goes back as far as the 1930s radio broadcasts of Amos ‘n Andy, and continued through the popular TV show MAS*H. There even have been reports that some cities’ water pipes have broken during the Super Bowl.
Myth: Restaurants are empty. Everyone’s watching the game.
Truth: Well, certainly an awful lot of people are – more than 130 million, nearly half the United States. But back in the 1970s, when the Super Bowl had been established as an American institution, I decided to check out this story myself. So, with the help of my newspaper’s expense account, I went to Times Square with a fellow reporter. We went to a strip club, where the manager, a fellow named Moose, said, with some annoyance, “Look around – do you see anyone watching television?” He had us there. We also took in a few restaurants, and were surprised to see a number of people dining oblivious to the game of the year. And don’t forget – your police and firemen are still on the job.
Myth: The stock market has a down year whenever an original American Football League team wins.
Truth: This goes back almost 20 years, when a former colleague of mine wrote a very serious Op-Ed piece for The New York Times. He explained that about 90 percent of the time, according to major indexes such as the Dow Jones, the market rose in the year when an NFC team won, and fell when the AFC was the winner. It was a fascinating statistic, taught in business schools. But I don’t think they teach it any more after it failed to predict the market four straight years, from 1998 to 2001.
Myth: Joe Namath “guaranteed” a Super Bowl III victory for his Jets over the heavily favored Baltimore Colts.
Truth: Actually, it’s half-truth, half-myth. It wasn’t as if Joe announced to the world, “We’re going to win, I guarantee it.” It really came about because he was frustrated by a heckler at a Touchdown Club dinner in Miami three days before the game. Joe was on the podium accepting an award, when someone shouted out that the Jets would lose. Defiantly, Joe retorted, “We’re going to win, I guarantee you.” The statement didn’t even make the papers the next day, but appeared two days later. When his coach, Weeb Ewbank, saw the headline, he admonished his quarterback for giving the Colts some bulletin-board fodder. Joe wasn’t fazed. “If they need to read this on the bulletin board, they’re in trouble,” he told Weeb.
Interestingly, that game was the first called the Super Bowl. But the Roman numbers were grandfathered in for Super Bowl V, thus making the Jets’ victory Super Bowl III. Tickets for the game cost $12. And if you ever get to the Jets locker room, you will see the gleaming Lombardi Trophy is inscribed simply as “world championship.”