Where Cheating Happens

On the advice of one Drew Papillon, I am going to write about a topic that has been bothering me a lot lately. The issue is this: Is the NBA a real product, or one under the heavy influence of rich corporate executives? The commissioner of the NBA's name is David Stern. He is easily looked at as the most corrupt commissioner of any of the "big name" sports. There is a lot of evidence that points to the NBA fixing games so that the more popular teams would win. There has also been accusations that David Stern fixed drafts so that teams he liked would get better picks.

David Stern is an avid Knicks fan, and so it must have bothered him when they were doing very poorly in the 80's. A player came around that year by the name of Patrick Ewing. There was a great amount of hype that this player would be one of the best the league had ever seen. I don't think that it is just by chance then that Stern decided that year to do something different with the draft. He created a lottery type system where envelopes were placed inside a large sphere. These envelopes were then mixed and eventually chosen by none other than Stern. While watching the envelopes be put in, you can see that one of them does something a little different from the rest. It hits a pole inside the sphere which creates a rather large dent on one of the corners. This, I believe was the mark for Stern, so that he would know which envelope to pick. Sure enough, he goes right for the dented envelope. The most disturbing thing is that after he grabs it, you can clearly see him fixing the dent with his finger! Why would he do this? Because, he didn't want anyone to know what was going on. He had the whole thing fixed from the beginning. The only thing that gives me a laugh from the whole situation, is that the knicks never won a title with Ewing.

This scene would be enough cause for investigation into the way Stern has run the NBA. But sadly, there is always more. One of the saddest moments in the history of the league happened in 2002. The Lakers vs Kings series. This was a battle of two great teams, and one that Stern must have been salivating at. This was a re-match from the previous year, and it brought in great ratings. This was a great chance for the NBA to make a lot of money, and it did. The lakers were searching for their third title in a row. The Lakers were easily the most popular team in the NBA and the kings were just an up and coming team. The NBA could not risk the chance, that this group of rag-tag young guns could beat one of the greatest teams the NBA had ever seen. The series went 7 games and the Lakers won, but the controversy that came from it still lasts today. The highlighted game from the series was game 6. The Kings were up 3-2 and were playing to advance. Like I said before, this would be one of the greatest upsets ever. Instead of me going into all the detail of the game I will simply post a video that I found highlighting the travesty.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VhlGYvIMPgQ&feature=related

If you watch the video you will see exactly what I am talking about. Now obviously the sad music in the video will make it look worse than it was. But just watch the calls in and of themselves. I cannot understand how there was not a serious investigation after this game. But the saddest fact of everything that has happened, is that there was an investigation. The investigation showed that there was a few errors made, but that these errors helped both teams. Finally the report showed that nothing was wrong with the game, and that it was not fixed. Now, you might say, "Well thats the end of it then!" I say, not so fast. The report was spear headed by......... David Stern! ARE YOU KIDDING ME!!! The guy who is judge, jury, and everything else in the NBA is the same one who conducts the investigation to see if the NBA is dirty! That would be like having Osama Bin Laden do an investigation on Al Qaeda! There is something so fishy here that it is sickening.

Finally the day that every Kings fan waited for arrived. An actual referee from the NBA came out that he had been fixing games. He also mentioned that a certain 2002 series had been prolonged because the NBA wanted a certain team to win. He even went as far to say that they purposely did not call fouls on one team, but made up fouls for the other team. GEE I wonder which series he could be talking about. Hmmm, the Lakers had 27 free throw attempts in the fourth quarter alone of game six, so it is obvious which game he is talking about. But of course nobody wants to question or dig deeper to see what is going on here. We are afraid of what we will find, and it is this. The NBA supports the team that have the bigger markets, and leaves the smaller markets out to dry. It is a business, and Stern is the CEO. He is looking at the bottom line, and whatever makes the most money is what is going to happen. The NBA is starting to look more like the world wresting federation than an actual sport. The most important thing in all of sports is that the fan knows that what they are seeing is true. The NBA has lost this quality in my mind, and I can never be sure of what is really going on. So everyone, enjoy your Lakers vs Cavs series this year, because that is what is guaranteed to happen.