Degenerate gamblers and the Chiefs "little helpers" in stripes
First of all, think about that statement on just it's basic, surface level. The notion itself is not new, as for years, disgruntled fans have always tried to make out that pro sports leagues only want the big city franchises to play for championships or win them. Ok, even if you don't want to question THAT conspiracy addled nonsense, Kansas City, as a place, is in the backwaters of professional sports. A nice place? Sure, it is a fine city, but it is not New York. Or LA. It's not even Houston. Or Seattle, although Seattle does only have 2 pro sports franchises, as well. Or Boston, Philadelphia or even Atlanta. It is small time on the pro sports landscape.
Do you know what other cities are two franchise cities? Cincinnati. Baltimore. Buffalo. Milwaukee. Indianapolis. St. Louis. Charlotte. New Orleans. And very recently, Salt Lake City. To be sure, again, all nice places and somewhat sizable cities, but not population juggernauts. And certainly not places that would have a league front office cheating for them to win championships. Not that they do that for anyone. It is a false narrative.
Especially for the NFL. The Super Bowl is probably the third biggest event in this country, EVERY year. Christmas, New Year's Eve, Super Bowl. The NFL doesn't give a damn WHO plays in or even wins that game. The location of the game is actually more important to them, but they are going to get most of the country watching the game, even if it is Jacksonville playing against Carolina. The NFL has no stake in the winner of the Super Bowl, because the game itself, regardless of who plays it, is the winner for them.
In addition, unless you are a fan of one of the two teams playing the game, YOU don't really care who wins the game. Sure, you might come up with some specious reason to arbitrarily pick a side to root for during the game, but let's face facts...no one in Cleveland really cared who won the game last night. Unless, unless.........THEY WERE BETTING ON THE GAME!
And there it is, the elephant in the room. The tagline for the sports wagering industry, the way they were able to convince the sports leagues to take them on, lock, stock and barrel was by selling the notion that THE FANS WILL BE INTERESTED EVEN IF THEIR FAVORITE TEAM ISN'T PLAYING! Well, the problem with that is that they are too interested.
Basically, the rise of the Kansas City Chiefs as an NFL power perfectly coincided with the opening up of legalized sports gambling across most of the nation. And the gamblers are, frankly, too invested to be entirely rational. The smart money never bets on sports for the simple reason that it IS random. But the smart money that DOES bet on sports generally bets the favorite, realizing, of course, that there is a reason the favorite is the favorite. The only viable long-term winning strategy for sports wagering is to consistently bet chalk. Yes, it is boring and yes, you will never make a big splash. But it works.
Once sports betting became widespread, however, it introduced a whole lot of novices into the gambling arena. And novices tend to bet against the favorites, trying to make a huge score. Trying, essentially, to prove that they are just as knowledgeable about the game as the experts. And this is where the narrative comes from. Because the gambler that loses is looking anywhere other than in their own "expertise" for where to place the blame for their loss. Don't believe me? Just listen to sports talk radio these days, because they are certainly talking more about betting lines and prop bets than they are talking about sports, which shows you just what is important to the "fans".
Yes, there have always been questionable calls that the viewers, the announcers and sometimes even the players have called out. And sometimes they are right. But just as often (or more so) they are wrong. No one knows the rule book of any professional sport as well as the referees. And to back them up, there are also officials who look at slow motion replays of the calls to really nail them down. With all of that, there are still calls that are missed or made wrong, but the game is called far more correctly than the people who don't have the expertise would lead you to believe.
Think about how many times you have watched a game and learned about a rule for the first time that you never knew existed, like the one in the Eagles vs. Commanders NFC title game this year, in which it was revealed that the referees could arbitrarily award a score to a team based on certain circumstances occurring, in this case multiple consecutive penalties by the defense when the offense is in an "and goal" down and distance situation. Bet (did you see what I did there?) you didn't know that one, did you? Think about how many times a player has been lauded for a play the he or she made strictly because that player understood the situational rules better than everyone else on the field playing with them in that moment. Or how about Jim Harbaugh's knowledge of the fair catch free kick rule, which gave the Chargers 3 points at the end of the first half in a game they eventually won by 7? All of those things happen because the insiders know the game better than the disgruntled "fans" and bettors.
Kansas City never was, past, present or even future, receiving referee "help" to win games. Simple as that. They were just better than the teams they were playing and absolute experts at winning one score games. And because gamblers are trying to buck the system and make a big score or just betting against the Chiefs for the arbitrarily stupid reason that "they are sick of them" does not a conspiracy make.
So, let's put it to rest, shall we?
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