The corruption and degeneration of sports in America

[dys]

I'm sure I'm in the minority on this forum, but I love sports. I especially love to compete, but to a lesser extent I enjoy watching the games, the athletes, and the side stories. Years ago I used to tell people that one of the reasons that I enjoyed following sports was that it was the only part of life that the media told the truth about. Today, that's not true anymore. Sports are becoming just like everything else in today's world- corrupted, perverted, and ruined.
Some comments about the 4 major American sports, given in order of most to least corrupted:

FOOTBALL:

This sport, I am totally done with. Starting a few years ago, the refs began to wreck the game. Questionable game changing penalties on key plays became the norm instead of the rare exception. Curiously, at the same time this was happening all of the old metrics that used to measure win probability seemed to fly out the window and no longer hold true anymore- much like the markets. Superbowl XV was handed to Pittsburg by the refs at the expense of Seattle (and the media mostly refused to discuss it!). Then they totally changed the rules, making defensive football next to impossible. The rules themselves have become a complete and total joke, which doesn't even take into account the often curious timing of the application of the rules. In short, I no longer trust that these games aren't fixed.
I'm not the only former/current diehard 'fan' (aside: I hate that term) that feels this way. There is a nascent skepticism concerning the results of these games. Even though the talking heads won't touch it, the message forums tell a different story. Roger Goodell, largely heralded the best commisioner by the MSM, is hated by those that enjoy the game of football as it used to be played.

BASKETBALL:

Commissioner David Stern (what nationality is he?) scoffs at the notion that referees are on the take and/or incompetent. Of course, this is AFTER one of his refs went to jail for fixing games! Some say the refs stole a championship from the Boston Celtics a couple of years ago. For anyone that cares to check, the ESPN message forum during that time was thread after thread after thread of questioning the propriety of the refs. Almost no one believed that what they were seeing was on the level. Yet the main stream media hardly touched it.
The way the refs call today's game is NOTHING like it was 20 years ago, the fans hate it, and no one trusts it.

BASEBALL:

Commissioner Bud Selig (what nationality is he?) left the ownership of the Milwaukee Brewers years ago, supposedly to be 'interim' commisioner. Of course he never relinqueshed the post, despite the fact that his daughter went on to own the Brewers, despite the obvious conflict of interest that no one will bring up anymore, and despite the fact that he had promised to step down years ago (though no one dares to bring this up) as soon as they found a worthy candidate.
He went on to ignore a steroids scandal that rankled diehard fans of real baseball (it ruined the game), implement a very questionable 'questech' technology that the vast majority of fans were opposed to, ignore a loophole in the steroid policy that to this day NO ONE will bring up in the media (a player can 'retire', take as much juice as they want, and then unretire once the drugs are out of their system), and recently endorse the suspension of a manager for 'insensitive' comments pertaining to Fidel Castro, even as he is good friends with Fidel Castro.

HOCKEY:

Commisioner Gary Bettman (what nationality is he?) is largely reviled by the MSM as the worst commisioner in sports. Personally, I think he is the best by far. However, questions remain concerning the recent application of player suspensions resulting from hits to the head. In short, the suspensions are seemingly applied based on public relations, or arbitrarily...but don't seem to have anything but a very tenuous relationship to the rules as stated.

Summary:

I'm not sure to what extent (if any) members of this forum care about this stuff, but what I've posted is just the tip of the iceberg; I'll elaborate if anyone is interested. There is some very ugly stuff going on in sports right now. Information suppression, media coverups, media complicity in government shakedowns for public stadiums,
even blacklisting of media members that report the truth. It's a sad state of affairs when you can't even trust the veracity of what you are being told about a game that you watch for entertainment value.

dys

[Glass]

I've watched enough sport to know the big stuff is now 100%. You will get a player who misses a sitter like a penalty goal or does a really obviously on purpose fumble. Simply letting go of the ball and dropping it mid flight, no pressuring tackle to be seen. We know wrestling and boxing is fixed. We know cricket is fixed (yes it's a localized game). We know soccer/footbal is fixed. Car racing, horse racing, cycle racing.

I was watching Sports Central ( I think thats it) Top 10's on YT. you can bring up a lot. Well some of them, when you watch them you can just see the player did this thing on purpose. Like top 10 worst free throws.... like 3 secs to go and it's a plum shot and the worlds best 3 point shooter throws short by 6 feet, kind of thing. And as you said Umpires making the most amazing calls completely contrary to the direction of play.

It's all fake. FIAT runs our world, from truth to money to food to sport. Everything is synthetic. Actually I think car racing is still fairly ok. Sometimes team rules are applied and this amounts to fixing but for the most part I think car racing is legit.

[dys]

Obviously to some degree it always went on. I'm sure I was a little naaive back in the day...
but recently it has become blatant. As you said...and I'll add, guys easing up noticably on plays they are good enough to make. I saw Troy Palamalu do it last year and you can see it on a last second TD he allowed that he should have easily made the play on, but didn't even get a finger on.

But it's not just the fixing of games. In football, there is a coaches video, known as the 'all 22' that fans are DIEING to get their hands on. The league could make a ton of money releasing it to the general public. But they won't do it. Why do you think that is? It ain't just about fixing the games. It also will demonstrate that these complex 'systems' that the talking heads ramble on about incessantly are nothing of the sort! People don't realize, this uber complex NE Patriots defense, for example, is mainly the same defense that my HIGH SCHOOL runs. Maybe a few twists and wrinkles, but nothing big! Releasing these 'all 22' vids will expose 90% of the coaches for what they are- doing the same thing as everyone else.
People are starting to get it on the message forums. Crazy anger and criticism of the media, ownership, goodell, the networks, the advertisers, everyone! I actually think it could wake a few people up, because more and more aren't buying the company line anymore.

dys

[Osiris]

I'm interested. Although I will likely not be surprised by anything, I always want to know more and be informed. I love baseball, watching the game right now actually. However, I have no doubt that it is corrupt like everything else. Doesn't make much sense, i know. Thanks for the info, didn't know that about selig and his daughter. Think he's a douche for other reasons already.

Bread and circus as my husband would say.

[AndreaGail]

excellent site to discuss sports in a non mainstream / PC manner

http://www.castefootball.us/forums/forum.php

[LuckyStrike]

I grew up like most everyone I know in the south watching football everytime it was on TV, I enjoy the sport, the strategy and such but to be honest blacks have destroyed it, the celebrate incessantly like a bunch of apes after getting a sack even if their team is losing by 50 points. Every play to them is like the game winning play of the super bowl and the announcers suck off the blacks at every turn.

When I read this quote some years ago it all made sense.

We must realize that our party's most powerful weapon is racial tension. By propounding into the consciousness of the dark races that for centuries they have been oppressed by the whites, we can mould them to the program of the Communist Party. In America we will aim for subtle victory. While inflaming the Negro minority against the whites, we will endeavor to install in the whites a guilt complex for their exploitation of the Negroes. We will aid the Negroes to rise in prominence in every walk of life, in the professions and in the world of sports and entertainment. With this prestige, the Negro will be able to intermarry with the whites and begin a process which will deliver America to our cause.



OP, you may enjoy Caste Football

http://www.castefootball.us/

[LuckyStrike]

As far as sports go I mainly stick to racing, F1 and MotoGP mainly.

[AndreaGail]

a few things that ruined it for me:

-loss of the fundamentals. Many "elite" players cannot catch a pass or make a 15 foot jumpshot. And if they do succeed in the simplest of tasks they have to showboat like they did something extraordinary
-the amount of damn commercials and "media timeouts" that make the game go on forever. And all the stupid gimmicks during downtime so the owners can squeeze even more $$$ out of the masses
-diversity (which can be correlated to point #1)

I still do watch a few sports on a regular basis, F1, motoGP, and ice hockey

[AndreaGail]

As far as sports go I mainly stick to racing, F1 and MotoGP mainly.

beat me to it by a few minutes!!

[dys]

I'm interested. Although I will likely not be surprised by anything, I always want to know more and be informed. I love baseball, watching the game right now actually. However, I have no doubt that it is corrupt like everything else. Doesn't make much sense, i know. Thanks for the info, didn't know that about selig and his daughter. Think he's a douche for other reasons already.

Bread and circus as my husband would say.

I love baseball, too. It's my favorite sport. With baseball, it's harder to fix than the other sports because the best way to fix a game is predicated on something that umpirs only sometimes or partially control- close pitches. The umpire can't control whether the batter swings or not, so I believe there is less fixing of baseball than the other sports...
BUT that doesn't mean it hasn't been corrupted.

A few years ago, the book 'Moneyball' came out (later made into a movie starring Brad Pitt). The book was nothing short of an absolute joke, a cheap transparent marketing ploy predicated on getting statheads to bring more revenue into the game. You see, it is true that Billy Beane had a couple of good years building a team with short money relative to the rest of the league. But the book tried to make him look like a genius because of a new offensive revolutionary strategy. Of course, the book/movie never mentioned that his offense SUCKED during those years! The whole reason Oakland was good was because he hit on 3 young pitchers in the draft during a period of time when no one had any pitching (steroid era). Take away those 3 young pitching studs, his team would have been awful. But no one talked about that.

But that doesn't even begin to approach some of the corruption pertaining to owners conning taxpayers into building stadiums free of charge. Baltimore is the supposed example of success for this debacle. The company line is that the old Baltimore was a delapidated Detroit style dump, and the new baseball stadium came in to the save day and 'revitalize' the area. Well, I don't know if anyone has been to Camden yards, but that is a severe distortion of the truth. The stadium may have revitalized the 3 or 4 streets adjacent to the stadium, but step just outside of that area and Baltimore is scary dangerous. The fact that they can get away with using Baltimore as anything other than an example to NOT use taxpayer funds for stadiums is proof of the media complicity in the scandal.

[dys]

a few things that ruined it for me:

-loss of the fundamentals. Many "elite" players cannot catch a pass or make a 15 foot jumpshot. And if they do succeed in the simplest of tasks they have to showboat like they did something extraordinary
-the amount of damn commercials and "media timeouts" that make the game go on forever. And all the stupid gimmicks during downtime so the owners can squeeze even more $$$ out of the masses
-diversity (which can be correlated to point #1)

I still do watch a few sports on a regular basis, F1, motoGP, and ice hockey

Another thing that drives me insane is that in today's games, most of the announcers don't talk about sports! The thing now is that the networks want to bring in casual fans who might not understand the game, so they make the announcers jokesters, or champions of cliches and gossip. Then they get a good looking sideline reporter to go interview whatever stupid celebrities may be at the game. It's embarrassing, these clowns tell stupid anecdotes and jokes the whole game. I almost feel bad for these guys as it is obviously forced and being fed to them from somewhere.

dys

[Osiris]

Another thing that drives me insane is that in today's games, most of the announcers don't talk about sports! The thing now is that the networks want to bring in casual fans who might not understand the game, so they make the announcers jokesters, or champions of cliches and gossip. Then they get a good looking sideline reporter to go interview whatever stupid celebrities may be at the game. It's embarrassing, these clowns tell stupid anecdotes and jokes the whole game. I almost feel bad for these guys as it is obviously forced and being fed to them from somewhere.

dys

Completely agree. Was going to make that point earlier. I really enjoy listening to them when they are actually talking about the game but I will tune them out when they aren't. I enjoy listening to the games on the radio better than watching them because of this. Since they have to explain plays on the radio they tend to stay away from the other bs.

[dys]

Completely agree. Was going to make that point earlier. I really enjoy listening to them when they are actually talking about the game but I will tune them out when they aren't. I enjoy listening to the games on the radio better than watching them because of this. Since they have to explain plays on the radio they tend to stay away from the other bs.

Some of these guys DO know the game, but it's obvious they aren't allowed to talk about it in detail anymore because some bean counter somewhere thinks the casual fan gets bored by technical stuff. Where I live, we have Tommy Heinsohn for basketball, who is probably the last Jedi, so to speak. GSUS' would love this guy. He'll say to a player "go back to France." Or he'll bash the officials unmercifully. And he'll actually talk about the finer points of basketball...passing angles, defensive strategies, weaknesses and strengths of the en vogue plays and offenses of today's game. And he gets away with it, because he is Tommy Heinsohn. But he is 70 something years old and being phased out. I'm not sure if he is being forced out or if he is doing it by choice, but it's a shame because the new guy ONLY will say 3 or 4 things about basketball which can be summed up as following: "take the ball to the hoop and avoid jump shots, and it's an easy game." Gee, thanks, I guess that's all I need to know to become a hall of fame coach! I'm already done with football...once Tommy is goine, I'm done with basketball, too.

Hockey probably won't be far behind. You would think with HD tv and all the fancy cameras, they'd be able to identify how and where the players score their goals. But they don't even TRY to mention stuff like that...scouting reports on goalies, plays the teams run for breakouts, trap breaks, power plays, et al. You know, the GAME of hockey. Instead, it's contrived banter between the announcers about hot dogs and restaurants (I'm not exaggerating, that's really what they talk about), followed by forced laughter and nebulus commentary that boils down to- "Boston needs to be more aggressive." "Yes, John, I agree...let's go to Sarah for an interview with some washed up star that's sitting in the stands tonight, but knows nothing about hockey (but at least they can't act and never could)."

dys

[hoarder]

Protocol 13, paragraph 3:


3. In order to distract people who may be too troublesome from discussions of questions of the political we are now putting forward what we allege to be new questions of the political, namely, questions of industry. In this sphere let them discuss themselves silly! The masses are agreed to remain inactive, to take a rest from what they suppose to be political (which we trained them to in order to use them as a means of combating the GOY governments) only on condition of being found new employments, in which we are prescribing them something that looks like the same political object. In order that the masses themselves may not guess what they are about WE FURTHER DISTRACT THEM WITH AMUSEMENTS, GAMES, PASTIMES, PASSIONS, PEOPLE'S PALACES .... SOON WE SHALL BEGIN THROUGH THE PRESS TO PROPOSE COMPETITIONS IN ART, IN SPORT IN ALL KINDS: these interests will finally distract their minds from questions in which we should find ourselves compelled to oppose them. Growing more and more unaccustomed to reflect and form any opinions of their own, people will begin to talk in the same tone as we because we alone shall be offering them new directions for thought ... of course through such persons as will not be suspected of solidarity with us.

[kiffertom]

baseball, basketball, football are athletics. these are not sports. a sport aint a sport unless it can kill you!!

[chad]

i stopped watching sports when i couldn't tell the difference between an nfl/nba/whatever game and somali rebels running around with their fists in the air, screaming.

[SLV^GLD]

The only 2 sports I can bear to watch (but do enjoy watching) are Tennis and Hockey.

I have zero investment in any of the politics or personalities, however.

[learn2swim]

The Seahawks didn't deserve to win the SB. No team has ever won a SB giving up a 75 yd touchdown run, ever. I think the last 6 years proves who was the better team by a long shot. Pittsburgh reach two more SB's while the Seahawks became a joke. If anything, the Steelers played down to the Seahawks level that game. Only whiny as losers (progressives, leftest) cry about bring victimized by the so called man. The winners overcome setbacks, and don't make excuses for their short falls.

[LastResort]

I agree with most of what you've posted. Except the Gary Bettman being a good commissioner. I am starting to believe hockey is like pro wrestling the outcomes are planned. That being said I have been enjoying this years NHL playoffs.

Edit: I just confirmed what I though. Gary Bettman is indeed a hooked nosed varmin from New York. LOL

[Awoke]

Berzerker, was that a Marx quote?

[Sparky]

To me, the turnoff isn't corruption so much as it is the attitude. Baseball is my favorite sport, but I've come to resent it the most because the players are essentially spoiled egomaniacal elitists. There's nothing at stake; the average player gets his $3 Million regardless of whether he catches the ball. He and his buddy on the opposing team are chuckling at the sucker fan who's shelling out 500 bucks so his family can watch them play for a few hours. The second most narcissistic players are in the NBA. Then comes the NFL, where at least the salaries are not guaranteed. Last is the NHL where the players remain the most genuinely competitive, though I see that changing a little bit for the worse every season as it gains popularity. This is the first season for which every NHL playoff game will be televised, so I see that becoming another prima donna league within the next few years.

[dys]

To me, the turnoff isn't corruption so much as it is the attitude. Baseball is my favorite sport, but I've come to resent it the most because the players are essentially spoiled egomaniacal elitists. There's nothing at stake; the average player gets his $3 Million regardless of whether he catches the ball. He and his buddy on the opposing team are chuckling at the sucker fan who's shelling out 500 bucks so his family can watch them play for a few hours. The second most narcissistic players are in the NBA. Then comes the NFL, where at least the salaries are not guaranteed. Last is the NHL where the players remain the most genuinely competitive, though I see that changing a little bit for the worse every season as it gains popularity. This is the first season for which every NHL playoff game will be televised, so I see that becoming another prima donna league within the next few years.


To me, the turnoff isn't corruption so much as it is the attitude. Baseball is my favorite sport, but I've come to resent it the most because the players are essentially spoiled egomaniacal elitists. There's nothing at stake; the average player gets his $3 Million regardless of whether he catches the ball. He and his buddy on the opposing team are chuckling at the sucker fan who's shelling out 500 bucks so his family can watch them play for a few hours. The second most narcissistic players are in the NBA. Then comes the NFL, where at least the salaries are not guaranteed. Last is the NHL where the players remain the most genuinely competitive, though I see that changing a little bit for the worse every season as it gains popularity. This is the first season for which every NHL playoff game will be televised, so I see that becoming another prima donna league within the next few years.

Kind of OT, but I vociferously disagree with you about baseball players. Baseball is the toughest sport to play in the world, not just physically but mentally. What these players have to do to stay in the league is nothing short of remarkable. Today's pitchers all have rocket ships for arms, throwing 95mph gas AND throwing nasty off-speed stuff that breaks like a whiffle ball does, AND they all throw strikes and get ahead in the count. And then even after they hit the ball the defenders are 10x better than they were 30 years ago, making anything but a very well hit ball an out 99% of the time. The percentage of men that can get on base 30% of the time at the big league level- it's probably one in a million. Think about that- one in a million, and even then half of those guys break down because their bodies can't handle the punishment of having to play a 162 game season plus spring training plus exhibition games plus practice weight training and sometimes winter ball. Bottom line: the LAST thing the very few men that make money playing baseball are doing is laughing at the fans.

dys

[Sparky]

Kind of OT, but I vociferously disagree with you about baseball players. Baseball is the toughest sport to play in the world, not just physically but mentally. What these players have to do to stay in the league is nothing short of remarkable. Today's pitchers all have rocket ships for arms, throwing 95mph gas AND throwing nasty off-speed stuff that breaks like a whiffle ball does, AND they all throw strikes and get ahead in the count. And then even after they hit the ball the defenders are 10x better than they were 30 years ago, making anything but a very well hit ball an out 99% of the time. The percentage of men that can get on base 30% of the time at the big league level- it's probably one in a million. Think about that- one in a million, and even then half of those guys break down because their bodies can't handle the punishment of having to play a 162 game season plus spring training plus exhibition games plus practice weight training and sometimes winter ball. Bottom line: the LAST thing the very few men that make money playing baseball are doing is laughing at the fans.

dys

I'm not sure I understand the correlation you are making between their talent level and their attitude. If you are saying that the focus required to achieve such a skill level would prevent them from even thinking about the fans, then there might be some truth to that. But once they attain the highest level, which you describe, then it's no longer true.

[dys]

I'm not sure I understand the correlation you are making between their talent level and their attitude. If you are saying that the focus required to achieve such a skill level would prevent them from even thinking about the fans, then there might be some truth to that. But once they attain the highest level, which you describe, then it's no longer true.

Responding to the following quote...

To me, the turnoff isn't corruption so much as it is the attitude. Baseball is my favorite sport, but I've come to resent it the most because the players are essentially spoiled egomaniacal elitists. There's nothing at stake; the average player gets his $3 Million regardless of whether he catches the ball. He and his buddy on the opposing team are chuckling at the sucker fan who's shelling out 500 bucks so his family can watch them play for a few hours.

First of all, the notion that they are spoiled.... I can't agree with that. Just the physical side of it, with travel and weights and practice and cage work and turf, etc.... And the mental side is MUCH tougher. Dealing with the media, pressure from coaches, fans booing, players trying to take their jobs, playing with injuries, (the big one) dealing with slumps, mechanical adjustments, etc. This is not just a talent thing, it's a mental war. You may think about Albert Pujols or something, and it's true he gets paid no matter what. But the vast majority of major league ballplayers are 4A guys or borderline starters....one bad week and it's a demotion to the minor leagues, a trade, a release, an injured reserve list, the bench.
I used to play competitive softball, and you'd be surprised how many talented guys couldn't handle the pressure of a couple of 0-4s in a row. I don't care how much money they make. Human nature is such that it is tough to deal with failure under the best of circumstances. Baseball is all about failure as the best players fail at least 60% of the time...add media scrutiny, competing for a job, fans booing, and a physical toll that is just about as tough as it gets, and you have a task that is monumental in order to succeed. The level of commitment not just to get to the major leagues, but to stay there, is astronomical. These guys might be cocky, but if they are, rightfully so.
Baseball is such a tough game.

[JDRock]

hmmm...years of honorable sports figures,and then ? Jew owners take over and hire black and hispanic athletes and it goes to shiiite. anyone else not surprized?

[LuckyStrike]

Berzerker, was that a Marx quote?

The source as I have seen it is


Israel Cohen, A Racial Program for the Twentieth Century, 1912. Also in the Congressional Record, Vol. 103, p. 8559, June 7, 1957

[PatColo]

Jim Fetzer interviews this dood, 2 hours:


Sunday, February 8, 2015

The Dark Side of Sports Brian Tuohy - MP3 (http://s58.podbean.com/pb/13d09f806caebf6575f6f63747ca4447/54d80783/data2/blogs60/722245/uploads/TheRealDealep12mp3.mp3)

Professional sports in America: it's all about fair play and the goal of winning championships. At least that's the spin. But could it be a massive showbiz operation filled with greedy owners, crooked referees, and coddled players, all with the unstated goal of grabbing as much money as possible?With author Brian Tuohy, this episode provides a extended discussion of the corruption that has infected the storied histories of the NBA, MLB, NFL, NHL, and NASCAR. On the even of Super Bowl 2015, Jim interviews the expert on the corrupt side of sports, where they discuss the Patriots and the Colts, Spygate and Deflategate. With reality obscured by a complacent and often complicit sports media, Brian Tuohy shines a light on a hidden history of clandestine arrangements between television networks and sports leagues, all against a background of drinking, drugging, and crime.

Posted by Jim Fetzer (http://www.blogger.com/profile/05539733121153973439) at 5:06 PM 1 comment: (http://radiofetzer.blogspot.com/2015/02/the-dark-side-of-sports-brian-tuohy.html#comment-form)