When You Choke, You Turn Blue ... Then Purple

There's a new commercial on TV these days for Gatorade. (To see it, go to Gatorade.com, click on the logo, then click on "The Gatorade Story" then on "The Legend Continues.") Narrated by the great Keith Jackson, it details how the University of Florida's coach passed on Gatorade (Florida Gators, get it?) to the AFL's Kansas City Chiefs in the 1969 season. As Jackson says, in the inflection that only he has:

Against the heavily-favored Minnesota Vikings in Super Bowl IV, the Chiefs emerged victorious and the rest is history.

Neat little anecdote, but the commercial also flashes the final score of Super Bowl IV, which is: Chiefs 23, Vikings 7. Though in retrospect the commercial only implies that Gatorade led the Chiefs over the Vikings, all logical heads would realize that a sport drink is not responsible for a 16-point beating of a favored team. Remember, this is back in the NFL vs. AFL days - just a year after the New York Jets shocked the Baltimore Colts in the Super Bowl. It was up to the Vikings to restore the dignity of the mighty NFL in Super Bowl IV, but they failed - getting trounced by more than two touchdowns. (Leaving the Green Bay Packers as the only NFL team capable of winning - handily, in their case - NFL vs. AFL Super Bowls.)

Yep, the Gatorade commercial is ultimately just another reminder that the Minnesota Vikings are a decades-long, franchise-history team of chokers that cannot win the big one. Can't wait to see it again!