The 30 Greatest Sports Conspiracy Theories of All-Time - Elliott Kalb [0]
The 25 Greatest Sports Conspiracy Theories of All Time
Who’s Better, Who’s Best in Basketball?
Who’s Better, Who’s Best in Baseball?
Who’s Better, Who’s Best in Golf?
30 Greatest Sports Conspiracy Theories of All Time
Elliott Kalb
Copyright © 2009 by Elliott Kalb and Mark Weinstein
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Table of Contents
Also by
Title Page
Copyright Page
FOREWORD
INTRODUCTION
KEY TO LIKELIHOOD OF CONSPIRACIES
#1 - Baseball avoided integration in the 1930s and 1940s by an unwritten agreement
#2 - NBA owners cater to the “white dollar” in the 1950s with a quota system
#3 - Baseball owners collude against free agents in the mid-1980s
#4 - Did Sonny Liston throw his fights against Muhammad Ali?
#5 - NBA’s first-ever draft lottery delivers Patrick Ewing to New York
#6 - AFL gains credibility with victory in Super Bowl III
#7 - Isiah Thomas left off the 1992 Olympic Dream Team
#8 - Michael Jordan’s first retirement
#9 - Alan Eagleson colludes with NHL owners to keep hockey salaries down
#10 - Gamblers attempt to fix the 1946 NFL Championship Game
#11 - Was there a secret agreement between Pete Rose and Bart Giamatti?
#12 - Why were Ty Cobb and Tris Speaker allowed to remain in the league after being found guilty of gambling?
#13 - Are some NASCAR outcomes too good to be true?
#14 - Cheaters conspire to steal signs, throw illegal pitches, steal pennants
#15 - The steroids era in baseball
#16 - Who’s keeping Dennis Rodman and Peter Vecsey out of the Basketball Hall of Fame?
#17 - Funny business at the Kentucky Derby
#18 - Why weren’t any Japanese players signed to major league contracts from 1965-1995?
#19 - Attempts to keep minorities from breaking cherished baseball records
#20 - Was NFL legend Sammy Baugh involved in a gambling scandal?
#21 - Did John McGraw conspire to fix games and World Series?
#22 - Did the NFL conspire in the mid-1980s to monopolize professional football?
#23 - Shoeless Joe Jackson kept out of Baseball Hall of Fame
#24 - U.S. Olympic basketball team gets cheated out of the gold in 1972
#25 - Olympic gold medalist in women’s 100-meter hides a secret
#26 - Did UNLV throw the 1991 NCAA semi-final game vs. Duke?
#27 - Was Cal Ripken’s 2001 All-Star Game home run a set-up?
#28 & 29 - Two conspiracy theories in one! Did the New England Patriots, with an assist from the NFL, cheat their way to a dynasty?
#30 - Did Chinese Olympic hero Liu Xiang fake an injury in the 2008 Beijing Games?
SUMMARY
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
SOURCES
INDEX
FOREWORD
I had just retired from the Cincinnati Bengals, and was in my rookie season for HBO’s Inside the NFL. Luckily for me, there was one other rookie on the show that 1990 season, and that was writer/researcher Elliott Kalb. We’ve been teammates for almost two decades since—not only at HBO Sports but at NBC Sports as well. We’ve worked live studio shows, taped studio shows, and live college football and NFL games. During football seasons, we spend more time with each other than we do with our wives and families.
It’s a damn good thing Elliott never nags me to go anywhere or fix things. He’s a great friend, and the fact that he likes Jimmy Buffett as much