Sports and rigged outcomes (?)

Kearse

Just for my own entertainment, I was revisiting a comment by “MH” from 2016. It concerned Superbowl 49, and an amazing catch near the end of the game by Jermaine Kearse of Seattle. It appears that all videos, including the one referenced in the comment below, are now off limits, that is, private property of the NFL and not available for viewing. I did manage to grab the photo above, which was interspersed with two sports journalists drooling over the Patriots miraculous victory in that game.

My curiosity arose from a discussion of the current World Series, which appears to be headed towards a Houston victory this evening, but has extended to a seven game series. That doesn’t always happen – last year Boston won in five, but I believe that it is in the interest of the league owners to have a seven-game series, as it brings in more ad revenue. But how to fix a baseball game (especially now with instant replay)? It’s easy … just tip pitches. If a batter knows what’s coming, more times than not a hit follows, often a home run. These guys are superb athletes. The batter/pitcher dual is intense – these are the best athletes of any sport, in my humble opinion.

I remind readers that fixing a sports contest is not illegal. No one went to jail for the famous Black Sox scandal, and Pete Rose’s only punishment was dealt out by baseball. (Rose is a Mason, by the way, and that whole affair is suspicious. I must remember to do some research on that in the coming months, as I am officially fully retired in January. )

Anyway, here is the MH comment, at least that portion about #49 – the actual comment was four thousand words.

During Super Bowl 49, you can see this fakery exposed during the final drive. With the Seahawks down 4, Russell Wilson throws a poor ball down the right sideline (short of the end zone) that is miraculously (and probably mistakenly) caught by rookie receiver Jermaine Kearse who was most likely not in on the fix.

You see, I don’t believe every player is in on the fixes, simply because that would entail too many players knowing and potentially spilling secrets. I believe only a few players on each team are employed to throw games. All it requires is the QB, one OL, one DB, the head coach, and the coordinators to fix games. If the opposing teams have a secret radio between coordinators during a game, they can call plays that would ensure one team scores or makes a big gain without most player’s knowledge since the players would be too far out of position to do anything about it. The blame would fall on “poor play calls” which are all too common in the NFL along with “bad clock management” and “incompetent officiating”. Yet nobody questions how a league of this size and with this much money can’t get better officiating or teach coaches how to manage the clock.

After the incredible Kearse catch, you see Kearse nodding his head in excitement at the incredible position the Seahawks find themselves in. But if you watch the video of the game here https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AQ58i14tTa0 starting at 1:08:27 you see something odd. Certain players seem almost concerned about this great catch. Star CB Richard Sherman (with the long hair) looks like how a Patriots player should look. Compare his expression to #25 in front of him (who is clearly not in on the fix).

Something wrong with that picture? Owner Paul Allen look shocked, and not in a good way, despite his family celebrating around him.

What happens afterwards is well known. Instead of repeatedly running the ball in with Marshawn Lynch who is one of the top RBs in the league, the Seahawks (who have 25 seconds and a 2nd down) decide to throw the ball leading to an INT by the Patriots on a routine throw that is almost never intercepted. Another fixed Super Bowl.

The Seahawks victory the year before is also suspicious with Peyton Manning supposedly choking in the final game of a historic, record breaking offensive season.

 

21 thoughts on “Sports and rigged outcomes (?)”

  1. I was there with you guys and agreed at the time about the fixing. Now I’m not too sure. It seems to me this is not so simple as saying it was fixed/faked, whatever…. Please read Sports Illustrated article “The Dynasty That Never Was: Inside the Unraveling of the Seattle Seahawks” and also the first 20 or less pages of the book “Gridrion Genius” and perhaps you get a different way to look at this same play. Back at the time and several months afterwards, it made no sense to me not running the ball with “Beast Mode” and call a pass play instead… After the suggested reading, at least you will not be so sure it was nonsense…

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      1. Yes, they had two time outs each team. Also, they started the series with 1:06 with the 1st&Goal… it was a running play, they gave it to Lynch but got just to the 1 or so. The 2nd and goal was the passing play with 30 secs or so and then the interception.

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  2. This is the kind of stuff I bedevil my colleagues with: After the fourth game- the fourth straight road win- I announced at work that the Washingtons would win in seven. That would make seven road wins in the series, a feat never before accomplished. Yeah, sure, they said. There’s that Grassy Knoll thinking again. Then I gave them what they say they don’t want, but really do: The view from the Knoll. I said the world is inverted. Down is up, right is wrong, a game show host for a President. But the big news is the inversion of the sexes. That’s what’s at play in this series. The primary emblem of the Astros is a star. The primary emblem of Washington is the capitol dome, but the most important esoteric symbol is the outsized phallic Washington monument. A stela in the design of ancient Egypt. The star would be above the stela and would represent potency of the Gods. That star will fall in game seven because the culture of impotency is, um, on the rise.
    For a look back at what I wrote about Houston’s last trip to the series, go here: https://pieceofmindful.com/2017/10/30/tipping-ones-hand/#more-77366

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  3. Let me offer another token here. I do not include any links since this is easily searchable and verifiable. The Sports Illustrated cover from June 24, 2014 issue, predicted the Champions in 2017: The Freakin’ Houston Freakin’ Astros…

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    1. I see the cover … and followed the Astros. When they were taken over by Crane, it was on the condition that they team move to the American league. This would allow a natural rivalry with Texas to be exploited, and give them use of the DH. I watched them go from basement dweller in the NL Central to a powerhouse.

      I am not implying with this piece that either the Astros or Nats got to the WS by accident. I am a Reds fan, and commented to a friend over a beer in August that the most fearsome team that the Reds had played that year was the Nats. This was a three game sweep in DC late in the year, where the lineup was in my opinion, ferocious. So there is no monkey business, in my opinion, in either team being there. This article above is merely about exploiting advantages in the World Series for maximum revenue.

      The stuff about no home field advantage is indeed interesting. I think Ty and I have a bet here – he says Nats, I say Astros, and based on sheer talent.

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      1. I liked the Astros first time around back in 2017… This year they come across (at least to me) as arrogant… I like Jose Altuve a lot though, stud.
        My bet is on the Nats.

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        1. I record the game and fast forward through commercials. Thus far I note that regular season baseball has two minute commercial breaks. NFL has 2:30, including those usually fake injured player breaks. During the World Series the breaks have been 2:30 (five taps of my thumb on the 30 sec ff), but tonight, game 7 elimination, the commercial breaks are slightly over three minutes. They are raking it in.

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  5. I’m of the opinion that the Astros manager AJ Hinch deliberately threw the game by pulling Greinke early and putting in Will Harris, a pitcher that he earlier in the day said needed a day off as much as anyone. He had Cy Young candidate Cole warming up and went with Harris instead. And Greinke at that point had pitched a 1 hitter and was in total control. To me there’s no other explanation, these people aren’t that stupid.

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    1. Quoting Upton Sinclair:“It is difficult to get a man to understand something, when his salary depends on his not understanding it.”

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    2. That Astro manger (handler) was likely advised from higher up the command. Checked out his Wiki. His early days & parents, scrub city. He turns down draft to the pros repeatedly & stay s on at Spook Zone STANFORD w/this fraternity. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Delta_Tau_Delta_Coat_of_Arms.png Check out that symbology : All Seeing Eye, 6 pointed star 5x’s over, chevron. Seems his handling or coaching is far more successful than his playing days were. Game start? 8 PM. Final score 6+2/8 on All Hallows Eve.

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  8. And the last Pack game was a clear ‘gimmie’ w/a 1st down call that was a tad shy of one. KC is home to some very powerful under the radar mafia and they are not Italian.

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  9. This is also the centenary of the Black Sox scandal. At least the reveal and banning of the players during the 1920 season. Looks like Houston gets to play that role with Boston in support.
    And I don’t say this lightly. The more I read on how these hidden hands have worked over the ages, one thing they do is repeat history, deliberately.

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  12. And he went and tried baseball…….major cash influx for that team. His father being killed is another piece of the puzzle. The ref’s did give away many, many calls to him after the Dynasty of the Laker/Boston was put to rest. A very brief Detroit Bad Boy thuggery was allowed to baptize his Airness by fire and knock the snot out him. Then he was groomed to be GOAT for a spell. Looking at Black Nobility darling LeBron James, he shall over take that title. If we still are a nation at the end of the summer of 2020 that is. Same folk that run Hollywood & Wall St, control the NBA as well.

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