Proven Correct

1.  During the 2002 NBA Western Conference Finals, I stated that the series was fixed and that the Kings won 6 of the 7 games with the Lakers.  It was very obvious throughout the series that it was fixed, and I not only stated this during the series, but many times since then.  Tim Donaghy, the ex-NBA ref, subsequently came out and said the series was fixed.  It is amazing to me that this was not investigated at the time, as it was blatantly obvious.

2.  During the first quarter of the Vikings-Saints 2009 NFC Championship Game, I made the statement that it was very obvious the Saints’ strategy was to intentionally hurt Favre and put him out of the game.  This became obvious early, and continued throughout the game.  He was hit hard after handing off, and illegally hit in other ways.  I said this throughout the game, and have repeated it many times since.  The Saints nearly broke his ankle and hurt him badly at the end of the third quarter, which is just one example.  The week after the game, the NFL V.P. of Officiating did come out with a video talking about some of these hits and how they should have been called penalties.  This past week, stories came out that said Saints linebacker Jonathan Vilma offered any teammate $10,000 to knock Favre out of the game.  What is amazing to me is that the league did not investigate this at the time, since the hits on Favre were so ridiculous and illegal, and so obviously an intent to take him out of the game.

In both instances, the leagues did nothing about these things, even though they were both obvious and against everything sports should be, even to the point of casting doubts on the credibility of the leagues, until the information came out in other ways.  If I as a fan can easily see these things, you know it’s obvious the leagues were aware of this.

One more example:  In the 1994 NBA playoffs where the Bulls were playing the Knicks in Game 5, I told people that morning BEFORE the refs were announced that Hue Hollins would be reffing that game, and that he would make a call at the end of the game to cost the Bulls the game. I said this the morning of the game! What do you know?! Hollins and his crew got assigned to the game, and the Pippen “foul” call at the end cost the Bulls the game and series, and probably the championship. And, that was far from the worst call, as there were many terrible calls throughout the game.