On Hardball with Chris Matthews, Morgan State University professor Jason Johnson predicts the New England Patriots will win Super Bowl LI based on the median political beliefs of Massachusetts voters versus Georgia voters.
Super Bowl
The Root: The Politics of the Superbowl: 4 Political Reasons to Root for or Against a Team
Super Bowl Sunday can bring up a whole slew of emotions for people across the sports and nonsports spectrum. Decades of marketing have turned it into a de facto American holiday that everyone is supposed to care about. So even if you don’t care about football, you feel pressured to attend, like when you go to a New Year’s Eve party when you’d rather order Chinese takeout and stay home.
Fortunately, this year’s Super Bowl has plenty of cultural and political reasons for you nonsports fans to pay attention, giving you a reason to root for a team even if you don’t care about the game itself.
Here are the top, four nonsports reasons to root for a team in the Super Bowl:
1. Cam Newton, Making History
Carolina Panthers quarterback Cam Newton can make a hater out of all of us. He’s a Heisman Trophy winner, the first African-American quarterback to win an NFL MVP (back in ’03, they forced Steve McNair to share the award with Peyton Manning) and is one of the most successful quarterbacks in the history of the Carolina Panthers franchise. With that history already in his lap, Newton will be the fourth consecutive African-American quarterback to play in a Super Bowl, something that has never happened in NFL history. (Thanks, President Obama!)
More politically, Newton should be a favorite of any left-leaning Super Bowl viewer. He’s come out infavor of gay marriage and has strongly stated that he would welcome any openly gay player to the Carolina Panthers. He invited the family of one of the Charleston, S.C., mass-shooting victims to be his special guests at the Carolina Panthers’ final game last season. The man even got some of his teammates together to help push someone’s car that broke down on the side of the road.
Lastly, Cam Newton has been the catalyst for more white tears in sports than Serena Williams, Gabby Douglas, LeBron James and Richard Sherman combined. Newton’s confidence, marketable good looks and penchant for turning the “dab” into a new national dance has the crusty old racists in the NFL longing for the good ol’ days when all the quarterbacks were white and occasionally had questionable pasts. If you’re looking for someone to root for during a Black History Month Super Bowl you can’t do much better than Cam Newton, who has shown you don’t have to smooth the edges off blackness to be a successful QB in the NFL.
2. Peyton Manning, Pitch God for the GOP
While there’s no comparison between the dance moves of Peyton Manning and Cam Newton’s, that doesn’t mean the Broncos’ quarterback isn’t worth rooting for. The NFL has had two golden boy quarterbacks over the last 20 years: the New England Patriots’ Tom Brady, and Manning, who has five NFL MVPs, has appeared in three Super Bowls (lost two of them) and is the world’s biggest pitchman, selling everything from DirecTV to Papa John’s to Ritz crackers.
Politically, Manning is the guy you want to root for if you’re a conservative. He has come out asaggressively ambivalent on gay players in the NFL, but has actively given to Republican candidates across the country who oppose LGBT rights. Manning is very selective about who he gives money to; he supported former Sens. Fred Thompson and Richard Lugar, who spent their entire careers trying to kill affirmative action, and Manning also came out in favor of Mitt Romney in 2012.
Manning is also a devout Christian and states that his faith drives every part of his life, including football, something that conservative football fans and nonfans alike can get behind. He’s also done a tremendous amount of work for his native New Orleans since Hurricane Katrina.
3. The Carolina Panthers and the Ownership of Evil
If you wanted to root against any team ownership in the Super Bowl this Sunday, Carolina Panthers owner Jerry Richardson seems like an easy pick.
Richardson is listed as the third-most-powerful owner in the NFL and a member of the NFL’s contract-negotiating committee. While for years the Carolina Panthers were a pretty sorry team, posting losing records year after year, Richardson had no problem trying to bully the city of Charlotte, N.C., into paying for a new stadium to line his pockets.
Richardson was one of the main NFL owners behind the lockout in 2011 when he argued that owners had to “take back their league” from the players, even though by all accounts, the lockout was nothing but a greedy, money-grab by owners.
He also seems to have some bizarre, racialized feelings about which players on his team are allowed to get tattoos. And Richardson notoriously tried to defend and keep domestic-abuser Greg Hardy on his team until public sentiment got too big to ignore. But I guess if there’s one decent thing he’s done it’s he gave money to the families of the slain Charleston 9 in South Carolina, but that was probably Newton’s idea.
4. The Denver Broncos’ Right-Leaning Bowlens
The vast majority of owners in the NFL are conservative Republicans (the Seahawks, Steelers and Giants being some of the few outliers), so it’s no surprise that the Bowlen family that owns the Broncos leans right.
Team owner Pat Bowlen and his family spend their philanthropic efforts on conservative causes, and they have been less than supportive of the legalization of marijuana in the state of Colorado. Bowlen has been known to make the occasional off-color racial joke, but that’s almost par for the course when it comes to old NFL owners. His son, on the other hand, refers to himself as “the Blood of the City” of Denver and uses his father’s Alzheimer’s condition as a justification for domestic violence.
If that wasn’t enough to tip your rooting interest, remember, if you’re a conservative, the rest of the Broncos organization might be right for you. Former NFL quarterback and Broncos Executive Vice President of Operations John Elway stated in 2014 that he was a Republican because he “didn’t believe in safety nets,” and one of his car dealerships in California was sued for racial discrimination.
This article originally appeared at The Root.
Top 10 Reasons Politicos Should Watch Super Bowl XLIX
Super Bowl Sunday is the highest of Holy Days for sports fans and NFL fans alike. But what about those outliers? What if your team isn’t playing, or you only care about college sports — or worse you’ve been invited to a Super Bowl Party but know nothing about who to root for or why?
Never fear, if you can’t get rah-rah excited about the Patriots vs. Seahawks showdown, you can definitely get excited about this year’s smorgasbord of political nuggets and subplots. If you can’t tap into that team spirit, here’s a list of 10 political reasons you might want to root for or against either team.
3) 4th and God: Seattle Seahawks quarterback Russell Wilson is a devout evangelical Christian. He was also a close friend and supporter of Mark Driscoll, former pastor of Mars Hill Megachurch in Seattle, who claimed liberals were turning Jesus into a “Richard Simmons, hippie, queer Christ.”
4) Peaceful Pete: Pete Carroll, Seattle Seahawks Head Coach is about as far left as you can get. He is strongly against the Iraq war, claiming that one thousand peace workers could’ve done a better job. And there are several reports that he’s a 9-11 Truther.
5) Cheaters Never Prosper: Conspiracy Theorist and Conservative radio host Alex Jones says the Seahawks are cheaters, pointing out that Richard Sherman was accused of using Performance Enhancing Drugs and Pete Carroll left USC under a cloud of cheating and controversy.
6) Feeling Deflated: The New England Patriots were accused of slightly deflating footballs — which allegedly makes them easier to catch — during their championship game two weeks ago. According to Public Policy Polling Democrats (46%) are more likely than Republicans (36%) to say that the Patriots are guilty in “Deflategate.”
7) Blue or Purple in the Red Zone: According to an analysis of NFL fan bases and the last several Super Bowl winners by the Washington Post, it appears that NFL teams that have fan bases with moderate purple state politics tend to win out over teams with either strongly Red State or Blue State fan base politics. The study shows that Seahawks fans are a little more purple and the Patriots fans are some of the most liberal in the NFL.
8) Hillary Loves the Hawks: Likely 2016 Presidential candidate Hillary Clinton seemed to tweet a pro-Seahawks Tweet during last year’s Superbowl (or at least a jab at Fox News and the Broncos).
It’s so much more fun to watch FOX when it’s someone else being blitzed & sacked! #SuperBowl
— Hillary Clinton (@HillaryClinton) February 3, 2014
The Cougar Vote: It’s a White Woman Thing
Last week I wrote about how Cougars aren’t just a tacky pop culture phenomenon, but that the Cougar Vote was going to play a crucial role in the upcoming 2012 presidential election.
First, in case you’re asking, what do I mean by “Cougars?” Single White, financially stable women in their late 30’s to early 50’s (who are open to dating much younger men). Believe it or not, they are the fastest growing voting segment in the country.
However, for all the Demi/Ashton, Courtney/David and Gwyneth/Justin talk out there, Black women are almost never considered Cougars, either in the pop culture sense or even in the voting demographic sense. So the question is: Why aren’t Black women Cougars and why aren’t candidates chasing the older Black women’s vote?
Before someone starts attacking me as a Neanderthal troll let me point out the fact that the term Cougar, a predatory animal, isn’t necessarily sexist. Literary and pop culture metaphors for women and big cats aren’t new. A woman as a Lioness protecting her cubs; those annoying (and somewhat racially questionable) Tiger Moms from last year; and who could be mad about being compared to a leotard wearing super–fast Thundercat?
But, while the big-cat metaphor is gender specific, Cougars themselves are race specific. They are unquestionably, unalterably White. And there are several reasons for this which goes to the heart of the Cougar phenomenon.
Women having romantic relationships with younger men has always been viewed with more skepticism than older men pairing with younger women, and this as much to do with genetics and aesthetics as it does with sex and power. While progress has been made in America regarding the status of women in the workplace, socially and economically on many levels the patriarchal attitude that permeates our society still values women for two main things: Physical beauty, and the ability to bear children.
Both traits are much less likely to be in play as women age. As the sexist old saying goes, “Women, get old, Men get distinguished”. Men can have children up into their 60’s while most women’s best child bearing years end in their late 30’s to early 40’s.
Basically, our culture is just acting out our animal instincts. Why else do you think Harrison Ford, Sean Connery and everyone’s favorite old man action hero Liam Neeson can consistently have on and off-screen love interests with women young enough to be their daughters and no one blinks? When this type of relationship happens the other way around, everyone starts humming the chorus to Ms. Robinson.
Cougars are a result of various social and economic forces that are new and disruptive to political life in mostly White America. While I mentioned in my previous piece that higher divorce rates, later marriages and greater financial stability are all at play in the White woman Cougar explosion there is one other serious issue that cannot be overlooked: Declining Birth rates.
While the alarmist narrative is mostly from the far right, the fact remains that the White population of America (and Europe) is on a steep decline. Within less than 10 years the majority of children under the age of 14 in America will not be White, and within 15 years White Americans will be a numerical, if not cultural and financial, minority. Thus, we see the rise of Cougars: a desire for White women to retain value long past previous cultural norms. In the past, due to sexism and demographics, single older White women were ignored by politicians and Hollywood, no longer cute and perky but not old enough to be seniors.
Now there is a huge drive for White women to have more children, and if that means teaching young men that a few extra wrinkles and stretch marks are sexy in order to preserve the race, so be it.
Seriously: This isn’t right wing conspiracy theory. It’s nature playing out in popular culture and politics. Do you think it’s a coincidence that the Octomom, Jon and Kate plus 8 and MTV’s Teen Mom are suddenly so popular? Moreover do you notice that Republican candidates have gone out of their way this year to promote their Malthusian-Crisis level large families?
This in large part explains why African American women aren’t counted as Cougars in the pop culture lexicon. When you lay out the factors driving Cougarism: Physical attractiveness into later age, fertility, population and financial stability – none of that applies to the Black woman in America today.
Consider physical attractiveness for example. Black folks weren’t surprised that Taye Diggs went after Angela Basset in “How Stella Got her Groove Back” because at 40 years old she was still fine. As the old saying goes “Black Don’t Crack.” Most Black women, with a nominal amount of healthy habits, can retain their looks well into their 40’s. More crassly as Chris Rock put it on his Bring the Pain Comedy album:
If a woman tells you she’s 20 and she looks 16….. She’s 12!
If a woman tells you she’s 26 and she looks 26……. She’s damn near 40!
Tomorrow: Hunting the Cougar Vote, Part III: I’ll lay out how Cougars and African American women will leave their tracks on the 2012 electoral landscape.
This article originally appeared online at Politic365.com.
Super Bowl XLVI and Black History Month: Top 6 Super Bowls to Remember
There has always been an intimate if not tortured relationship between African Americans and American sports. On the one hand stereotypes and economic oppression have often led to African Americans believing that professional sports were the best or only option to financial success. On the other hand athletic success has given many African Americans a stage to speak out against institutional racism, as well as blaze a path for many other African Americans both within and outside of sports.
Nowhere are these two concepts on more obvious display than in the Super Bowl, the single largest annual sporting event in America. From the players on the field to the coaches and executives behind the scenes, the Super Bowl has really become an interesting measuring stick for the progress of Black Americans over the years. This is made all the more significant by the fact that due to schedule changes the big game has occurred during Black History Month for the last decade. So in honor of the month, and the impending destruction of the New York Giants at the hand of the Patriots (sorry had to throw that in) we present the Top 6 Most Important Super Bowls in Black History Month.
Super Bowl XXXVI (36) New England Patriots over St. Louis Rams 20-17, Feburary 3rd 2002
This Super Bowl began the long and storied run of Tom Brady and Bill Belichick’s football empire of the Patriots, but it was also the start of some truly significant advancements for African Americans in the world of NFL coaching. Romeo Crennel, the defensive coordinator for the New England Patriots and Lovie Smith the Defensive Coordinator for the St. Louis Rams were both hired as head coaches within a few years after this Super Bowl. More importantly Super Bowl 36 was the first time in Super Bowl / Black History month history that two teams were led by African American defensive coordinators. While Crennel’s Patriots got the best of Lovie’s Rams in the game, Lovie got the last laugh. He was named head coach of the Chicago Bears in 2004 and has led that team to a Super Bowl and an NFC Championship game while Romeo has coached the lousy Cleveland Browns and now Kansas City Chiefs.
Super Bowl XXXVIII (38) New England Patriots over the Carolina Panthers (32 – 29) Feburary 1st 2004
You can pretty much forget about the actual GAME between the Pats and the Panthers, it was fairly boring until the second half. Perhaps the second half play was inspired by what turned out to be the sauciest, most infamous half-time show in Super Bowl/Black History month history. Yes, this was the Janet Jackson and Justin Timberlake Super Bowl which sparked federal-level controversy and a great deal of discussion, hand-wringing and finger pointing in Black intellectucal circles. Unless you were hiding in a hole with Saddam Hussein at the time, you probably heard that the two pop stars performed the hit song “Rock Your Body” during the Super Bowl halftime show. The song ends with the lyric “Imma have you naked by the end of this song” and right on cue Justin tears off part of Janet’s top (5:20 mark) revealing her right breast to millions of fans across the world.
Thousands of people called the FCC to complain, it was the most TIVO’d moment in the history of television and the anger on the part of the NFL and some fans was so loud and intense that Justin and Janet immediately went into spin mode. Nobody bought their story that it was a ‘wardrobe malfunction’, but even if it was, African American cultural critics were still justifiably furious. The fact that Janet Jackson, a Black woman with a long and globally successful career as a clean pop icon, was blamed in the press for the incident more than Justin Timberlake, who had actually TORN off her top (intentionally or not) was a jarring reminder of the pervasiveness of racist stereotypes about Black women that no amount of hit albums or charity work could counter. It wasn’t helped by the fact that Justin had been playing up his street cred and jungle fever rep with Janet for almost a year, then completely hung her out to dry in the press, claiming that he was ‘appalled by what happened’ but taking no responsibility. Janet took the fall, covered for Justin and 8 years later he’s still a star and Janet is doing Nutrisystem commercials. If this had occurred in reverse, and let’s say Usher had torn off Madonna’s top, he’d have been branded a rapist and they probably would have strung him up on stage.
Super Bowl XXXVIIII (39) New England Patriots over Philadelphia Eagles (24- 21) February 6th, 2005
This was a particularly painful Super Bowl for me, since I’m an Eagles fan and Donovan McNabb is my favorite player, but I can objectively say that as a Black history month Super Bowl it was pretty impressive. First, Donovan McNabb is only the 3rd African American quarterback to start in a Super Bowl, and despite inept coaching by Andy Reid, a swiss cheese offensive line, no running game and his own famous time gobbling screw up in the 4th quarter he did make some history. McNabb finished the game with 30 completions for 357 yards the third most in Super Bowl History (at the time) in both categories. Moreover Super Bowl 39 remains the only Super Bowl in history to be tied at both half-time and the start of the 4th quarter.
An entire treatise can be written about Donovan McNabb and his role as a prism through which race in America can be viewed. His strength in the face of a notoriously hostile and occasionally racist Philadelphia fan base and media, being attacked by Rush Limbaugh, and being embroiled in a disgusting “Good Black vs. Bad Black” battle with the coonish and easily manipulated Terrell Owens all come to mind. But in the end, this game was the career peak of perhaps the most successful African American quarterback in NFL history and he played Tom Brady and the Patriots closer than anyone else, and for that he deserves some credit.
Super Bowl XLI (41) Indianapolis Colts over Chicago Bears (29-17) Feburary 4th, 2007
The Black History month significance of this Super Bowl is obvious, Tony Dungy leading the Colts and Lovie Smith leading the Bears it was the first time in the history of the NFL that two Black Coaches met in a Super Bowl. In fact, it was the first time in NFL history that ANY Black coach had taken their team to a Super Bowl. More importantly after the Colts won, Tony Dungy became the first African American coach to win a Super Bowl, and finally bring credibility to a previously underachieving Peyton Manning.
There was a deeper meaning to this victory though for African Americans: Lovie Smith was a coach off of Dungy’s ‘coaching tree’ just a few years earlier, and the idea of these two men meeting in the Super Bowl after a relatively short time in head coaching helped cement the value of the Rooney Rule, which required NFL teams to interview minority head coaching candidates whenever there was a vacancy.
Super Bowl XLII (42) New York Giants over New England Patriots (17 – 14) Feburary 3rd 2008
One of the best things about the NFL in regards to Black History is the fact that the game showcases the skills and advancements both on and off the field. This Super Bowl was a classic example. Despite two of the ‘Whitest’ teams in the Super Bowl Black History Month era, two African American men played historic roles in the game. First you had Mike Carey, the first African American referee to be in a Super Bowl. Carey was ranked #2 on a recent ESPN list of best refs in the league (no small feat) and perhaps more importantly (or painfully depending on who you root for) Carey was credited with one of the most important “no-calls” in Super Bowl History. Rather than anticipate a sack, Carey allowed play to continue on the infamous 4th quarter drive where Eli Manning did THIS, and beat the Patriots in the biggest upset since the Pats beat the Rams in 2002. It still pains me to write that. Second, behind the scenes you had Jerry Reese, General manager of the New York Giants and only the 3rd African American general manager in NFL history, who of course became the first Black GM to win a Super Bowl with this victory and with today’s game against the Pats he becomes one of the few GMs of any color in the NFL to take their team to the Super Bowl twice.
Super Bowl XLIII (43) Pittsburgh Steelers over Arizona Cardinals (27-23) Februbary 1st 2009
Super Bowl 43 probably had the best ending in Super Bowl History, as well as some seminal Black history to enjoy. It was the first time in history that a former cast member from “House” coached a team to a Super Bowl victory. In winning that Super Bowl Mike Tomlin became the youngest head coach EVER to win a Super Bowl. He remains the fourth youngest coach in any of the four major American sports, and with his second Super Bowl appearance (even though it was a loss) to the Green Bay Packers Tomlin is all but assured a very long tenure in Pittsburgh, ironically the team that invented the Rooney Rule.
So while you load up on pizza and soda for the kick-off this Sunday there is no need to feel any cultural guilt. The Super Bowl is a wonderful way to celebrate Black History month. If it makes you feel more militant you can think about the fact that you’re watching a sport where the majority Black labor force was locked-out into submission last fall. Of course I won’t let that ruin my popcorn throwing and pizza eating!
This article originally appeared online at Politic365.com.