I've got my list together for the Top 10 Most Rigged Single Events in my opinion. I can tell you right now that #1 on that list is something Brian did not touch on his list. We'll see if he does an obvious case in the same sport here.
But, some commentary on Brian's Top 10 Most Rigged Events (Season, Streak, or Series Edition):
#10: #HoustonStrong: The 2017 Houston Astros
Kinda in the same vein of what Brian chose as #1 on the individual game list, but this was blatant. Do not be surprised, however, if I go another direction and meld this into a larger context not for the team that won it, but a consistent, years-long vendetta against the team which lost it!
#9: Hell Freezes Over, NBA Division: Mark Cuban Finally Gets A Championship. The 2011 NBA Finals.
I, if I really wanted to do so, would go, more, the entire 2011 NBA playoffs, where one homophobic slur by Kobe Bryant got rid of one top candidate, and a second homophobic slur by Joakim Noah got rid of a second candidate.
And, at that point, I would not be surprised if the league shrugged it's shoulders, said "Fuck it.", and finally got Mark Cuban a ring.
#8: Ronda Rousey. All of it.
The entire Ronda Rousey mystique is placed at this spot on the list. I can't say I agree, though I would state openly I think it was the infancy of women's mixed martial arts, more than an active rigging, which helped Rousey -- and once people caught up, you have the results which have taken place since.
Ironically, the first to defeat Rousey (striking specialist Holly Holm) has a title shot at the next PPV.
#7: 2001 Eastern Conference Finals: Milwaukee vs. Philadelphia.
Another series which it does appear that the small-market team was not only beaten, but rendered irrelevant for many years (The Greek Freak may finally be changing that nearly two decades hence!!!), and a major player and the coach of the Bucks stated openly the league wanted a larger market against LA...
And if that one was on the list, you can bet the next year's Western finals will be somewhere higher!
#6: Tebowmania. All of it.
Yep. And I remember more than a couple late Sundays, where, after the recycling run, it would be about two minutes to go in the fourth quarter and here's Tebow!!!
If you want a primer as to how you get an NFL storyline going in completely rigged fashion, visit this phenomena.
#5: The entire New England Patriots dynasty.
If you want me to count that here, that's probably either #1 or #2.
Reason is that it's the first real dynasty where political ends are also melded in, with the white quarterback seen as above drugs by no less than the President -- and if you are a Patriot, you too are a CHAMPION!!!!
That the Patriots have been so central to the entire NFL experience since the Tuck Rule, it does raise a question, on any number of grounds, as to the rigging of at least half of the Super Bowls of that era. The six wins, the loss to Philly (which I still think Belichick threw as a message as to who was really in charge of the Patriots), the Tampa-Oakland game to pay back The Tuck Rule for both team and coach...
#4: #BostonStrong: 2013 Boston Red Sox.
I'd add the 2018 title to it too, with a note of the same screwjobbery their opponents have had to suffer. Do not be fooled that the Dodgers are the best team in baseball on July 4th. It won't be allowed to last because Rob Manfred hates West Coast Baseball about as much as he hates pitching.
#3: Leicester City's shock title.
Have to agree with this for the same reason that I still think that whole Man City-QPR game was fixed: Many leagues, especially in soccer, get away with being 1-4 team leagues with a bunch of also-rans filling the table.
Giving a title like this to Leicester City, which has seen nothing of it's like, raises all ships in the top division.
#2: LeBron Finally Wins One For Cleveland: The 2016 NBA Finals
I really think this is where the league finally got sick of the Warriors' bullshit.
I mean, consider: As shitty as the Warriors have conducted themselves the last few years, if the league didn't grease the skids in that series, the Warriors probably are on four-peat and the league even more mired in tanking, etc., as the time goes on.
#1: #VegasStrong: The Expansion Golden Knights
That's going to be a tough one for me to displace. If I had to move it off #1, it would be because the league, and smartly, pulled the plug at the last so Ovechkin could finally touch the Cup.
I still believe, to this day, we got too close to the concept of crazed fans creating #[Their city here]Strong moments so a championship could follow...
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