Be honest: Do you think all professional sports are fixed?

[Paroxysm]

Some but not all, mainly....

Boxing
Sumo
Cricket
Soccer

 

[Hush]

I love how people think the NBA can be fixed. Any idiot can catch a ball & run with it. But very few can put that same ball through a small round basket 23 feet away.

it's not a question of whether these players can play the sport, sure we see them do that all the time, but its the question of "Are they being payed off to play the sport a certain way?". See its not whether they can do something but more would they do it for some other sort of motivation?

 

[Kriss_Kringle]

I think the lack of video evidence in football(soccer) makes it clear that games are fixed.You should see the mistakes refs make in my country(Romania).It's just mind blowing that they still allow them to referee but you get used to the corruption in football here.Thugs and gangsters own football clubs so you can imagine what happens when they come in front of the camera.

 

[B]

All? As in every single game/match/bout/race etc running? No, hell no.

Some instances? Yes. Hell yes.

People have been 'match fixing' for years & there have been plenty of cases of people being caught, there are bound to be a good few that have creeped under the radar. However in recent years sporting governing bodies & police keep more of a watchful eye on odd/bizzare betting patterns, which is the main reason for 'match fixing'.

 

[enterthemadness]

No, not all sports are fixed. Some teams or players on teams and what not may bet or try and fix games. Look at the current San Diego story coming out of the NCAA back from 2008 now.

 

[Gotham Knight]

Occasionally there will be a point shave scandal, but for the most part no.

 

[Spidey-Bat]

Only the NBA.

 

[Hush]

If somehow the Lakers and the Celtics make it to the Championship again, you know the NBA is fixed.

 

[Docker2.0]

I believe the NBA is. Not the players but some refs and Stern. I don't understand why they have 70 and 80 year old referees to call the games. Also people tend to overlook Donaghy or however you spell. They say the FBI didn't find anything but that's not true. And according other refs, they were more interested in Dick Bavetta than they were Tim. With that said, I don't think it's truly fixed, just made where superstars are made to succeed, even the league made ones......................Derrick Rose.

 

[JeetKuneDo]

I think most of them are clean.

The NBA is pretty dirty though. Not every game....but I've got eyes. There are even names for what happens.

1- "Star treatment". Everyone involved with the game knows about that. Somehow giving a player an advantage over other players isn't called "fixing games"....but it absolutely is. Any player who tried to get within 5 feet of Michael Jordan in the 90s in a close game knows all about that. Good luck beating a team with a great player and protection from the refs no matter how well you play that day.

2-"Home cooking". Is there any reason why a home team should get favorable calls? Nope. That's fixing games too.

3-"Playoff basketball". Is there a reason why the rules should be different once the playoffs start? Nope. But somehow, once the regular season ends, the same action is suddenly just "hard defense" instead of a "foul". Too bad for your team if it doesn't have some bruisers on the squad. Skills suddenly are secondary to a test of manhood.

4-Lakers/Kings '02 and Mavs/Heat '06. That's the most blatant fixing of series I've ever seen. The world noticed too. Ralph Nader even tried to have the NBA investigated after the Lakers/Kings series. And in '06, there was no way Stern was going to hand Mark Cuban that trophy. Dwayne Wade suddenly found out how easy the game is when you are treated like Michael Jordan by the refs.


The funny thing about the NBA is how fans used to say, "If it was fixed, a player, ref, coach, or owner would bust them! One of them would eventually have something to gain!" ....So what happens when a player, coach, or owner speaks up? They are fined and mocked. What happened when a ref spoke up? ....Well...the story then changed to "You can't trust him! He's got a book to sell!" So obviously nothing will convince some fans. But even Phil Jackson confirmed what happened in the '06 Finals:

"That Miami Finals really was a tough one to swallow," Jackson said before the Lakers won 96-91 on Saturday night in Dallas. "I think Wade averaged about 25 foul shots a game. You couldn't even touch him. That was really tough to swallow and I think he understood there's kind of a pecking order in this league and you keep your mouth shut at times.''

http://sports.espn.go.com/dallas/nba/news/story?id=6211182&campaign=rss&source=NBAHeadlines

Ironically, Phil was talking about how Cuban learned to keep his mouth shut by being punished in the '06 Finals. I noticed the Mavs were able to play some pretty hard defense on the Lakers during their series last week. They weren't allowed in the same zip code as Wade in '06. Maybe Phil just got the same treatment Cuban got in '06?

 

[Anubis]

Pfft.

 

[Docker2.0]

I think most of them are clean.

The NBA is pretty dirty though. Not every game....but I've got eyes. There are even names for what happens.

1- "Star treatment". Everyone involved with the game knows about that. Somehow giving a player an advantage over other players isn't called "fixing games"....but it absolutely is. Any player who tried to get within 5 feet of Michael Jordan in the 90s in a close game knows all about that. Good luck beating a team with a great player and protection from the refs no matter how well you play that day.

2-"Home cooking". Is there any reason why a home team should get favorable calls? Nope. That's fixing games too.

3-"Playoff basketball". Is there a reason why the rules should be different once the playoffs start? Nope. But somehow, once the regular season ends, the same action is suddenly just "hard defense" instead of a "foul". Too bad for your team if it doesn't have some bruisers on the squad. Skills suddenly are secondary to a test of manhood.

4-Lakers/Kings '02 and Mavs/Heat '06. That's the most blatant fixing of series I've ever seen. The world noticed too. Ralph Nader even tried to have the NBA investigated after the Lakers/Kings series. And in '06, there was no way Stern was going to hand Mark Cuban that trophy. Dwayne Wade suddenly found out how easy the game is when you are treated like Michael Jordan by the refs.


The funny thing about the NBA is how fans used to say, "If it was fixed, a player, ref, coach, or owner would bust them! One of them would eventually have something to gain!" ....So what happens when a player, coach, or owner speaks up? They are fined and mocked. What happened when a ref spoke up? ....Well...the story then changed to "You can't trust him! He's got a book to sell!" So obviously nothing will convince some fans. But even Phil Jackson confirmed what happened in the '06 Finals:

http://sports.espn.go.com/dallas/nba/news/story?id=6211182&campaign=rss&source=NBAHeadlines

Ironically, Phil was talking about how Cuban learned to keep his mouth shut by being punished in the '06 Finals. I noticed the Mavs were able to play some pretty hard defense on the Lakers during their series last week. They weren't allowed in the same zip code as Wade in '06. Maybe Phil just got the same treatment Cuban got in '06?

It's one of the reasons why I barely post in the NBA threads on here any more. It's hard to ignore somethings but as soon as you point somethings out, you are labelled a conspiracy theorist, no matter how blatant it is. Unless Stern comes out and say it's fixed some people won't believe no matter how obvious it is.

 

[Anubis]

But he hasn't come out and said it, because you are a crazy consperizee theorist.

 

[JeetKuneDo]

But he hasn't come out and said it, because you are a crazy consperizee theorist.

I do have an ex-ref, a coach, and an owner who agree with me though. (not to mention the other players and coaches who get fined the minute they open their mouth about it) The type of people that fan-defenders used to insist on having as proof.

There's a reason why the NBA is accused of this stuff FAR more than any other sport. The sport should be more popular than it is. I've heard some pundits defend "star treatment" by claiming the fans would not stand for it if the stars were sitting on the bench with 5-6 fouls. (Not knowing they just admitted the NBA fixes games)

The truth is that players will play by the rules when they have to. No player is going to keep fouling if the game is called properly. MJ would not have kept reaching in if he got called for doing it. They are smart enough to figure it out.

And a fairly called league would attract the number of fans the sport deserves. It's a crime that the NBA is mired back with baseball a mile behind the NFL. Stern probably believes he is helping the league with this stuff. Having so many fans that defend even the most obvious manipulation has got to embolden him.

 

[Anubis]

You got a coach who is butt hurt cuz he lost, a dirty ref trying to bring everybody else down with him, and, what Owner? Eh, doesn't matter really. Their words are tainted by bitter feelings. Get some independent study that says it's fixed, and I'll believe you, till then it is, and always will be the go to reason for why my team got their asses whipped.

 

[Blitzkrieg Bop]

I think Around The Horn might be fixed. That's it.

 

[JeetKuneDo]

You got a coach who is butt hurt cuz he lost, a dirty ref trying to bring everybody else down with him, and, what Owner? Eh, doesn't matter really. Their words are tainted by bitter feelings. Get some independent study that says it's fixed, and I'll believe you, till then it is, and always will be the go to reason for why my team got their asses whipped.

See? No matter who speaks up, they are "tainted". Of course Stern and his goons could not have a bias on this issue, right?

Fans believe what they have to believe. I highly doubt you would believe a study when you just discounted the greatest coach in NBA history.

You may want to check the date on Phil Jackson's comment before you invent a reason to not believe what he says. March. And he wasn't talking about himself anyway. He was talking about how Cuban (the owner) learned to keep his mouth shut after Stern's mafia fixed the '06 Finals.

 

[Anubis]

Okay. What are the styles for the foil hats this year?

 

[Ernie]

I think that the question is deeper than the obvious yes or no. There's no way to regulate sports in the NCAA or of the professional variety.

When you say fixed, do you imply that there's an aggregated conspiracy by leagues as a whole or do you infer that individual officials are corrupt?

I believe that collegiate level sporting events are corrupt in every way. I believe that high school players (football, basketball) are seduced with money, women, or the guarantee of such things to come and play for certain schools. I don't think that the major conferences could acquire a formidable percentage of elite players without recruiting violations.

Also, gambling plays a huge part in sports, so I wouldn't be surprised if a sole entity in either college or professional sports was betting on or individually fixing games. As a whole? No way. But having corrupt individuals take advantage of their position to capitalize? Yes, that is plausible and very likely imho.

Just a sidepoint: North American Professional Sports are the only legal financial monopoly in the country. They work together for the mutual benefits of each league but that's not cheating: that's innovative thinking to ensure long lasting and thriving businesses.

 

[The Incredible Hulk]

The NBA is completely rigged. You've only had 8 different teams win a title in the last 30 years (and two of them were only once MIA and PHI, so it's effectively 6 teams in 28 years):

1. Lakers
2. Bulls
3. Celtics
4. Spurs
5. Rockets
6. Pistons
7. Heat
8. Sixers

That's the worst record of parity in any major sport. And incidentally most of them coincide with major media markets or teams with marketable superstars.

I'd bet my last dime that whomever wins out of Heat/Bulls wins the title this year. No way the NBA let's Mark Cuban or a team from OKC win it all.

 

[Anubis]

That's because the big market teams can afford the talent. It's why the Yankees have so many titles.

One way to fix that would be a hard Cap. But it's not because of some grand conspiracy or whatever ever boos**t people can come up with to justify their crazy. Whoever has the most money usually wins.

Besides, The Spurs have four titles, and are a small market team. By that logic, Dallas should have gotten those four chips cuz Dalls is a larger market than San Antonio. I mean, even if you went by marketable super stars, Duncan is as dull as dishwater. Hell Dirk has more personality than him. Yet, not a single ring.

 

[JeetKuneDo]

Besides, The Spurs have four titles, and are a small market team. By that logic, Dallas should have gotten those four chips cuz Dalls is a larger market than San Antonio. I mean, even if you went by marketable super stars, Duncan is as dull as dishwater. Hell Dirk has more personality than him. Yet, not a single ring.

I think you are equating examples that indicate honesty with "the NBA has never rigged games".

Pointing out the Lakers/Kings and Mavs/Heat series doesn't mean every series was rigged....it means those two series were obviously rigged. It was the most blatant thing we've seen from a sport.

And you don't have to watch the league very long to see the stars getting special treatment from the refs. That one is common knowledge. I actually saw it written up on a basketball preview magazine in the mid-90s when they were talking about the strengths of the various teams. "And when it comes down to the final seconds, Jordan will get the calls...making the Bulls tough to beat in close games".

I was/am a Lakers fan....so I'll admit I wasn't outraged at Lakers/Kings....but it took away from the feeling you are supposed to get when your team wins. After Mavs/Heat though...I decided it wasn't worth dedicating a lot of time to. I don't want to watch a sport where some teams have no chance to win for the various reasons listed here.

 

[Immortalfire]

I paid the Hawks to blow it.

 

[DieSmiling]

Fixing sports on a large scale is pretty much impossible.

You can only call so many biased penalties/fouls before there's an uproar.

I think scenarios like the Lakers/Kings from early this decade is the closest we've had to "fixed" outcomes.

Besides, there are plenty of teams that would have had more success if it was all rigged. I assure you, if hockey was rigged San Jose and Tampa would not still be playing.

 

[DieSmiling]

The NBA is completely rigged. You've only had 8 different teams win a title in the last 30 years (and two of them were only once MIA and PHI, so it's effectively 6 teams in 28 years):

1. Lakers
2. Bulls
3. Celtics
4. Spurs
5. Rockets
6. Pistons
7. Heat
8. Sixers

That's the worst record of parity in any major sport. And incidentally most of them coincide with major media markets or teams with marketable superstars.

I'd bet my last dime that whomever wins out of Heat/Bulls wins the title this year. No way the NBA let's Mark Cuban or a team from OKC win it all.

That's because basketball is the most star driven sport. Only five guys are on the court at a time, and it's the only big four sport where a single player can legitimately take over a game.

If the NBA was that rigged the Knicks wouldn't have been a laughing stock for a decade, or gone 40 years without a title. It's the biggest basketball market in the country by a mile.