Super Bowl XLV Bar Discussions: NFL’s ‘America’s team’ Debate
The Pittsburgh Steelers have a lot of rings, but the Green Bay Packers have the first two ever awarded (at least in the Super Bowl sense). The Dallas Cowboys always draw, the New York Giants and New York Jets play in America's biggest market, the Chicago Bears have a certain definition to them, the San Francisco 49ers were the franchise of the 1980s and 1990s in many respects, and even the Oakland Raiders have a claim to this crown (loosely, perhaps).
This conversation should -- read: will -- come up in most bar settings as you view SB XLV. Here now are the primary participants and some arguments you can use on each. If you want to be semi-humorous, when this arises, immediately scream "TAMPA BAY BUCCANEERS," wait two seconds of a beat, and add: "Naw, just kidding." A few people will laugh.
Pittsburgh Steelers
The basic arguments are simple: (a) lots of rings, (b) one or two iconic quarterbacks -- Terry Bradshaw and Ben Roethlisberger, (c) some unbelievable video moments via Lynn Swann and (d) represent a major U.S. blue-collar city, which is the entire ethos of how the United States was built.
Green Bay Packers
Basic cases here: (a) won the first two Super Bowls, (b) have the coach almost every coach since is compared to (Vince Lombardi), (c) have several iconic QBs (Bart Starr, Brett Favre, now even Aaron Rodgers -- we're ignoring Don Majowski for the moment) and (d) heartland of America is where they reside, which is a huge cultural cache for many people.
Dallas Cowboys
Also have many Super Bowls, and several iconic QBs from Roger Staubach to Troy Aikman. They play in a huge market known for things being "bigger than life," and their owner fits that mold. According to Forbes, they're the most valuable franchise in the NFL. Stadium is massive, personifying them. They basically get the maximum "game of the week / prime-time games" mix that any team can get in a given year. The "star" is perhaps most iconic helmet in the NFL.
San Francisco 49ers
They represent an area of the U.S. a lot of people end up relocating to, and they also represent a prolonged period of winning and have arguably the best QB that ever played, Joe Montana, to their credit. (Steve Young isn't far off.) Perhaps the GREATEST single player that ever played, Jerry Rice, played for them primarily. They've been down for a few years now, but the interest is still fairly strong: they get 1-2 MNF appearances per year and several 4:15 FOX Game of the Week contenders to boot.
Chicago Bears
This is mostly an "ethos" discussion. They are heartland, they pride themselves on workmanship, and they've had four or five of the best defenders to ever play anchor their defense. Heartland, snow, hard work, bone-crushing, D, major U.S. city -- this is similar in a lot of respects to why people value Pittsburgh as an organization; it theoretically represents the backbone of why America has emerged as a power.
Oakland Raiders
This is the flip side to that argument above. The Oakland organization is brash, cocky, seems to think they know more than everyone else, plays in the ghetto section of a reputable U.S. area, calls their arena "The Black Hole," and has an owner hanging on well past his prime reasoning days. If America wasn't built on hard work and heartland values, it was undeniably built on abject arrogance and thinking you know more than others, so the similarly hard-hitting Raiders are always a wild card in this discussion.
Detroit Lions
This is a joke.
New York Giants/Jets
Not really -- they've won a combined four Super Bowls (3 for G-Men, 1 for Jets) and while Jets have enjoyed a resurgence of late, they're still a little ways off from being a truly legitimate contender in the AFC. Giants could be a train wreck after next season, and/or looking to add Bill Cowher or Jeff Fisher. These teams are listed here because they represent America's largest media market and thus, they get a crapload of ink when they're doing well or badly.
You've got a solid amount of options to introduce or debate above -- but everyone knows, of course, that it really is the Buffalo Bills; constant, biting snow is as close to a consistent theme for the nation as 2011 is going to get.
Join the Discussion