November 27, 2023: So, I write about the sports being fake a lot. I don't often mention the media covering the sports being equally as fake. But lo and behold, a pair of stories have emerged making this point for me. First was "sidelines reporter" Charissa Thompson admitting that made up some of her sideline reports, faking quotes that coaches didn't make. Then, as if Sports Illustrated's rep wasn't bad enough these days, now it's been revealed that their website has been completely been fabricating stories complete with A.I. generated "writers" taking credit for these articles. So, what in sports can you trust?

October 27, 2023: People often ask me how you could get a multi-million dollar athlete to fix a game. Well, here's a prime example:

October 26, 2023: Ottawa Senators center Shane Pinto was suspended for 41 games by the NHL for activities relating to sports wagering. Of course, he didn't bet on the NHL. Yet, the NHL and it's "integrity" partners in the gambling industry did say there was "suspicious activity" involved; however, no clarification was made on what exactly that amounted to...which should make one suspect that there's more to this story than is being reported.

February 17, 2023: This is one story to monitor if you're a soccer fan: "The relationship between FC Barcelona and a consulting company has raised suspicions that the team was bribing referees....Barcelona had a 78-game streak, ending in 2018, in which opposing teams were not awarded a penalty kick — Barca was given at least 32 penalty kicks during that period. The club also had a stretch of at least 28 games in which players weren’t given a single red card." NFL fans would probably just say that the team were "well disciplined."

November 30, 2022: Nothing to see here or investigate. Just a college football player telling his teammate, "we have to cover."

November 22, 2022: From the LA Times: "Former Dodgers outfielder Yasiel Puig is expected to plead guilty Wednesday to lying to federal officials about bets on sporting events that he placed with an illegal gambling operation." Hmm...Puig, by the way, apparently changed his mind and is now fighting the charges against him. It'll be interesting to see how this turns out and what else may be revealed.

October 11, 2022: I can't do this story justice here by any means, so you'll have to do the legwork yourself to look into the Hockey Canada scandal. The main takeaway? The Globe and Mail reported that Hockey Canada has used membership fees to set up a second fund to deal with sexual assault claims. I have no idea why this story isn't getting more traction in America. Is it because it's hockey? Is it because ESPN isn't talking about it (because ESPN is the NHL's main broadcast partner now)? Did I just miss it? I don't know, but it feels as if this is sneaking by sports fans instead of being discussed far and wide, especially in the wake of the Houston Texans "enabling" Deshaun Watson.

What seems to be missing here is obvious: though I trust it about as far as I could throw it, the monitoring system worked. If Ridley was betting through illegal bookies -- as would've been the case five years ago when sports gambling was illegal everywhere outside of Nevada -- no one would've know this occurred. So, which would you perfer? Illegal gambling with zero oversight? Or legal gambling with some monitoring taking place?

Now, granted, the NFL and the other leagues are hypocritical to the extreme when it comes to gambling because they were against it, citing "integrity," until it was legalized and then they've done everything under the sun to profit from it. But I think throwing as much sun on the entirity of sports gambling is a good thing overall...with some obvious flaws yet to be worked out.

February 3, 2022: In case you haven't heard, former Dolphins head coach Brian Flores filed a lawsuit against the team and the NFL primarily for racial discrimination. As bad as that may be, I'm not interested in it. What perked my interest in this was the allegation Flores made within his filing, namely that Dolphins owners Stephen Ross offered Flores $100,000 per game to tank the 2019 season as Ross wanted to secure the #1 overall draft pick. Flores denied he accepted the offer, yet the Dolphins finished 5-11; however, they did win their final two games.

In support of Flores' case, former Browns head coach Hue Jackson publicly declared that the Browns did something similar by offering him "bonus" money to tank games. He stated he accepted it. During Jackson's full two years with the team, they went 1-31.

Now, I don't know if anyone involved in all of this completely understands what was truly being alleged and admitted. The Sports Bribery Act of 1964 states it's illegal to "bribe" a player, coach or referee to alter the outcome of a sporting contest:

Whoever carries into effect, attempts to carry into effect, or conspires with any other person to carry into effect any scheme in commerce to influence, in any way, by bribery any sporting contest with knowledge that the purpose of such scheme is to influence by bribery that contest, shall be fined under this title, or imprisoned not more than 5 years, or both.

In other words, Flores, Jackson and the owners of each team would essentially have broken a federal law. The FBI should be investigating this because it is literally the definition of  "sports bribery." Even if they didn't accept the bribe/bonus as Flores alleges he did not, he would still have sat in on a "conspiracy to commit" sports bribery. They should all be in some legitimate legal hot water with these admissions.

Assuming Flores (and his legal team) and Jackson didn't know about the law, it also begs the question of why didn't each coach go to the NFL and/or the commissioner's office with these complaints? I mean, if you thought it was odd or morally wrong for the team owner to offer you money to purposefully lose games, shouldn't you have reported it to someone within the league? If a player, coach or referee is approached in such a manner by gamblers, they are supposed to immediately report it to the league or NFL Security -- or face repercussions of that failure to act. But in these cases, the coaches acted as if this were the norm in the NFL. As if these offers of bonus money for losses were typical. 

Are they? We know full well that NBA teams tank for draft picks. These are all, in my opinion, fixed games. The intent to lose on purpose is the very definition of a fixed game. But sportswriters don't apparently see it as such (I once had an argument with a sportswriter over this -- he hung up on me). In fact, some have written article extolling the virtues of tanking and suggested which teams should tank for their own benefit! Now, suddenly with Flores' case, this is a huge "integrity" issue for the NFL. Well, what about the NBA? Were coaches paid to tank in that league? Were owners like Mark Cuban -- who, remember, twice publicly declared he told his team it was in their "best interest" to tank away two seasons (he was fined $600K for said statements) -- paying "bonuses" when they called upon players and owners to tank? Is anyone going to look into any of this, considering, you know, it's a federal crime if it occurred?

It'll be interesting to see how this plays out. But my guess is the "paid to tank" story is the first to disappear no matter how far the Flores lawsuit goes.

December 15, 2021: There are more soccer players around the world experiencing "several chest pain" and/or "shortness of breath" that force them to leave the game. Of course, ESPN and their ilk aren't mentioning this on-going and worsening crisis. Remember, these are perhaps the most physically fit athletes in all of sports succumbing to these conditions. Maybe when this happens to a NBA, NFL or NCAA player, someone here in the US will pay attention and start asking questions.

December 1, 2021: I can't read the article because it's behind a paywall, but Business Insider (of all places) published an article that states that MLB knowingly used two difference baseballs in 2021 -- one that was "juiced" and one that was "deadened" -- but never told the players. MLB doesn't deny this, by the way. So, just to be crystal clear, MLB admitted it manipulated games and affected players' performance (which may affect some players' contracts) by using two different baseballs which performed in different manners. Who made out with this, and who got screwed? Well, that's still a bit of a secret. But it's pretty clear that the recent home run surge in baseball was no fluke. It was a product of MLB tampering with its own product to get certain results. And people call this stuff "conspiracy theory."

November 20, 2021: It's not my place to say whether or not you should get vaccinated for Covid-19 because I wasn't, I got it, and I was hospitalized with it earlier in the year. But this is a very interesting report: 108 FIFA players and coaches have died due to "sudden cardiac arrest" in 2021. That's a 500% increase according to this article. So far, explanations are not forthcoming for this "oddity."

October 5, 2021:  How do the feds raid the Washington Football Team's facility and it have nothing to do with the team itself? That's the story being spun as their head trainer (formerly the long-time trainer of the Carolina Panthers -- apparently the guy likes head coach Ron Riveria who is the WFT's head coach after fornerly doing the same for the Panthers) is under criminal investigation...unrelated to the team, of course. Sure, if this dude is handing out drugs like Halloween candy -- which is a long standing tradition in the NFL and elsewhere -- it has nothing to do with the WFT and how business is done. The trainer just did it without anyone on the team's knowledge. Sure.

It's even more interesting given what NHL goalie Robert Lehner recently tweeted out (given he did so only because he was upset at the handling of former teammate Jack Eichel's situation):

August 1, 2021: This could be a real humdinger of a story. San Jose Sharks player Evander Kane was called out on social media by his pregnant wife who claims, among other things, Kane bet against the Sharks and tanked games as a player. This story is developing as Kane has issued his own PR response to his wife's statements (denying everything, of course), and she, in turn, replied to his reply (further calling him a liar). Of couse, the NHL states it will being its own "thorough" investigation of the situation. Stay tuned to this one as it's bound to gain momentum in the coming days/weeks.

June 30, 2021: Scottie Pippin apparently needs some attention as he said more than a few interesting things recently on the Dan Patrick Show. The most curious, to me, was this exchange between the two:

Scottie Pippen: What do you mean, Phil set up a play for Steve Kerr? He didn't set that play up for Steve Kerr, he set that play up for Michael Jordan.

Dan Patrick: I thought in the huddle, Mike says I'm going to throw you the ball, you'll be open at that foul line. Phil had nothing to do with that?

Scottie Pippen: Man, you don't wanna get this show started, because it will take us a long time. You know all the cameras that sitting in that huddle who they were working for? You know who Michael was speaking to when he said that right? That was planned. That was speaking to the camera. That wasn't speaking out of what we were gonna have to do, what the play is gonna be. That was speaking to the camera. Had John Stockton not came down, trust me. That was building his own documentary, because he knew he was controlling the cameras. 

You can read/see more from Pippen here. (Thanks to Rodney for the tip!)

May 22, 2021: Tim Tebow's Jacksonville Jaguars jersey is the #1 selling jersey at NFL.com. That's gonna lead to something.

May 20, 2021: Atlanta Hawks head coach Nate McMillan was fined $25,000 by the NBA simply for stating a known fact: the league would rather have the New York Knicks in the playoffs as opposed to being out of them. These comments by McMillan were deemed "detrimental" by the NBA. Meanwhile, LeBron James was allowed to circumvent the league's "tough" covid restrictions without fine/suspension because he needed to do some self-promo work. And fans believe this league is fair and unbiased.

April 5, 2021: Ian Smith, the commissioner of Esports Integrity Commission (ESIC), might have dropped a bigger bomb than he thought when he was interviewed about the ongoing Counter-Strike match fixing case that's under investigation in Australia. Smith told an interviewer, "[It’s] what I would describe as classic match fixing — players being bribed by outside betting syndicates in order to fix matches, rather than players just doing it off their own bat opportunistically, and it’s being going on for longer, it’s much more organised. So again, to some extent we’re working with law enforcement and the FBI, who only recently have had a sports betting investigative unit within the FBI. They’re good, but they’re inexperienced, because sports betting has never been a big thing in America until recently, so everybody’s kind of finding their feet on that one."

Why this is a big deal? Because it confirms something I've been trying to tell people for nearly ten years: the FBI has NOT been investigating for match fixing in the United States. They quit the match fixing business in the 1980s and have only chased cases when they were dropped into their laps, like the case surrounding former NBA ref Tim Donaghy. It also confirms something an insider told me -- namely that he met with the FBI about two years ago, and they were clueless about the crime. But, he told me, they were ready to start looking into things. Ya think it's about time, J. Edgar?

Also, just remember that this is being revealed in relation to a match-fixing investigation surrounding esports. Not the NFL, NBA, NCAA or some other major sport. It's an investigation into players throwing video game matches that's caught the eye of the FBI. That's real low-hanging fruit. Let's see if/when the FBI actually steps up their game.

March 24, 2021: NHL referee Tim Peel was caught on a hot mic admitting to calling a "make-up" penalty against the Nashville Predators in their game against the Detroit Red Wings. The NHL immediately fired Peel (who was set to retire in a matter of weeks), citing the need to protect the "integrity" of the game...as if make-up penalties were really just a myth. This incident created a stir for about 24 hours, and then was quickly forgotten by virtually everyone. But it adds a bit of credence to this story I dug up from the 1960s regarding the NHL and its referees.

March 21, 2021: As NCAA March Madness gets underway, it's always a good time to think about how easy it would be to fix a college basketball (or football) game. I mean, it'd be really easy. Really, really easy. But what you rarely see is someone getting caught attempting to do so. Well, here's a guy who was just convicted for doing just that -- even though the sissy didn't even bet on the game in question. Still, it's a reminder that NCAA sports are so much easier to corrupt because of players not being paid.

March 1, 2021: Remember how MLB said that its baseballs weren't "juiced?" That it had "no idea" why people would think that and/or why home run numbers were up? Well, that was just proven to be a complete lie by MLB itself. The league just announced that it is planning on making adjustments to the baseballs to now "deaden" them. So, as I've argued in the past, minor "fluctuations" in the construction of the baseball, all within the "legal" tolerances of league rules, "livened" the ball to make for more home runs. Now, MLB is reversing that trend. I guess we should believe them now? If the number of HRs really does drop. But how can you trust any ball MLB put into play after this?

February 26, 2021: Someone sent me a link to this video about Mike Tyson fights being rigged. While the video is illuminating for those who believed in the myth surrounding Tyson (and even if you never did buy into his "greatness," then the evidence shown here just backs any argument you might make against his "legend"), there's two things I'll quickly point out about this. One, nearly every modern day up-and-comer of worth (in boxing and in MMA) has fights set up in their favor. It's just how business is done. If you don't know this, you best educate yourself on this fact. Second, this video could've been great, but like many YouTube "conspiracy" videos, it veers off the subject for no good reason. There's no point in getting into Freemasonry and the number 33 here, or even delving into Tyson biting off a piece of Holyfield's ear. Just stick to the main subject of fights being set up for Tyson as it's compelling enough. That's my two cents of editing advice, anyway. Here's the video:

February 11, 2021: Boston Bruins goalie Tuukka Rask explained exactly what professional athletes are: "Hey, it’s an entertainment industry," he said. "And that’s what we’re trying to provide, entertainment for the fans. I’m sure people were shocked at first, but hopefully they got a good laugh out of that.” Rask was referring to a screw-up he made when he forgot what the score was and skated to the bench to add an (unnecessary at the time) attacker. But his point stands: this is entertainment and he's just one of many entertainers.

February 9, 2021: I love how this is titled: "hilariously brilliant." Apparently the author of this piece has never heard about spot fixing in sports. But this goes to show you what truly is possible these days. Tom Brady thought of a way to make $2 million on Super Bowl Sunday by betting on himself to get over 0.5 rushing yards in the game. Again, while this seems innocent enough, it's actually widely available plan and/or idea for an athlete to exploit. Find a prop bet on yourself, then either try to beat (or underperform) that number. It'd be perfectly legal for a player to do, but would certainly go against league rules. Of course, so do using PEDs, which as we've seen, numerous players aren't opposed to doing despite each league's drug testing policy. So, who knows how many other athletes have done what Brady "suggested" and profited off of their own performance through wagering?

February 2, 2021: This is another intesting tidbit from the celebrity-gossip website Crazy Days and Nights. Here's the original post, but this is what was posted there:



This foreign born C- list tennis player, is only that high because of her off the court antics. She is in debt up to her eyeballs, yachts on the side and only tries in qualifying matches. At that point, she loses on purpose for her benefactors and to pay off her debt. This has been going on for the past six months.

I have no idea if this is true or not, but given the sordid history of tennis and the ongoing corruption of the sport -- never mind the existence of the Tennis Integrity Unit (TIU) -- this has the feel of being true. Who's the player involved? The comments section on the site leaned in favor of Camila Giorgi, but whether that's the case or not, I could not say.

December 3, 2020: This is interesting, although it comes from an unusual source: the celebrity-gossip-related website Crazy Days and Nights. This was the post, and for those curious, this is the patent mentioned in the posting (which, in and of itself, is kinda frightening):

Except for some light editing, I have left this in the tipsters words. I have "blinded" some of the names and also didn't include the patent which is referred to. 

This A list gaming company which is a merger of two big companies [likely Activision and Blizzard] has a patent in which their match making services (traditionally random based on certain parameters) can be rigged in order to influence in game purchases. If one reads between the lines, this implies that all random events in their games are determined server side.

The ramifications of said patent were present for all to see at the online collectible card game world championship in 2019. In said tournament, the company fully rigged random results left and right in order to obtain political favor with China. This incident occurred within a few weeks after the company banned multiple players for speaking out against Chinese oppression of Hong Kong.

Examples of rigged events on behalf of the Chinese player included always having certain key cards in her hand by X turn, always going second when playing a deck that greatly benefits from going second, or random results from cards played always swinging significantly in her favor.

Many people who watched the live stream of the event suspected the fix was in, but had no proof. It is unknown if the player herself was in on it (assuming no due to innocent until proven guilty).

This is potentially the worst scandal in esports history.

Here’s the patent that can prove the fix is in. The one that by reading between the lines, a lot can be inferred. I also quoted some of the more disturbing passages that prove that the company can rig random events (quotes are about matchmaking, which is supposed to be random).

“In another example, if a player has been performing poorly (e.g., getting killed at a rate higher than the player's historical rate), the scoring engine may dynamically adjust one or more coefficients to match the player in a game that will improve the player's performance. For example, the player may be matched with easier opponents, matched with better teammates, and/or placed in a game that is more tailored to the player's preferences (e.g., players that play in games more closely aligned with their preferences tend to perform better).

To fine-tune the matchmaking process, the system may include an analytics and feedback engine that analyzes player and match data to determine whether a given match was good. A match may be deemed "good" when a player is determined to have enjoyed gameplay associated with the match based on one or more quality factors that are used as a proxy for player satisfaction. The quality factors may include, for example, a duration of a gameplay session (e.g., via analysis of player historical data), player psychological state (e.g., frustration level), and/or other information.”

“In one implementation, the microtransaction engine may target particular players to make game-related purchases based on their interests. For example, the microtransaction engine may identify a junior player to match with a marquee player based on a player profile of the junior player. In a particular example, the junior player may wish to become an expert sniper in a game (e.g., as determined from the player profile). The microtransaction engine may match the junior player with a player that is a highly skilled sniper in the game. In this manner, the junior player may be encouraged to make game-related purchases such as a rifle or other item used by the marquee player.

In one implementation, when a player makes a game-related purchase, the microtransaction engine may encourage future purchases by matching the player (e.g., using matchmaking described herein) in a gameplay session that will utilize the game-related purchase. Doing so may enhance a level of enjoyment by the player for the game-related purchase, which may encourage future purchases. For example, if the player purchased a particular weapon, the microtransaction engine may match the player in a gameplay session in which the particular weapon is highly effective, giving the player an impression that the particular weapon was a good purchase. This may encourage the player to make future purchases to achieve similar gameplay results.”

November 13, 2020: This is kinda old, kinda new news-wise, but a tweet from former NFL player Bennie Cunningham resurfaced on twitter in which Cunningham wrote, "The NFL is scripted but they make us sign something so we can’t go into detail… Tired of holding back.. Who want the full story ..". Cunningham then quit all social media, but not before claiming the post was a joke. Interestingly, former NFL player Larry Johnson was asked about the tweet, and he responded with, "At the end of every game: This has been an…P-R-E-S-E-N-T-A-T-I-O-N. I kept getting called crazy, so it’s apparent you sheeple accept the reality in which you are presented. (Truman Show)" Hmm....

October 28, 2020: Not much happening in the sports world these days, but this is an interesting nugget: Only 15 of the 50 fastest ever 100m times were run by an athlete NOT banned for drugs or missed tests. All 15 were Usain Bolt. This comes from this article related to the two-year ban of World 100m champion Christian Coleman (who's American, fyi). Notice this didn't get much, if any, play here in the US. I wonder why. And I also wonder if Bolt is really that good, or if he's just the Lance Armstrong of sprinting? Time will tell I'm sure.

August 20, 2020: Somehow I missed this New York Post story when it originally ran. Luckily, a few fans of this site spotted it and sent it my way. Now check out this "potentially" rigged NCAA basketball game story, and believe me, even though this one failed, I'm certain others have succeeded without ever raising an eyebrow.

August 10, 2020: Wow. It's been a while since I updated the site here, but considering there was no sports happening for a while, that's somewhat understandable. So, I'm not going to make a case for this being the 1985 NBA Draft Lottery version 2.0, but it (A) gives the #1 overall pick to a struggling New York team, (B) involves a commissioner who happened to serve under David Stern back in his NBA days, and (C) does look a bit shady. Judge for yourself (and enjoy ESPN's odd take on it all).