You've probably seen the clip. It’s grainy, looks like it was filmed on a potato, and features a man who sounds like he’s trying to explain the entire history of the universe in under thirty seconds. He looks into the camera and utters the phrase that launched a thousand ship-posts: what it was was football. It’s rhythmic. It’s hypnotic. Honestly, it’s one of the few things from the early era of viral videos that still feels genuinely funny without being mean-spirited.
But if you actually dig into where this came from, it isn't just a random guy rambling. It’s a piece of high-tier performance art from a man named Justin Wilson. He was a Cajun chef and humorist who spent decades basically being the ambassador for a very specific type of Louisiana storytelling.
When people search for what it was was football, they usually want the meme, but they end up finding a masterclass in comedic timing. This wasn't some "fail" video. It was a scripted bit from his 1950s comedy albums, later brought to life on television.
The Anatomy of a Rant: Why it Stuck
The brilliance of the bit lies in the confusion. Wilson plays a character who has absolutely no idea what he just witnessed. He’s describing a football game as if he’s an alien who just landed in Tiger Stadium and had to explain it to his friends back on Mars.
He talks about people running into each other for no reason. He mentions a "prolate spheroid" (though he doesn't use those words, that's what he's describing). He focuses on the violence and the sheer absurdity of twenty-two men chasing a piece of pigskin. It’s a classic "fish out of water" trope, but dialed up to eleven with a heavy Acadian accent.
Sentences don't just end in this bit. They loop.
"What it was was football" acts as the anchor. Every time the narrator gets too deep into the weeds describing the "big fellows" hitting each other, he resets. It’s a linguistic palette cleanser. People love it because it mimics how we actually talk when we’re excited. We stumble. We repeat ourselves. We use weird syntax that wouldn't pass a third-grade English test but makes perfect sense in a bar at 1:00 AM.
Justin Wilson: More Than Just a Meme
Before he was a YouTube staple, Justin Wilson was a genuine celebrity in the South. Born in 1914, he wasn't actually "Cajun" by blood—his father was a Commissioner of Agriculture from Mississippi—but he spent his life immersed in the culture of South Louisiana. He worked as a safety engineer, and he started telling stories to keep people awake during his safety lectures.
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It worked.
Eventually, he started recording these stories. His album The Wonderful World of Justin Wilson sold over a million copies. Think about that for a second. A guy telling stories about "what it was was football" and "how to cook a turducken" was competing with rock stars.
He eventually got a cooking show on PBS. Justin Wilson's Easy Cooking. He’d wear those iconic suspenders, drink a "little bit" of wine (which was usually a generous pour), and say "I gar-on-tee!" He was the prototype for the modern celebrity chef, long before Emeril Lagasse or Guy Fieri were household names.
The Specifics of the Sketch
In the famous "football" routine, Wilson describes the game from the perspective of someone who thinks the referee is a "fellow in a striped shirt" who is clearly the most important person on the field because he has a whistle.
- He describes the kickoff as a "big old kick."
- He mentions the "huddle" as a secret meeting where they decide who to hit next.
- He focuses on the "first down" marker as a mysterious ritual involving sticks and chains.
It’s satire. It’s a critique of how complicated we’ve made a game that is, at its core, just people fighting over a ball. When you watch it today, it hits differently because football has become incredibly bloated with rules, replay reviews, and gambling advertisements. Wilson’s 1950s confusion feels like a prophecy of 2026's over-analyzed sports landscape.
Why Do We Keep Sharing It?
Nostalgia is part of it, sure. But there’s also the "shibboleth" factor. Sharing the what it was was football clip is a way of identifying yourself as someone who "gets" a certain type of humor. It’s dry. It’s regional. It’s slightly sophisticated despite the "aw-shucks" delivery.
If you look at the comments on any re-upload of the video, you’ll see people from Louisiana defending his accent and people from elsewhere asking for subtitles. That friction is exactly what makes it viral-ready. It feels authentic in an era where most "viral" content is manufactured in a studio by twenty-somethings trying to trend on TikTok.
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The Linguistic Weirdness
Linguistically, "What it was, was..." is a double copula. It’s technically redundant. You don't need two "was"es. But in Southern American English, especially in the Gulf Coast, this is used for emphasis. It sets the stage. It tells the listener: "I am about to define something for you, and it’s going to be a wild ride."
Wilson was a master of this. He knew that the way you say something is often more important than what you’re actually saying.
The Impact on Sports Media
Believe it or not, this silly bit actually influenced how some people talk about sports. You can hear echoes of Wilson's cadence in legendary broadcasters. There’s a certain "storyteller" vibe that moved away from dry stats and toward the feeling of being at the game.
When a modern announcer says, "I don't know what that was, but it was football," they are directly or indirectly nodding to Wilson. He gave us a vocabulary for the inexplicable.
Common Misconceptions
People often think this was a real person being interviewed on the news. It wasn't. It was a professional comedian performing a monologue.
Another big one: people think he’s making fun of Cajun people. He really wasn't. Wilson was incredibly protective of the culture. He saw himself as a "Cajun-by-choice." He wanted to show the world that this specific group of people had a unique, hilarious, and sharp-witted way of looking at the world. He wasn't the butt of the joke; the game of football was.
How to Use This Knowledge
So, you've gone down the rabbit hole. What now?
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If you're a content creator, look at the structure of "What it was was football." It’s a perfect example of how to take a common subject (sports) and view it through a totally foreign lens. It’s the "Defamiliarization" technique in literature.
If you're just a fan of the meme, go watch his cooking segments. The man could actually cook. His recipes for gumbo and jambalaya are legendary, though he'd probably get cancelled today for the amount of salt he used.
Real Actionable Steps for the Curious
- Listen to the full routine. The viral clip is usually just a 30-second snippet. The full five-minute bit is much better and includes a hilarious description of the "cheerleading ladies."
- Check out the "I Gar-on-tee" catchphrase. It’s the original "BAM!" or "Where's the beef?"
- Research the "Cajun Renaissance" of the 1970s. Wilson was a huge part of bringing Cajun culture into the American mainstream, which eventually led to the obsession with blackened seasoning and New Orleans jazz.
The next time someone posts that clip on your feed, you’ll know it’s not just a funny video. It’s a remnant of a specific era of American comedy where a man in suspenders could sell a million records just by being confused about a linebacker.
How to Authentically Replicate the "Wilson Style" in Your Own Storytelling
If you want to tell stories that stick like Wilson's did, you have to lean into the specificities of your own voice. He didn't try to sound like a news anchor. He sounded like a neighbor.
- Embrace the Redundancy: Don't be afraid to repeat yourself if it adds rhythm.
- Focus on the Mundane: The funniest part of football isn't the touchdown; it's the guys standing around in spandex.
- Slow Down: Wilson’s delivery was deliberate. He let the silence do the heavy lifting.
What it was was football isn't just a meme. It’s a reminder that the world is a weird place, and sometimes the best thing you can do is stand back, shake your head, and try to explain it to someone else in the most convoluted way possible. It’s about the joy of the struggle to find the right words.
Go watch the original. Then go make something that feels just as human.