In the grip of conspiracy fever

Sporting News, The, July 23, 2001 by Jay Mariotti

Pssst. Tiger Woods plays well only when special magnets are implanted in his golf balls, causing every putt to roll hypnotically into the cup.

Pssst. Michael Jordan's last shot in Utah actually banged wildly off the glass but was superimposed into the hoop by techniques outlined on Page 339 of a secret script.

Pssst. A friend of a friend of Joe Montana's pool cleaner swears on a stack of Bibles that Montana's passing hand was attached to a football by an invisible yo-yo string.

Pssst. The world's most glamorous sportscaster, Dan Patrick, actually is a guy from Ohio named Dan Pugh.

Have you noticed how no one believes anything these days? For every warm, goose-bumped sporting triumph, a conspiracy theory is certain to lurk close behind, poised to debunk all storybook endings and Disney twists.

Some of it is comical, like the idea that Chan Ho Park was ordered to groove a lazy pitch into Cal Ripken Jr.'s wheelhouse at the All-Star Game, as if baseball's cluttered hierarchy was capable of organizing this or any other golden scene. But some of it isn't so funny, including the raging commotion that Dale Earnhardt Jr.'s recent victory at Daytona--on the very track where his father died--was choreographed by NASCAR Nation.

That told me conspiracy fever is careening out of control. It also told me sports is suffering from a serious perception problem that must be addressed. If the masses are convinced the games of our lives aren't real, that events are staged and plotted, then what's the point of watching? This should be a major concern for leagues and TV network bosses. Alas, they are too busy making money to notice their credibility and integrity are being questioned by millions of eagle-eyed consumers.

And without credibility and integrity, sports is pro wrestling.

The danger comes when the lines between sports and entertainment are blurred. I call it the Dick and Dave Syndrome. The origins of conspiracy fever are traced to the early '90s, when coaches like Phil Jackson and Pat Riley openly suggested Dick Ebersol's network, NBC, and David Stern's league, the NBA, might be tinkering with the playoffs for their own purposes. With no proof offered by their critics, Dick and Dave just laughed. But a cloud has hovered ever since, buoyed by Bucks star Ray Allen's playoff comments that the league and network wanted the larger market (Philadelphia) and bigger phenomenon (Allen Iverson) in The Finals.

"The league, as a marketing machine, is about making money. And the league knows Philadelphia is going to make more money with L.A. than we would with L.A.," Allen said. Suddenly, Dick and Dave weren't laughing.

In the perception game, it doesn't matter if sports is clean and pure. Some people simply don't trust it. Is there such an obsession with ratings, advertisers and selling the product that the very reason we have sports--competition--is lost in the corporate muck? NBC is the same network that foolishly tried to wed football and wrestling, turning the XFL into an all-time farce. Unfair as it seems, is it any wonder eyebrows raised when NBC happened to air Earnhardt Jr.'s victory in its first prime-time NASCAR telecast?

Tired of hearing coaches and media asking if referees bungle playoff games, Stern is mad and not going to take it anymore. "Given the amount of attention we get, I think we have to step up and be more vigilant," he says. "You can't, either as a joke or half-serious, impugn the integrity of a league by alleging that the league is engaging in criminal activity."

Too late. The masses are too immersed in suspicions that money has corrupted sports beyond hope. What's sad is when folks can't enjoy legitimately beautiful moments. Until further notice, I will believe Earnhardt Jr.'s win was as real as his tears, that he's a talented racer armed with a great car, good genes and plenty of reasons to be inspired.

"I feel sorry for people who think it was a setup," Earnhardt Jr. says. "The first guy who asked me about it, I about knocked the hell out of him. Why would someone think that?"

Oh, maybe because Dan Patrick's name really is Dan Pugh.

Jay Mariotti is the host of a show for Sporting News Radio and is a columnist for the Chicago Sun-Times. Listen to his show weekdays from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. (Eastern). To find an affiliate near you, e-mail affiliates@sportingnews.com, or listen live online at www.sportingnews.com.