The 30 Greatest Sports Conspiracy Theories of All-Time - Elliott Kalb [1]
It’s no surprise to me that Kalb has written this book. It’s right up his alley. Here he presents the stories behind the stories. Everyone celebrates April 15, 1947, as Jackie Robinson Day in baseball, but Kalb wonders about the gentleman’s agreement that prevented integration until that fateful day. Yes, the NBA is to be commended for opening its doors to black players—and now international players—more swiftly than other sports and quicker than most of society. But it is Kalb that has talked to many of the first black stars of the NBA and read through all the books, and has come across dozens of printed references to a quota system employed by the League in the 1950s.
I’ve learned to trust Elliott. He can spot trends, especially in the team sports that he follows so closely. Working so many live events with him, I have always drilled it into his head that we can’t read about something that happened in our games the next day. We report what happened, and serve as immediate “first-edition” sources.
I have to admit, I’m not much of a conspiracy theorist. I thought that when Elliott brought this book to me, it would be filled with crazy Roswell UFO type stories. Or worse, that it would serve as a rationale for every underdog that ever lost a big sporting event. I was happy to see that Kalb makes a big distinction. Of course, it’s better for the professional leagues and their broadcast partners if certain teams win. But there’s no way that they can influence actual game play. The only thing we can be certain of is this: if Elliott and I need a team to win to make our traveling easier, that team will lose. After that, nothing is fixed!
Instead, Kalb focuses on people’s lost stories. In the history books, the 1946 NFL Championship Game was marred because two players on the Giants were questioned before the game about offers they received from gamblers. Kalb goes back and discovers what the people were talking about at the time. Did Giants backs Philcock and Hapes accept money from gamblers? Why didn’t they report the bribes to their coach? Should the game have been postponed?
What this book is to me, then, is history. It is history forgotten, and it is history from a different perspective. It’s not that Kalb is saying “Super Bowl III was fixed.” He’s saying, “Here is a theory that has been talked about for years. Here is what I agree with. Here’s what I find crazy, and here’s what I believe.”
It makes for interesting reading, even if I don’t happen to personally agree with everything he says. Elliott has always been there to provide me with instant analysis and witty lines. Now he’s written a book that attempts to do even more. He writes to remind, to provoke, to entertain, and to enrage.
—Cris Collinsworth
INTRODUCTION
I am a skeptic. I have always questioned the validity of many things purported to be factual. “Don’t believe everything that you hear,” I tell my kids. “Don’t believe everything your teachers tell you.” It is my belief that one has to read—a lot—and get differing points of view. Read a newspaper with a conservative slant, as well as one with a more liberal viewpoint. Keep an open mind. And be aware of the times when people or organizations have reason to lie, or to keep the truth from being told.
I’m not alone, of course. There are many people who love a great conspiracy theory, and refuse to blindly accept what is fed to them by authorities. In the 1997 motion picture Conspiracy Theory starring Julia Roberts and Mel Gibson, at one point Gibson’s character says, “A good conspiracy is unprovable. I mean, if you can prove it, it means they screwed up somewhere along the line.” Exactly.
If you opened the sports section of any major newspaper in February of 2007, you would have read reports of boxer Tommy Morrison’s comeback. He hadn’t fought in eleven years due to his testing positive (several times) for HIV. But Morrison had never taken his medication,