section122 Posted June 13, 2012 Share Posted June 13, 2012 Just an interesting read here. Not too much that isn't already known and kind of a long read but an excellent article. Makes you think for sure.... http://www.thepostgame.com/blog/hruby-tuesday/201205/conspiracy-theory-david-stern-michael-phelps-patrick-ewing-michael-jordan So what is your favorite conspiracy or one that you think for sure happened? I'm a Lakers fan and that game 6 stunk to me at the time (not that I was upset by it ), also the draft lotto this year where the league owned team won the first pick was fishy. As for football I'll stick to the idea that there was more to the spygate story than was let on and that it was no coincedence the Patriots* won the super bowl after 9-11. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mrags Posted June 13, 2012 Share Posted June 13, 2012 Wow. Just wow. I too agree that the Patriots winning the SB after 9-11 is no coincidence. Among others. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Poojer Posted June 13, 2012 Share Posted June 13, 2012 just to be clear...tom benson bought the hornets from the nba in march or april... Just an interesting read here. Not too much that isn't already known and kind of a long read but an excellent article. Makes you think for sure.... http://www.thepostgame.com/blog/hruby-tuesday/201205/conspiracy-theory-david-stern-michael-phelps-patrick-ewing-michael-jordan So what is your favorite conspiracy or one that you think for sure happened? I'm a Lakers fan and that game 6 stunk to me at the time (not that I was upset by it ), also the draft lotto this year where the league owned team won the first pick was fishy. As for football I'll stick to the idea that there was more to the spygate story than was let on and that it was no coincedence the Patriots* won the super bowl after 9-11. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
section122 Posted June 13, 2012 Author Share Posted June 13, 2012 just to be clear...tom benson bought the hornets from the nba in march or april... Yes he did however the sale is still not final. The purchase agreement was signed but the process is still under way. http://www.thepostgame.com/blog/hruby-tuesday/201205/conspiracy-theory-david-stern-michael-phelps-patrick-ewing-michael-jordan The conspiracy theory (not that I buy it) was that the #1 pick was part of the deal for Benson to buy the team. The draft lotto does have a rather fishy (or convenient or coincedental) history though. From Ewing to the knicks, to the Magic getting the #1 pick (traded it and ended with Hardaway), chicago winning when d rose (local kid) was in the draft, to last year when cleveland won the lotto (after losing LeBron who they won the rights to draft in another "coincidence", and this year. I don't get the idea for the lotto other than to prevent teams from tanking (which they still do anyway) Again not sure where I fall on this but the NFL and NBA sure do get some juicy stories at just the right time. With billions at stake I wouldn't be shocked if sports were rigged just very saddened. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KD in CA Posted June 13, 2012 Share Posted June 13, 2012 I've always assumed the NBA was a rigged league, especially in regard to the draft (Ewing to NY, Bird/Magic to Bos/LA, Jordan to Chicago). Later, Tim Donaghy gave away the playbook for how games are fixed by the refs. btw, I happened to see the NBA draft lottery this year and noticed they don't even bother with the pretense of the drum any longer -- the 'drawing' is done backstage. It stands to reason that other sports have had such improprieties as well, although highly doubtful it comes anywhere near the extent of the NBA. Still, games like the SB40 have to make you consider the possibility when the refs so heavily factor into a game with ridiculously phantom calls ('15 yards penalty for tackling a Steeler'). Other sports have such long histories of manipulated results I wouldn't even call them conspiracies. Boxing is the most obvious, as well as the Olympics (which is not so much rigged for an outcome as it is influenced by global politics in those sports that have judges). Watching Olympic figure skating during the Cold War was almost comical. On Spygate? I don't think there was much else to report. Yes, the Pats taped opponents and used it to gain a huge advantage in their Super Bowls. Had Belichick does this further back to his NYG days? Who knows, but that was ancient history by then. To me that was more a case of the NFL making the wise business move of not wanting to tarnish their brand and embarrass their league any more than necessary. The Pats and Belichick were in fact heavily punished. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Max997 Posted June 13, 2012 Share Posted June 13, 2012 (edited) The NBA draft lottery has been fixed from the start with the Knicks conveniently getting the top pick in order to draft Ewing If it wasn't fixed they would do the actual drawing live Edited June 13, 2012 by Max997 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mrags Posted June 13, 2012 Share Posted June 13, 2012 To top all this off. I didn't listen to it, caught his show right after but Stern went postal on Jim Rome apparently today after he asked him about this years lottery. I've heard Stern in Rome before, they seemed to have a good relationship and he does at least one interview every year. Why the flip out this time? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Meathead Posted June 13, 2012 Share Posted June 13, 2012 The Pats and Belichick were in fact heavily punished. you gotta be freakin kidding me Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PromoTheRobot Posted June 13, 2012 Share Posted June 13, 2012 There was a time once when being clean and above-board mattered. I have a hunch that if it came out now that most pro/major college sports were rigged people would just accept it. PTR Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
section122 Posted June 13, 2012 Author Share Posted June 13, 2012 To top all this off. I didn't listen to it, caught his show right after but Stern went postal on Jim Rome apparently today after he asked him about this years lottery. I've heard Stern in Rome before, they seemed to have a good relationship and he does at least one interview every year. Why the flip out this time? http://deadspin.com/5918141/david-stern-asked-jim-rome-have-you-stopped-beating-your-wife-yet-as-todays-interview-turned-ugly rather interesting response by Stern. I'm sure he's sick of the question but I think the problem is that the idea exists and so many people accept it as fact. Much like promo mentioned and I alluded to earlier at this point in time if it was fixed people wouldn't be shocked. An interesting article I found on the opposite side of a conspiracy theory and the convenience of them: http://deadspin.com/5914370/no-matter-who-wins-the-nba-draft-lottery-is-fixed Math is hard and sometimes counterintuitive. There's a three-in-four chance the team with the worst record doesn't land the first pick, but it's still technically an upset when they don't. At Grantland, they've chosen five teams that, if they win the lottery tonight, would be evidence of a conspiracy. Those five teams' odds add up to better than 43 percent, so it would be almost as much of a surprise if one of those five teams didn't win. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Max997 Posted June 13, 2012 Share Posted June 13, 2012 An easy fix for the NBA if they are so worried about tanking would be to do away with the lottery and give the top pick to the team with the second worst record instead of the first Obviously not perfect but what is Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
billsfan89 Posted June 13, 2012 Share Posted June 13, 2012 I don't have an issue with the NBA lottery as a concept, but the worst teams odds should be much higher than 25%, for having the worst record you should at least have a 40% shot at the top pick. Do I think that the lottery is fixed? Not at all. The San Antonio Spurs have won the lottery twice and as a result ended with two hall of fame players in Robinson and Duncan. Plenty of other ****ty market teams have won the lottery like the Clippers, Nets, Hornets, Cleveland, Toronto, and Bucks have all won the lottery sometimes even on multiple occasions. Yes you do have situations where players go to big markets like Rose to Chicago, but at random that stuff does happen. The NBA I do believe will rig games to get finals matchups it wants but I think the lottery is legit if you look at its history, although I wouldn't be surprised if you told me that they did rig it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Malazan Posted June 13, 2012 Share Posted June 13, 2012 "NFL Players' Association spent $12,000 on paper shredding last year, destroying roughly 62 tons of documents. Sixty-two tons." Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Buftex Posted June 13, 2012 Share Posted June 13, 2012 (edited) I've always assumed the NBA was a rigged league, especially in regard to the draft (Ewing to NY, Bird/Magic to Bos/LA, Jordan to Chicago). Later, Tim Donaghy gave away the playbook for how games are fixed by the refs. btw, I happened to see the NBA draft lottery this year and noticed they don't even bother with the pretense of the drum any longer -- the 'drawing' is done backstage. It stands to reason that other sports have had such improprieties as well, although highly doubtful it comes anywhere near the extent of the NBA. Still, games like the SB40 have to make you consider the possibility when the refs so heavily factor into a game with ridiculously phantom calls ('15 yards penalty for tackling a Steeler'). Other sports have such long histories of manipulated results I wouldn't even call them conspiracies. Boxing is the most obvious, as well as the Olympics (which is not so much rigged for an outcome as it is influenced by global politics in those sports that have judges). Watching Olympic figure skating during the Cold War was almost comical. On Spygate? I don't think there was much else to report. Yes, the Pats taped opponents and used it to gain a huge advantage in their Super Bowls. Had Belichick does this further back to his NYG days? Who knows, but that was ancient history by then. To me that was more a case of the NFL making the wise business move of not wanting to tarnish their brand and embarrass their league any more than necessary. The Pats and Belichick were in fact heavily punished. The Magic to the Lakers and Bird to the Celtics thing weren't really shady. Not sure where that comes from. Bird was drafted, by the Celtics in 1978, with the 6th pick in the draft. He still had a year of college hoops eligibility, which he exorcised. The Celtics were really bad (32-50), and took a gamble, using their first pick, on a guy that wasn't going to play for them, for another year. Just a smart move on their part. They knew it was a high risk, high reward thing, and it paid off. As Red Aurbach said at the time, he knew Bird was draft eligible, and didn't think there was anyone in the draft that year that would help his team more than Bird would in another year. As for Magic Johnson, the New Orleans Jazz signed Gail Goodrich as a free agent, from the Lakers, in 1977. As compensation, pre-agreed upon the Jazz agreed to give up their first round pick in the 1979 draft...as luck had it, they finished with what would have been the first pick in the draft...as they finished with the worst record in the NBA. That pick was, Magic Johnson. Remember, this was before the NBA started the lottery...that didn't happen until 1985. As for Jordan and Ewing, remember, the Houston Rockets and Portland Trailblazers had a chance to take Jordan, and passed. Nobody could have predicted that Jordan, who was kind of a late bloomer, would be as good as he was. As for Ewing to the Knicks...I dunno...if Stern and company have gone out of their way to make so many things happen, as it is alleged, and they made sure that Ewing went to the Knicks, why not assure that he won a ring somewhere along the way? Edited June 13, 2012 by Buftex Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
brenty Posted June 13, 2012 Share Posted June 13, 2012 this post will disappear and section122 will be banded in 3...2...1... coverup Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MattM Posted June 14, 2012 Share Posted June 14, 2012 I've always assumed the NBA was a rigged league, especially in regard to the draft (Ewing to NY, Bird/Magic to Bos/LA, Jordan to Chicago). Later, Tim Donaghy gave away the playbook for how games are fixed by the refs. btw, I happened to see the NBA draft lottery this year and noticed they don't even bother with the pretense of the drum any longer -- the 'drawing' is done backstage. It stands to reason that other sports have had such improprieties as well, although highly doubtful it comes anywhere near the extent of the NBA. Still, games like the SB40 have to make you consider the possibility when the refs so heavily factor into a game with ridiculously phantom calls ('15 yards penalty for tackling a Steeler'). Other sports have such long histories of manipulated results I wouldn't even call them conspiracies. Boxing is the most obvious, as well as the Olympics (which is not so much rigged for an outcome as it is influenced by global politics in those sports that have judges). Watching Olympic figure skating during the Cold War was almost comical. On Spygate? I don't think there was much else to report. Yes, the Pats taped opponents and used it to gain a huge advantage in their Super Bowls. Had Belichick does this further back to his NYG days? Who knows, but that was ancient history by then. To me that was more a case of the NFL making the wise business move of not wanting to tarnish their brand and embarrass their league any more than necessary. The Pats and Belichick were in fact heavily punished. It's interesting that you pick the Stillers for the biased officiating and then give the Cheats* a pass on Spygate, when it's been the Pats* who've benefitted by far the most from poor officiating over the last decade or so, to the point where it's not even close.... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DC Tom Posted June 14, 2012 Share Posted June 14, 2012 http://deadspin.com/5918141/david-stern-asked-jim-rome-have-you-stopped-beating-your-wife-yet-as-todays-interview-turned-ugly rather interesting response by Stern. I'm sure he's sick of the question but I think the problem is that the idea exists and so many people accept it as fact. Much like promo mentioned and I alluded to earlier at this point in time if it was fixed people wouldn't be shocked. An interesting article I found on the opposite side of a conspiracy theory and the convenience of them: http://deadspin.com/5914370/no-matter-who-wins-the-nba-draft-lottery-is-fixed Math is hard and sometimes counterintuitive. There's a three-in-four chance the team with the worst record doesn't land the first pick, but it's still technically an upset when they don't. At Grantland, they've chosen five teams that, if they win the lottery tonight, would be evidence of a conspiracy. Those five teams' odds add up to better than 43 percent, so it would be almost as much of a surprise if one of those five teams didn't win. If statistics made sense at a "gut" level, casino gambling wouldn't exist. An easy fix for the NBA if they are so worried about tanking would be to do away with the lottery and give the top pick to the team with the second worst record instead of the first Obviously not perfect but what is And if you add complexity to a process, it provides more opportunity to corrupt it (or for people to perceive it as corrupt). The NBA Lottery system may as well have been designed to feed conspiracy theories. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BuffaloFan68 Posted June 14, 2012 Share Posted June 14, 2012 I am a firm believer that all professional sports are rigged. The pat cheats should be stripped of their super bowl titles! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mrags Posted June 14, 2012 Share Posted June 14, 2012 I am a firm believer that all professional sports are rigged. The pat cheats should be stripped of their super bowl titles! I can get behind this theory. Here's some examples in sports: Football: Cheatriots, Steelers Superbowl on Bettis' big stage and boning Holmgren, Saints after Katrina, Pats after 9/11, Pats SB against the Eagles when McNabb was "huffing and puffing" with just a few minutes left in the biggest game of his life, Pats even making thier first SB after tuck rule, Music City Miracle, etc... Hockey: I don't follow much but it's not even arguable when you talk about Hull in the crease. I'm sure there are others. Basketball: Ewing draft, Jordan retirement in his prime both on the court and his gambling career, Multiple lottery picks, Lebron James both going to and leaving Cleveland, Bosh going to Miami with Lebron and Wade, Howard trade being turned down, Cleveland getting another Lottery pick, Rose a hometown Chicago boy, Melow and the Knicks along with other pickups to NY. Baseball: do I really need to bring up that Baseball as a while completely allowed and probably encouraged steroids to bring up fhe home run totals so they could revive the league. It's a shame that now baseball is turning a shoulder to those same players. Sosa, McGuire if he didn't retire, Bonds, Clemmons. Bonds was a GREAT player even before the roids. He probably won't make the HOF now and that's a shame. AutoRacing: I don't know enough but someone before brought up Dale JR winning the big race a year after his fathers dead. Cmon. The guy sucks and hasn't won squat before or since. He's the Sanchez of NASCAR. Good enough to steal some face time, but not even close to the good racers. Let's not even get into Jimmy Johnson winning like 6 straight championships. Boxing: good lord, this isn't even in existance anymore but there is no other sport or competition where a fix can be made so easily. Even as losers these guys were making millions and millions. They can make up the difference in taking a fall and betting against themselves by not winning. Olympics: Ben Johnson, Flo-Jo, Phelps, Carl Lewis, Michael Johnson, etc... I dont know about anyting else but competitive frisbee, curling is getting out of control. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
drinkTHEkoolaid Posted June 14, 2012 Share Posted June 14, 2012 It is an interesting article if you read it with an open mind Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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