Sports Conspiracy Theories

[Johnny Carwash]

I am intensely skeptical of conspiracy theories in general, but have to admit they are fun to think about. Sports-related ones are particularly fun because they are mostly innocuous and won't result in you developing a dangerously warped view of the world (unless you are a Pats fan). Here's a list of some I could think of, feel free to discuss and add your own:

- The NBA rigged the 1985 Draft lottery so that Patrick Ewing would go to the Knicks.

- Michael Jordan's first retirement from 1993-95 was actually a secret suspension for gambling.

- The NFL had the Colts throw Super Bowl III to the Jets in order to legitimize the AFL teams ahead of the merger.

- Sonny Liston took a dive in the second Ali fight for one reason or another.

- The Cavs getting three No. 1 overall picks in four years was a ploy by the NBA to lure LeBron back to Cleveland so he could repair his reputation.

- Spygate was actually much worse than publicly acknowledged, and the NFL destroyed the evidence to prevent further embarrassment. The NFL's subsequent vendetta against the Patriots is a result of Goodell feeling like they were insufficiently grateful.

- Pete Rose actually did bet on his own team to lose, but this was not made public in order to prevent further embarrassment to baseball.

- Magic Johnson never had HIV; the whole thing was a massive publicity stunt to create awareness for AIDS. (I know this one is insanely dumb, but including it just because.)

- The referees rigged the 2002 NBA Western Conference Finals to ensure the Lakers would advance.

- Bobby Riggs threw the "Battle of the Sexes" with Billie Jean King. (This is the one I'm most inclined to believe; ESPN ran a feature story a couple years ago that made a pretty compelling case, though in fairness I out to hear out any rebuttals.)

[Nonlinear FC]

I'm inclined to believe just about any boxing-related conspiracy theory. For the same reason, I'm also inclined to believe that tennis is rife with this stuff. One you only need to get to ONE person, fixing a sporting event is very very easy.

Oh, the one that is also top of mind is the Ecuadorian referee at the 2002 World Cup, where it sure seemed like he was tipping the scales in favor of host nation South Korea. The R16 game against Italy and the qfinal game against Spain were super shady.

http://screamer.deadspin.com/italian-pa ... 1707704308" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Given what we know now almost definitively about the shadiness and corruption of FIFA, the fact that Jack Warner was involved with referee assignments, and this ref's subsequent illegal activities... It's still in the "theory" category, but it sure smells rotten.

[DaveInSeattle]

- The NFL had the Colts throw Super Bowl III to the Jets in order to legitimize the AFL teams ahead of the merger.

Woah...never heard that one.

- Spygate was actually much worse than publicly acknowledged, and the NFL destroyed the evidence to prevent further embarrassment. The NFL's subsequent vendetta against the Patriots is a result of Goodell feeling like they were insufficiently grateful.

That is assuming a large scale of competency on Goodell's part, which has not been evident in anything else he's done, besides kissing the right butts among the NFL owners.

- Pete Rose actually did bet on his own team to lose, but this was not made public in order to prevent further embarrassment to baseball.

Absolutely. Why wouldn't he?

- The referees rigged the 2002 NBA Western Conference Finals to ensure the Lakers would advance.

Even more rigged...the 93 Western Conference Finals, where the Suns (with eventual League MVP Charles Barkley) were given 64 (!!!!...and a playoff record) free throws, making 57. Barkley himself had 22 free throws, making 19 of them.

Now...the NBA wouldn't pull any strings to get a Finals matchup of Jordan and Barkley, would they?

[Joe K]

Game 6 of the 2002 Western Conference Finals was probably the most shadily officiated basketball game I've ever seen. Even if the there wasn't a conspiracy to have the Lakers win that series, I would totally believe that there was a conspiracy to extend the series to a seventh game. Similarly, some of the officiating in the 2006 NBA Finals was absurdly pro-Heat, especially when they were behind in the series and needed to win some games to get back in it.

[L-Jam3]

Until the Almighty tells me otherwise in the Afterlife, I will forever believe the first Jordan retirement was an 18-month suspension for gambling for the good of the league. Although his father's murder was an unrelated, and grossly tragic, coincidence.

[Jerloma]

How exactly would that cover up a gambling scandal?

[Ryan]

How exactly would that cover up a gambling scandal?

What gambling scandal?

[sancarlos]

My favorite recent one is that the NFL used their referees to fuck the Steelers in the playoffs, so that Manning and Brady could meet in the AFC Championship. That got some play on a message board I read.

Similarly, that the NFL uses their refs to favor the Packers over other NFC Central teams. Seems I've seen that one on said message board, too.

[sancarlos]

Game 6 of the 2002 Western Conference Finals was probably the most shadily officiated basketball game I've ever seen. Even if the there wasn't a conspiracy to have the Lakers win that series, I would totally believe that there was a conspiracy to extend the series to a seventh game.

We should get a Swamper to start a book publishing business and maybe get one of the referees involved to write the story.

[tennbengal]

How exactly would that cover up a gambling scandal?

What gambling scandal?

Exactly.

[Jerloma]

My favorite recent one is that the NFL used their referees to fuck the Steelers in the playoffs, so that Manning and Brady could meet in the AFC Championship. That got some play on a message board I read.

I was upset and perhaps slightly irrational but I mean come on!

[degenerasian]

Cal Ripkin's streaked was saved by a power outage

Gretzky's high stick in Game 6 of the 1993 Campbell Conference finals went uncalled to get the Kings in.

Ronaldo was drugged before the 98 World Cup Final

All Blacks were drugged before the 85 World Cup Final

[bfj]

There was an Orioles/Mariners game in 1997 that was postponed for electrical problems with the lighting at Camden Yards. I remember that Randy Johnson was scheduled to pitch. Rumor was the game was postponed because Cal Ripken (who was still in the middle of The Streak) had walked in on his wife and Kevin Costner banging. Allegedly, Cal promptly beaten the crap out of Crash Davis and called the club to say he wasn't coming in to play and the streak would end. So the O's concocted this electrical problem and canceled that evening's game. Story was that Costner was staying at the Ripken's house after filming a movie in the area.

[Brontoburglar]

so he was so traumatized by the incident he couldn't play that day but could play the next?

[Brontoburglar]

Snopes on it: http://www.snopes.com/sports/baseball/ripkenstreak.asp" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

(and not saying that BFJ or anyone believed it, but just that it's very odd right away)

[Jerloma]

When I didn't make All Stars my last year of little league, despite having a 9-1 record on the mound and a .600 batting average.

Fuck you, Johnston!

[Giff]

When I didn't make All Stars my last year of little league, despite having a 9-1 record on the mound and a .600 batting average.

Fuck you, Johnston!

On my last little league basketball team, I was finally the best player on the team along with my best friend at the time. We won the league championship pretty easily and each scored about 15 points a game which was a lot for a 6th grade team. The league would only take two kids from each team from the all-star game and the coach sat me down at our team party and said he was going with my friend and his son. "I know you're tons better than my son, but I'm the coach of the all-star team and can't really not pick my son. Totes sorry!"

[sancarlos]

When I didn't make All Stars my last year of little league, despite having a 9-1 record on the mound and a .600 batting average.

Fuck you, Johnston!

On my last little league basketball team, I was finally the best player on the team along with my best friend at the time. We won the league championship pretty easily and each scored about 15 points a game which was a lot for a 6th grade team. The league would only take two kids from each team from the all-star game and the coach sat me down at our team party and said he was going with my friend and his son. "I know you're tons better than my son, but I'm the coach of the all-star team and can't really not pick my son. Totes sorry!"

My dad became the president of our Little League Majors division the same year I made majors (I was 11). Upon making the team, I quickly learned that one of our star players (a really nice kid) had been left of the all-star team of the prior year, supposedly because the kid's father didn't get along with the adults selecting the team (including my father's predecessor in his new job). I asked my dad about it as soon as I heard the rumors, and he said to me that he never heard anything about that. But, ten years later it came up in conversation, and my dad admitted he had fibbed to me. He said the incident did actually occur, and that was why the previous president of the Majors division had been removed before the next season. My dad was viewed as being impartial in the feud, so they asked him to take the job. Unfortunately, his son (me) missed the all-star team on merit.

[govmentchedda]

- Magic Johnson never had HIV; the whole thing was a massive publicity stunt to create awareness for AIDS. (I know this one is insanely dumb, but including it just because.)

I was on this corner for a long time.

[Pruitt]

Spurs missed out on Champions League in 2006 because someone poisoned their lasagna served at a team dinner the night before the last game of the season.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/footba ... oning.html

[That French Guy]

All Blacks were drugged before the 85 World Cup Final

The whole 95 WC was rigged for the Bocks. We had 3 tries ruled out in the semis and one SA player even admitted his was not valid.

[Pruitt]

FIFA rigged the 2002 World Cup in order to get South Korea into the Semi-Finals.

Their win against the Italians was a farce - handed the win by a ref who was suspended a few months later in his home country of Ecuador for 20 matches for incompetence (with hints of corruption). Three games after he returned from the suspension he was suspended again. He was later convicted of trying to smuggle heroin into the US.

But the worst was the Quarterfinal game against the Spanish a game where the officiating was so one-sided, the Telegraph had this to say:

Warning: do not cheer for South Korea. They have no right to be in a World Cup semi-final. Spain should be playing Germany in Seoul. The records say that the Koreans knocked out Spain in a penalty shoot-out in Gwangju on Saturday. The records are a lie and this tournament has descended into farce.

FIFA are asking a global audience to accept that human error was to blame for Spain having two legitimate goals disallowed in a match that was an affront to sport.

[wlu_lax6]

1988 Olympics. I remember watching this live and thinking how is that possible.

[degenerasian]

the 2002 World Cup the rigging allegations have always puzzled me.

Why rig it for the one co-host but not the other. While Korea were getting 'favors', the Japanese were helpless losing 1-0 to Turkey in a rainstorm.

And why not rig it all the way? Why stop at the semis? The Koreans got no favors against the Germans.

I didn't think the Korea-Italy game was that bad. It was an emotionally charged game with a boisterous crowd that any ref would have had trouble controlling. And no doubt this guy was an awful ref who could not handle this. This is the problem with World Cups, refs come from everywhere and are inexperienced. The Italians came out to try and physically intimidate the Koreans and the Korean retaliated. The penalty was a penalty (shirt-pull) and all yellow cards were valid in regulation. Other than the Totti red card in overtime for diving (come on, italians were known for diving back then), the other calls weren't outrageous. Also Hiddick outcoached Trap-San in the 2nd half. His 3 subs all made an impact, especially the bold move of taking off skipper-sweeper Hong for striker Hwang. Italy took off Del Piero for friggin Gattuso. Such a negative substitution.

I don't think that if something was rigged it would be left to that much chance. Korea had to score in the final minute on an Italian defensive error to force extra time against Italy and then had to survive overtime again Spain (the Spanish hit the post in overtime).

If games were rigged, they would be easy 2-0 wins with no risk.

[Pruitt]

The Roy Jones bout is one of the worst things I have ever seen. (In a sports sense...) The fix was most certainly in.

There were five goals scored against the South Koreans during the World Cup that were disallowed.

The Italian game was bad, but the Spanish game was just behind the Roy Jones outrage in my mind.Perhaps, not a conspiracy, but beyond an outrage.

[brian]

I wouldn't trust a result in a World Cup as far as I can throw Sepp Blatter. Because of the (relative) power an referee has in soccer it's ripe for corruption. That Italy-Australia game in the 2006 was shady as fuck (amongst others)

[degenerasian]

That whole World Cup was a disaster for referees. Who could forget the Americans being screwed in the QF with the German handball on the line.

[Joe K]

Bernie Sanders's supporters chanted "Free OJ" at Superbowl XXXV. Heard that in the politics thread...

[mister d]

"The Deflator" referred to deflating footballs.