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Article: 30 MOST MEMORABLE SUPER BOWL MOMENTS // Namath's Guarantee Made Game Special
- Article from:
- Chicago Sun-Times
- Article date:
- January 28, 1996
- Author:
CopyrightCopyright 1996 Chicago Sun-Times. (Hide copyright information)
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The Super Bowl wasn't much more than an experiment until Joe
Namath got ahold of it.
Before Namath, Super Bowl week was spent justifying its
existence. The NFL champion Green Bay Packers had beaten AFL
champions Kansas City and Oakland in workmanlike fashion in the first
two, doing nothing to dispel the notion that the AFL was an inferior
league.
Namath changed all that. In two weeks in January 1969, the
brash New York Jets quarterback legitimized the AFL, the Super Bowl
and Super Bowl week.
He bristled at the 18-point spread. ("Man, I wish I could bet,"
he said.) He was outspoken, claiming there were five quarterbacks in
the AFL - himself included - better than the Baltimore Colts' ...