More than once during my years with the Oakland Raiders, Al Davis would emphasize to me that “we” are in the entertainment business. He respected fan interest as what drove the success of every franchise and that close competitive games and offense were two primary ingredients towards inspiring fan interest.

When defenses become too dominant in the game, the rules committee will adjust the regulations to aid the offenses. If the league becomes one-sided with just a few teams dominating the action, the league will search out ways to balance the competitive scale. The NFL draft is a clear example of this. The league rewards the losing teams with higher draft selections in an obvious attempt to assist the weaker teams.

There are also powers to be at work that are more sinister.

There have long been accusations that some games are fixed. In recent times, there were rumblings that when the Kansas City Chiefs took the field with an officiating crew of seven that the opponents of Andy Reid and his team were outnumbered 18-11. This conspiracy theory was hot last season in particular, when the Chiefs seemed to get every break in a year that featured the most one-score decisions in favor of a single team.

I don’t subscribe to the “fix is in” theory for two reasons. First, I was with a team and observed firsthand the focus on winning and never experienced even a hint that my team would surrender a win on purpose. My second reason for discarding the dark side of NFL competition is that I can’t do anything about it and it would only mess with my proven handicapping methods if I tried to incorporate when and where a game might not be totally legitimate.

Yet, in 2002, I was rooting for the Sacramento Kings of the National Basketball Association to beat the Los Angeles Lakers in the sixth game of their playoff series. The officiating in that game was so one-sided that at one point I said out loud to my wife, “They aren’t going to let the Kings win this game.”

It could have been just a comment from a bettor losing a wager, but when the league was found to have officials that did adjust game results for both competitive and gambling reasons, as revealed in the case against one-time NBA referee Tim Donaghy, that game was specifically used as evidence. The league had a vested interest in the Lakers and not the Kings advancing to the finals.

So, the game was fixed … and the league was forced to admit it.

In 1968, the National Football League had a problem. They had negotiated an agreement with the upstart American Football League to merge into a single league beginning in 1970. The initial relationship called for the two leagues to meet in a Championship Game prior to the 1970 merger.

The more established NFL dominated the first two games between the two leagues. Vince Lombardi and his Green Bay Packers won non-competitive games by scores of 35-10 and 33-14 against the Kansas Chiefs and Oakland Raiders respectively. The results seemed to reveal what Al Davis had attempted to overcome in the negotiations between the two leagues. Davis contended the AFL was a better product and would create more fan interest because they had the higher scoring offenses in contrast to the more conservative and lower scoring NFL.

Big problem with that … defenses count too and when an NFL defense was matched against an AFL offense the more established league dominated. After a pair of blowout wins between the two leagues the prospect of the two conferences after the merger would have a “good” one and “bad” one public perception.

Not good for fan interest or competitive balance.

There was little doubt in the football world that the Baltimore Colts, winners of the NFL Championship in the 1968 season, would again dominate the AFL champion New York Jets in their third game between the two leagues. Don Shula’s Colts were favored by as many as 20 points.

Then the game happened. A poolside comment to the media would have disappeared from historical significance had the Jets quarterback not backed up his ridiculous claim with the winning result. The Jets flamboyant quarterback in 1968 was Joe Namath, and in a press interaction he boldly said, “We’re going to win the game, I guarantee it.”

The Jets did, upsetting the Colts, 16-7. That did more to legitimize the competitive balance between the two leagues than any game ever. The next year, the last championship game played before the 1970 merger, the Kansas City Chiefs upset the Minnesota Vikings and the two conferences, the American and National, opened play without a discernible public perception of imbalance.

Even though three teams moved from the NFL to the new alignment, the Colts, Pittsburgh Steelers and Cleveland Browns, few mentioned that the first Super Bowl played after the merger was between two former NFL teams, the Dallas Cowboys and Colts.

The day before the Raiders met the Minnesota Vikings in Super Bowl XI, I ran into a person at the Raiders hotel that seemed to work in the shadows around the team during my years on staff. He called me over to greet me and then asked, “So who is going to win tomorrow?”

“We are,” I said confidently.

“Would that make the best show?” he replied with a cold response.

“What are you talking about?” I asked, not knowing where he was going.

Then he launched into an explanation of what Al Davis had said all along, the NFL is entertainment first. He asked me what the biggest upset in NFL history was?

“The Jets over the Colts in Super Bowl III,” I responded.

“And what did the league get out of that win?”

“What?” I said while now uncomfortable with the direction of this conversation.

“Who was the coach of the Colts when they lost that game the league needed the Jets to win?”

“Don Shula.”

“Who was the quarterback of the Colts that missed all those open receivers in the loss?”

“Earl Morrall.”

“Do you think they got paid for the work they did in losing that game?”

He went on to articulate that a year later Shula was out of Baltimore but led the Miami Dolphins to three straight Super Bowls and won two. He also coached the only team with a perfect record in the Super Bowl era, the 1972 Dolphins.

“And who was the quarterback on that perfect team?” My dark conversation continued.

“Bob Griese,” I responded.

“Actually, Griese was hurt in the fifth week and the quarterback that season for most of the wins was the same QB that missed all those open receivers in the loss to the Jets, Earl Morrall.” Do you think Shula and Morral got paid back by the league for losing to the Jets?”

“I’m not going here,” I responded, while adding, “I think the Raiders win tomorrow because we are the better team.”

The Raiders did win; they beat the Vikings while pinning Bud Grant’s team with a fourth Super Bowl loss. I think it was because we were the better team, and I have always thought Super Bowls were on the up-and-up. But then we had the Pittsburgh Steelers game against the Seattle Seahawks to complete the 2005 season.

Another story.