UPDATED INFORMATION: NFLRanking's YouTube account was closed by the NBA. Getting new information.
(Before I begin this third post as to why I became a sports conspiracy theorist: There is a quintessential series of videos on YouTube which chronicle the events (both of the 2002 NBA Western Conference Finals scam and of events leading up to this farce) I am about to describe better than anything I could ever do. It is called "The Greatest Tragedy in Sports" (of which this is the link to the first part of nine), by a person with the moniker "NFLRanking" (the NBA took down that account, it's now "NFLRankingDOTnet"). Watch it. Watch all of it. He then made a followup "The Making of the Greatest Tragedy in Sports", when he added a lot of what we have learned since.)
(The first series has nine parts, the second series has five. He also has a series of highlight videos of that 2002 Western Conference Final series. I will refer to these videos a number of times -- and he is to be commended for gathering as much information as he could.)
So now we fast-forward a little more than two years. The Patriots have been given another title with a late Vinatieri field goal (at least the non-credible Carolina Panthers were given the dignity of an attempt at running the kickoff back), Tom Brady might as well be on posters in every American city calling for the populace to be patriotic, and I'm continually getting sicker and sicker of the American sports scene.
What finally did it in, once and for all, was the actions of one David $tern. I will not give the man the intentional dignity of his correct last name, as I believe he is a white man marketing a black man's game (maybe not basketball in and of itself, but professional basketball in the Jordan era and post-Jordan era is clearly a black man's game), manipulating the results like a charlatan to line his own pockets.
And, yes, Mr. $tern, I do accuse you of a felony in all 50 states, to respond to your ESPN Radio comments about how much you do rig the games.
The NBA, of the major sports leagues, has always had the worst reputation of manipulating games. This reputation has went back for at least 25 years, if not more.
The first real public indication that David $tern had no interest in the integrity of sport was the creation of the NBA lottery and the execution of the first NBA lottery. The belief, in the league, was that the Houston Rockets were deliberately tanking their season to gain the draft rights (the NBA, before the lottery, had roughly the same system as the NFL, in that the worst team would be the #1 draft pick, etc.) to Hakeem Olajuwon.
Eventually, the Rockets would get him, and, largely as a result, get the two titles that Jordan "retired" to them.
Never mind that proof of such an allegation should be grounds for expulsion of the franchise from the league, $tern instead decides, knowing that the situation could even be worse the next year, to hold a lottery for the NBA Draft, the winning team getting the draft rights to Georgetown superstar Patrick Ewing.
The rest is shown in this clip of the 1985 Draft Lottery. On another different clip, the CBS announcer, just as the clips start, states the envelopes will be "gingerly placed" into a clear plastic drum, from which $tern will draw the team Ewing will play for.
ROTFLMAO!!!!
From the broadcast of the draft, it is clearly seen that the "certified accountant" throws all seven envelopes into the clear, plastic drum. He throws six of them in "flat", and the seventh (the fourth one placed in) appears to be dropped such that one corner hits the side of the drum.
Then the drum is rotated. $tern then goes over, and while looking at and into the clear plastic drum the entire time, draws an envelope that appears to have a "dinged" corner in it (0:46 of the Draft Lottery clip). It is for the Knicks, and Patrick Ewing makes the Knicks a relevant team for a long and illustrious career.
(There was a clip in the "Greatest Tragedy" series which even zooms in on that corner before $tern draws the envelope, but the other clip actually shows the envelope with the "dinged" corner being drawn. The clip has been removed from YouTube again for the use of "Money" by EMI.)
What $tern then did over the next 15 years with one Michael Jordan merits it's own blog. In fact, I believe it has one (The "Jordon Haters' Society"). So let's skip forward to the 2002 Western Conference Finals, an NBA Scripted Production.
Los Angeles Lakers vs. Sacramento Kings
Sacramento, in fact, has the higher seed and the home-court advantage in the series.
But the Lakers have Shaq and Kobe.
Want to know how important that is?
I'm going to give you a list of names.
Larry Bird
Magic Johnson
Julius Erving (have to include him: without him, there's no ABA-NBA merger)
Bad Boys Pistons
Michael Jordan
Hakeem Olajuwon
Tim Duncan
Kobe Bryant
Shaquille O'Neal
There's your NBA of the last 30 years. That accounts (even the Pistons' win and the Celtics' win in the last decade was more "against Kobe", when the NBA could not trust Kobe with the title, because of the Eagle, CO allegations) for every NBA championship of the last 30 years.
As Brian Tuohy so well points out, the NBA has made it's reputation the creation and "marketing of heroes". So the NBA attempts to basically make most of the other teams the theoretical equivalent of the Washington Generals.
The NBA had already been involved in tampering the Lakers to the previous two NBA titles.
But the 2002 Western Conference Finals took that to a whole new dimension, because Shaq and Kobe had to be the "heroes" to go along with Duncan in the post-Jordan era.
The Kings were up 3 games to 2 heading into the pivotal Game 6 in Los Angeles. The Lakers actually took home-court in game 1, only to lose it back in game 3.
Game 4 had the first huge controversy, as Samaki Walker of the Lakers, after time clearly expires, heaved a 30-foot shot which was allowed to count. The Kings would've went into the locker room up 17 points at that point, but the three-pointer started a furious rally that eventually allowed the Lakers to win the game -- by one point.
(I have strived long and hard to find a clip of this, and finally did. NFLRanking's dramatic highlight clips of the 2002 Western Conference Finals show CLEARLY that the shot was after the buzzer.) (Check at the 4:32-4:33 mark. It's as clear as day -- you stop the clip at the instant the clock in the background hits 00.0, and the ball is still in his hands.)
Combined with Sacramento's victory in game 5, the Kings have already won the series, in fact if not on the scoreboard, once already.
Part Six shows a litany of bad calls against the Kings in Game 6.
But the one that clinched my theory that meaningful sporting events are scripted is one of the most flagrant acts of intentional referee malfeasance I have ever seen.
It's at the end of the Part Six clip. The Lakers are inbounding, leading by a point, with just 12 seconds remaining, under their offensive basket. In fighting his way through the defense of Mike Bibby, Kobe Bryant (one of the NBA's "heroes") deliberately throws a flagrant elbow to his face.
At the start of Part Seven, you see Referee #27 looking RIGHT AT IT!!
Such a foul would've carried the following penalty:
-- The Sacramento Kings would've been awarded two free throws.
-- As well as possession of the ball, due to the flagrant nature of the foul.
-- Kobe Bryant would've been disqualified from the contest for "intent to injure".
-- Bryant, if the league had any scruples at all, would've been suspended even if there were a Game 7.
The Lakers eventually win the game by four points.
They win the series, as Sacramento, seeing the writing on the wall after they won the series once and probably twice, lays down in game seven.
If you need to know why I am a sports conspiracy theorist, watch the clips again.
And if you still need to know, again...
(This doesn't even get into the absolute proof which has been provided Federal authorities, during the Donaghy investigation, that NBA referees were manipulating contests.)
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