Every serious sports lover is a press cabal theorist . When your squad loses the championship game on a tough call , some pocket-sized part of you wonder if the ref were n’t paid off . Another small part of you — the angrier , more obnoxious part — might even scrawl unfounded accusations all over the net .
Sports conspiracy theory have existed for ten — hockeyfanatics in Toronto still gripe about Ottawa players supposedly salt the ice in a Stanley Cup game more than100 year ago — but the net had thrown natural gas on the confederacy fervidness [ source : MacGregor ] .
Take the 2015Super Bowlas one beam example [ source : Curtis ] :
Not all sports conspiracy theories are wholly nuts , though . Over the decades , some of the most outlandish ones have proven to be absolutely true . We ’ve collected a tilt of 10 crazy - sounding sports conspiracies that are entirely plausible .
10: Sonny Liston and the ‘Phantom Punch’
On May 25 , 1965 , the heavyweightboxingchampionship of the world was decided in a lilliputian arena in Lewiston , Maine . The bout was a rematch between the brash young motormouthMuhammad Aliand the former champion Sonny Liston . A year in the first place , Ali has shocked the worldly concern by stealing the title from Liston , who failed to return from a 7th - circular shoulder injury .
In the first circle of this second title fight , Ali display his notorious delicacy , bouncing light - footed around the ring while the short , slurred Liston lunge with jabs and body boast . As Liston leaned in for a left field to Ali ’s nerve , the champ dodged and landed a glancing right bait to Liston ’s head , and the big man goes down . But he ’s fix up , right ? No ? What !
Ali ’s half - hearted right hook became instantly make out as the " phantom punch " and Liston ’s collapse was dismissed as a dive . Sadly , the accusal were likely true . Liston had a profoundly troubled life — born into extreme impoverishment , illiterate , in and out of gaol for looting and ravishment — and he was get by by Man with be intimate Mafia sleeper [ source : Puma ] .
Years subsequently , Liston deny that the mob fixed the battle , but blamed his obvious dive on Ali ’s association with the Black Muslims .
" That bozo [ Ali ] was crazy , " Liston tolda Sports Illustrated reporter . " I did n’t need anything to do with him . And the Muslims were derive up . Who needed that ? So I run low down . I was n’t hit . "
9: Michael Jordan’s ‘Flu Game’
Michael Jordanis one of most heralded athletes in the history of sports , and perhaps his greatest performance come on the night of June 11 , 1997 , when he combat back from a incapacitating case of intestinal flu to run his Chicago Bulls to triumph in Game 5 of the NBA championship series against the Utah Jazz . At least that ’s the story we ’ve always heard .
Jordan ’s personal trainer , Tim Grover , told ESPN ’s TruHoops TV in 2013 , that Jordan was n’t stomach from the flu that night , but a calculated grammatical case offood toxic condition .
The Bulls were stay at a hotel in small - town Park City , Utah , where everybody would have known their fix . It was late at dark and Jordan let hungry , so they ordered a pizza . " Fiveguys came to deport this pizza , " Grover aver [ source : Abbott ] .
Jordan ’s flight simulator was straight off suspicious , but the basketball game caption could n’t resist a few slices . In the midriff of the night , Grover got a delirious phone call to add up to Jordan ’s elbow room . The title-holder was curl up in the fetal stead , shaking with fever , sicker than he had ever been in his life [ source : Weinberg ] .
The squad doctors distinguish Jordan he would have to miss the next night ’s game against the Jazz , but the relentless competitor hit into the gym just hours before tip - off . Visibly weak , Jordan mustered the specialty to score 38 head in the Bull ’s 90 - 87 victory .
Whether an enteric flu or intentional food poisoning , Jordan simply could n’t be stopped . The Bulls go to win the NBA championship in Game 6 .
8: The ‘Shot Heard ‘Round the World’ Was a Cheat
It ’s the most renowned homerun in baseball game history . In the 9th inning of the final playoff game between the 1951 New York Giants and their archrival Brooklyn Dodgers , Giants outfielder Bobby Thomson crack a three - run homer , clinch the backup claim in front of a home TV audience .
" The Giants succeed the pennant ! The Giants make headway the pennant ! The Giants win the pennant ! The Giants win the waft ! " screamed radio announcer Russ Hodges as Thomson rounded the bases into a multitude of rapturous mate .
But was Thomson ’s historical blast — dub the " shot heard ' round the cosmos " — the result of epic gymnastic skill or something far less heroical ? accord to several noted sports diary keeper , the 1951 Giants were experts in the art of star sign - stealing , intercepting the opposing backstop ’s signs — fastball , curve clump , slider — and tip off the batter [ source : Goldstein ] .
In Joshua Prager ’s ledger " The Echoing Green , " the Wall Street Journal sport newsperson confirmed that Giants ' coach Herman Franks would use atelescopeto steal the sign from a center field club , then relay the info via a buzzer organisation to the detention centre , where another player would give a signaling to the hitter [ source : Miller ] .
The practice of sign - steal — widespread throughout the major league , then and now — is not formally illegal , but it ’s underhand at well . Thomson admit that the Giants routinely stole preindication , but refuse being tilt off to the fastball that became the " shot try round the mankind " [ source : Goldstein ] .
7: Michael Phelps’ ‘Golden Touch’
Olympic bather Michael Phelps ' phonograph recording - give away performance in the 2008 Beijing Games — eight goldmedals , the most first - stead finishes in any Olympian summercater , ever — was the sport storyline of the year .
Adding to the excitation was the story of his seventh gold of the game . Phelps ' ride an impossible comeback , surging from several lengths behind in the 100 - measure butterfly to refer the wall exactly 0.01 of a second before Serbia ’s Milorad Cavic .
Or did he ?
Watching the picture replay frame by underframe , it looks like Cavic has the clear lead within inches of attain the wall . But then Phelps manages one last half - passado as Cavic glides to what he believes is guaranteed gold . Did Phelps ' outsized hand really reach the wall first ?
Conspiracy theorist argue that too much history was riding on Phelps ' victory to allow an upset , and that since Phelps was a representative for Omega , the official timekeeper of the event , something was fishy with the clock [ informant : Klein ] . Another theory says that Phelps ' warm push to the wall caused a wave of weewee to hit the pinch lodgings , do it to conceive contact had been made . Omega said that was out of the question [ origin : Fanning ] . Suspiciously , no official photos were released by Olympian officials of the purportedly " photo " finish .
Serbian Olympic official briefly protested , but Cavic , for his part , was a gracious silver medal winner , blogging " there ’s nothing wrong with losing to the enceinte bather there has ever been " [ source : Mackey ] .
6: Bobby Riggs Deliberately Lost the ‘Battle of the Sexes’
On Sept. 20 , 1973 , more than 50 million Americans tune in to see a tennis match . It was n’t the final examination of Wimbledon or the U.S. Open . It was a competition between one of the majuscule female lawn tennis musician of her prison term , 29 - year - former Billie Jean King , and a 55 - year - old braggart and former tennis majuscule name Bobby Riggs [ source : Van Natta , Jr. ] .
Dubbed the " Battle of the Sexes , " the circus - like tennis lucifer was shamelessly elevate by Riggs as definitive trial impression that men were better at sports thanwomen , at any historic period and at any level of sport .
The King mates was actually the second " conflict of the Sexes . " Four months earlier , Riggs had flat out defeat the No . 1 female tennis player in universe , Margaret Court [ source : Roberts ] . But unlike Court , who underestimated the political consequences of the equal , King vowed to break down Riggs and his low - minded jingoism once and for all .
And that ’s just what she did , thoroughly demoralizing Riggs in three straight set . Riggs , who had played so strategically during his match with Court , lob shot after shot directly into King ’s red zone . It was almost as if he had given up .
Or was that his design all along ?
accord to a revelatory 2013 article by ESPN ’s " Outside the Lines , " Riggs organise the Battle of the Sexes — and intentionally threw it — to free himself fromgamblingdebts . Indebted to the mob for $ 100,000 , Riggs assure a Vegas - character spectacle that would garner his Mafia creditor millions by betting against him [ source : Van Natta , Jr. ] . Although he was a serious gambler , Riggs deny throw the match .
5: Curt Schilling’s ‘Bloody Sock’
The championship journeying of the 2004 Boston Red Sox is one of the great stories in the chronicle of American sport . Dogged by the " Curse of the Bambino , " the Red Sox entered the 2004 postseason without a World Series form of address in 86 age . Down by three game to the hate New York Yankees in the American League Championship Series ( ALCS ) , the Red Sox mounted a miraculous comeback .
Against incredible odds , the Red Sox would go on to win the pennant and then the 100th World Series , lifting the expletive forever . And the abiding symbol of Boston ’s severe - nosed gritrock and spirit was , yes , a bloody windsock .
Curt Schilling , Boston ’s 1 starting motor , suffered anankle injurythat required last - minute surgery before his appearance in Game 6 of the ALCS . As Schilling pitch his way of life to five strikeouts and only one run in seven innings , the TV camera returned again and again to his right air-sleeve , stain near the ankle joint with an amoeba of blood .
Schilling went on to bloody a 2nd sock in Game 2 of the World Series against the St. Louis Cardinals , prompting charge of showmanship . Schilling was hardly a media pet , and commentator and columnists openly speculate that Schilling had repair the wind sock with ketchup or paint to inflate his own heroic verse [ source : Wilbur ] .
Whether truthful blood or Heinz , the flaming wind cone is part of baseball caption . The second sock latterly trade at auction for more than $ 92,000 [ source : Ly ] . You want fries with that ?
4: NBA Teams ‘Tank’ for Better Draft Picks
Every June , the owners and coaches of the National Basketball Association ( NBA ) gather to enlist the in effect college players . To make the draught fair — and to improve the overall quality of the teams — the NBA instituted a lottery system in which the humiliated graded teams received better betting odds of down a top prospect . In fact , the cabaret with the very worst record book in the NBA has a 25 percent chance of arrest the No . 1 draft pickax [ root : Petchesky ] .
The unintended result of the drawing system is the far-flung tactic of " tanking , " or losing games on design so as to finish the time of year with the worst record in the league . Tanking is less of a cabal hypothesis and more of a in full accept fact of NBA life . No one is surprised when a lousy squad starts benching its best players with questionable " groin wound " once it ’s mathematically impossible for them to make the playoff [ source : Kang ] .
NBA commissioner Adam Silver flatly deny that tanking exists , arguing that no NBA coach or player is " get going out there to lose " [ reservoir : Shelburne ] . skillful try , Silver . Even the fans of NBA teams get in on the act , actively rooting against their team — it ’s call " fantanking " — and wearing " Please Lose ! " shirt to games [ rootage : NBAtanking.com ] .
3: Wayne Gretzky and ‘The Trade’
Aug. 9 , 1988 is a day that will live in infamy … in Canada , at least . Known across the frozen due north as " The Trade , " that was the fatal sidereal day that Canadian hockey caption Wayne Gretzky was traded aside from the Edmonton Oilers — a team he had conduct to four Stanley Cup victories in five time of year — to the Los Angeles queen [ source : Fitz - Gerald ] .
In a press conference announcing the deal , Gretzky looked visibly distraught about the craft . The conspiracy possibility flowed like a river of Labatt Blue , but the lead contender was that the NHL forced the trade to breathe life back into U.S. ice hockey [ author : Wenger and Cook ] . Either that , or Gretzky ’s wife — actress Janet Jones of " Police Academy 5 : Assignment : Miami Beach " — want to try her hand at Hollywood [ root : Fitz - Gerald ] .
The more likely scenario is that the Oilers management knew they were going to drop off Gretzky to barren agency very soon , so they chose to cash in in while they still could . In rally for Gretzky and two other histrion , the Kings ponied up two actor , three first - daily round draft picks , and $ 15 million pay straight to Peter Pocklington , the Oilers ' owner [ sources : Fitz - Gerald , Piercy ] .
Gretzky did , indeed , breathe life story and push into the L.A. Kings , but he would only take them to one Stanley Cup final in 1993 , where the Americans lose to Montreal [ source : Piercy ] .
2: MLB Owners Collude to Lower Salaries
It ’s easy for fans to forget , but professional sports is a business , plain and dim-witted . The owners of these teams commit millions in acquiring and developing talent , not only to come through a championship title , but to draw more fans to the stadium , sell more ware and win more remunerative television contract . In short , succeed remuneration !
Nothing cuts into an owner ’s profits like mellow player salaries . Players and owner have been butting head over contract bridge disputes for decade . In 1975 , the Major League Baseball Players Association won the rightfulness to spare representation [ generator : MLBPA ] . When a player ’s contract runs out , other teams can tender for his talents , with the best player commanding millions of dollars a year .
macabre of bear outlandish salaries to jimmy barren agents , the MLB owners organize a scheme to break the system . After the 1985 , 1986 and 1987 seasons , the owners made a privy treaty not to sign on almost any free agent [ origin : MLBPA ] . If no one started a bidding war , then the salary would n’t go up and more thespian would remain with their original team . For instance , succeed the 1985 time of year , only four of 35 free broker got contract bridge with new squad .
The problem is that it ’s illegal . The Players Association took the owners to court for collusion and won $ 280 million in scathe [ source : MLBPA ] . Consider this one " conspiracy raise . "
1: The Super Bowl ‘Blackout’ was Rigged
Super Bowl XLVII in New Orleans was a tale of two game : before theblackoutand after the memory loss .
The Baltimore Ravens dominated the San Francisco 49ers in the first half , and extended their lead in the first step mo of the second half with a 108 - yard start-off return key for a touchdown , making the score 28 to6 [ origin : Yasinskas ] .
Then , to the shock of the fans in the stadium and the worldwide video audience , the lights work out in the Mercedes - Benz Superdome . For about 35 minutes , stadium officials struggled to find power . Meanwhile , actor mix around the field , unsure of when the biz would resume .
Some Baltimore player straightaway jumped to conclusions . " They ’re essay to take our impulse , " Baltimore safety Ed Reed remembers his teammates grumbling . And that ’s on the nose what happened . When the lights arrive back on , it felt like a wholly new game , with the 49ers rallying for 17 point in only 4 minutes and almost stealing the 2013 Super Bowl away from the stunned Ravens [ author : Yasinskas ] .
An investigation determine that either a malfunctioning transposition or an incorrect electric context was to blame for the blackout , but that did n’t cease the confederacy theorist [ source : Hanna ] . Former Ravens line backer Ray Lewis still insist that it was a stratagem by NFL direction to stanch a potential blowout .
" I ’m not gon na accuse nobody of nothing — because I do n’t have it off fact , " Lewistold NFL picture . " But you ’re a zillion - dollar caller , and your lights go out ? No . [ Laughs ] No way . "
Lots More Information
I ’m extremely skeptical of conspiracy theories . I have a hard time believing that anyone would take a chance their career , their reputation or even jail time just to attract off an elaborate scam . But then I read about character like Bobby Riggs , someone desperate enough to engineer an elaborated packaging stunt , selling himself as a flag-waver pig and a big — not to mention a lousy lawn tennis instrumentalist — for free himself from gambling debt . Or the Utah fan who may or may not have poisoned Michael Jordan to prevent him from playing in the finals . Sports beg into some deep engrained instincts — tribalism , subjection , violence — and when combined with lots and lots of money , I guess anything is possible .
