the jets were the first AFL team to win the big one. brought legitimacy to them and helped scare the NFL a bit into merging
They didn't the merger agreement was in place before the Jets ever got to the SB. The NFL initiated the merger to keep the talent pool under control.
Chicago is a grain silo and LA is a town. NYC is the only "World Class" city in this country. Boston and SF are postage stamps.
I've seen many mentions that the NFL had already planned on pulling out of that merger prior to SBIII?
Los Angeles may be mainly a sprawling mass of crap for the most part, but that is the west coast counterpart to NY, has a ton of influence in media and politics, and is the home of entertainment in this country. I hate LA.but denying it is a world class city is incorrect.
It is not the West Coast counterpart to NYC. It is the bastion of the culture of the moment. There's nothing world class about it. They don't even have an NFL franchise and their baseball team represents Brooklyn.
NFL teams define a world class city since when? Last I looked, the NFL was an American staple, not close to being a world class qualifier.
WB, I love NY and know the significance of it. But if you are going to use that as a standard for world class, there may only be 10 world class cities on the planet.
First, I hate you. Second, google is not the answer for a question like this. Better to listen from the knowledgeable guys. greenbeanz, Biggs Thanks for the information.
An interesting tidbid about the talent pool in the respective leagues prior to the merger: the AFL and NFL had a "gentleman's agreement" not to sign players who were contract to the other leagues. The team who breached that agreement? The NY Giants, who signed Buffalo Bills kicker Pete Gogolak which prompted teams to start poaching players from one another. Once Wellington Mara broke the agreement, Al Davis in particular went nuts signing NFL players and the contracts went through the roof resulting in the two leagues signing a merger agreement to put a stop to the contract wars. The whole Gogolak saga was just another example of the lack of respect given to the AFL by the NFL and the NFL-dominated media. A lot of Bills (and AFL) fans were crushed by the merger that came about because of the player raids touched off by the effin' Giants signing Gogolak. Most AFL fans would've been perfectly happy to have separate leagues, i.e. go fuck yourself Pete Rozelle & cronies (the same Pete Rozelle who ordered Namath to sell Bachelor's III right after Namath and the Jets broke their old-boy-league hearts by winning SB III). p.s. maybe Boston's a postage stamp, but SF is at least a world-class city in terms of uniqueness and beauty imho
Must be from NYC/5 boros. heh You Hoftra/LI boys will always be jealous of Jersey cause the stadium is here. NJ is only a cess pool in certain areas because of the people running the state - much like any other place. (e.g. Italy is beautiful but Naples makes Detroit look like an Occidental resort) If the only thing you know about NJ is the Meadowlands and the Turnpike, its like saying Florida is a swamp because you only visited the glades. /NJpride On topic: Joe kinda hit the nail on the head. While I wasn't alive for all the details, I've read enough books to see that there was a lot of bitterness on both sides. The NFL didn't take the AFL seriously because other leagues came and went and once the Jets handed over $400k to Namath in 64, the NFL's eyebrow got raised and had to take notice.
/offtopic As a Jersey guy, having lived outside of the state for close to two decades, I have found that the closer to NYC you get, the shittier New Jersey gets. Including the foul smelling air. South Jersey may as well be Kentucky. Only the property values differ.
