You may be asking yourself, "Djehuty, why would you write an article on something so trivial as professional sports, professional basketball to be exact?" Well, it's because I want to convey to you that even your illusions are controlled here in the Matrix. Everything serves a purpose and everything on the mundane realm of existence is political. Politics means to control! And I'm saying that professional sports are controlled! Not each and every game, but certain ones are. Team schedules are also controlled too and for a very good reason, well, a very good business reason.
 When it comes to NBA (National Basketball Association) playoff games, I know certain games are rigged, but you see, it's all NBA politics! And it makes perfectly good sense, well, perfectly good business sense.
In the playoffs, 7th games are good for business and television ratings. The NBA needs 7th Games. After all, let's keep it real - the NBA is a business first and foremost.
An NBA referee, Tim Donaghy, exposed the NBA a few years ago and told how referees and NBA executives determined games. Donaghy admitted how refs extended the 2002 Western Conference Finals between Sacramento and the Lakers and how it was they, and not the players on the court, who determined a 7th and final game between the two clubs. Donaghy admitted this to the F.B.I. So while NBA Commissioner, David Stern, denied the allegations, I'm asking the question, "Why would this guy (Donaghy) lie to the F.B.I.?" It's the NBA who stands to lose if their refs and executives are determining games, not Donaghy.
It's all about inside politics and television markets. Had Sacramento defeated the Lakers, the 2002 NBA Finals would have featured the Sacramento Kings versus the New Jersey Nets, which would have been horrible for ratings.
Los Angeles has a way larger television market than Sacramento. Los Angeles has the second largest television market in the nation behind New York City. It only made good business sense that the Lakers prevailed in that decisive Game 7 against the Sacramento Kings.
So make no mistake, it does matter what team makes it to the NBA Finals, and the NBA prefers a team in a major television market. So if the choice is between the Los Angeles Lakers and Sacramento, who do you think the NBA would prefer to go to the Finals to represent the Western Conference?
As former Milwaukee Bucks guard Ray Allen, now a member of the Boston Celtics, said in 2001 while playing for the Bucks, "Philadelphia has a larger market than Milwaukee so we're not wanted in the NBA Finals (against the Los Angeles Lakers). Philadelphia is a major city and has a major television market. Though Milwaukee too is a major city, its television market is not larger than Philadelphia.
Allen's words proved true back in 2001 because Philadelphia went on to defeat Milwaukee in the conference Finals but ended up losing to Shaq and Kobe's Lakers, 4 games to 1.
So television markets are important, especially during the NBA Finals. At first, you could only see NBA games on CBS, ABC, or NBC, whichever major network won the NBA package bidding; but things changed when more networks came into the picture. So while CBS may have had the rights to broadcast regular season games on Sunday afternoons, cable networks like TNT and ESPN soon offered deals to the NBA that allowed weekly NBA broadcasts on weekdays and weekends.
Television broadcasting packages equals big bucks for the NBA!
Ever wondered why the NBA has back-to-back games but only for ROAD games? It's to ensure that home teams win. Home teams must win at home because this is how home teams make their money (profit), by winning at home.
Fans come to see their favorite teams play at home, not on the road. Also, fans come to see their team win! If home teams don't win the majority of their home games, this is bad for business for the particular team because fans won't come out and see and support a losing team, not if the losing persists and there are consistent losing seasons. Nobody wants to be associated with losing, except for rare, diehard fans that may remember their losing team's winning and glory days decades ago.
NBA teams need those seats sold at home games, for every seat sold equates to profits for the team, and again, it makes perfectly good business sense because the NBA is a business, just like every other professional sports league.
So there's a reason why in the NBA you will see back-to-back road games.
So you will see the Lakers playing Miami (which could be a good team) on Tuesday night and then the very next night you'll see the Lakers playing Vancouver (which could be a sorry team) but losing to Vancouver because of being tired from playing just the previous night whereas Vancouver is coming off a 2-3 day rest or hiatus.
The rested home team clearly has the advantage over the traveling road team which may have just played the previous night or perhaps 2 games in just 3 days. It's set up like this by the NBA so as to make sure NBA teams win at home.
You have never seen an NBA team play back-to-back home games within a 24-hour period; and perhaps you never will! Yeah, a team may plat at home Sunday night and then at home again Tuesday night, but the team will never play Sunday night at home and then again at home on Monday!
Playing at home energizes a team due to the fan's energy. But when you play on the road (as a visiting team or road team), the visiting team is tired, drained, and exhausted from playing the previous night; so the home team is charged because they are rested, perhaps by 2-3 days, and then they have all that energy from their fans that create a grid within the home team's stadium or arena, so this aids a home team in winning the game, well, at least on average because of course there are exceptions to the rule when you have good teams like the Cleveland Cavaliers, Los Angeles Lakers, Boston Celtics, San Antonio Spurs, and Orlando Magic, who play great on the road and for obvious reasons - superstar talent (i.e. LeBron James, Kobe Bryant, Kevin Garnet, Tim Duncan, Tony Parker, Dwight Howard, et al), great coaching staff (i.e. Phil Jackson, Doc Rivers, Greg Popovich, et al.), and a good bench and great team chemistry.
So, it doesn't always go like this (road team losing to rested home team) when you are dealing with good teams like the Boston Celtics or Los Angeles Lakers, teams who are clearly exceptions to the rule here.
But usually when a good team loses to a sorry team, it's because the good team played the previous night and the sorry team didn't.
And yes, sometimes good teams have bad nights and bad teams have good nights. Clearly, another exception to the rule!
So you will never see your favorite NBA team play home games on consecutive nights like they play road games on consecutive nights and now you know why.
Now if you're an avid basketball fan, you may have noticed how things seem to change during the playoffs. The regular season really doesn't count. It's the playoffs that count! And it's the referees, believe it or not, that determine the playoffs.
You don't think so? Well, consider the following:
"Between Games 3 and 4 of the NBA Finals, disgraced ex-referee Tim Donaghy said that a handful of past postseason games were called impartially by the referees to extend a series per the machinations of the League and stations carrying the postseason games. It is believed that one game Donaghy was referring to was Game 6 of the WCF in the 2002 NBA Playoffs between the Kings and Lakers, a game the Lakers won to force a Game 7 in Sacramento." Lakers News Commentary
Here's what another source said about the whole scandal:
 "NBA Playoff Series was fixed! So says ex-NBA referee Tim Donaghy. Donaghy told the feds that two refs fixed the outcome of one playoff series - and that officials were told not to eject star players from games for fear of hurting ticket sales. These shocking allegations are contained in a court document filed Tuesday by Donaghy's lawyer. It describes the "inner workings" of the NBA in which top league executives used referees to manipulate games. Donaghy pleaded guilty in Brooklyn Federal Court to charges of betting on games he officiated. He told FBI agents that "league officials would tell referees that they should withhold calling technical fouls on certain star players because doing so hurt ticket sales and television ratings," the document said."
And further,
"The referees allegedly ignored flagrant fouls committed by the team that needed to win. They also reportedly called "made-up fouls" against the other team which led to the ejection of two of their players. The team favored by the refs won that night and the next game to win the series. The document does not name the teams but the LA Lakers vs. Sacramento was the only series that went to seven games in 2002. The Nets won the Eastern conference and the LA Lakers won the Western conference. LA Lakers were the champions in 2002. Donaghy claims that he was told that two refs who were "company men" acting in the interest of the NBA conspired to extend a playoff series in 2002 to a seventh game. A supervising referee told refs than an unidentified NBA executive did not want them to call technical fouls on star players or boot them from the game."
Professional sports are also good for gambling. While legal gambling brings in about $2 billion dollars, illegal gambling is where the real money is made, with about $400 billion dollars being made. The money made from illegal gambling is too enticing, so can you really blame certain referees, athletes, managers, and team owners from betting?
Legal gambling is estimated at bringing in $2.25 billion dollars, but illegal gambling reportedly brings in $380 billion dollars:
"Kornegay said legal sports betting in Nevada represents a fraction of sports betting worldwide, with 98.5 percent of all action taken outside the state. Clayton cited a 2005 estimate by the National Gambling Impact Study Commission that found $380 billion is wagered on illegal sports betting, compared with $2.25 billion in legal sports betting in Nevada."
I used to always wonder why there were no professional sports teams in Las Vegas, especially an NBA team. Las Vegas is one of the fastest growing cities in the United States. But now, understanding the whole dynamic surrounding gambling in Vegas, I know why - the fear of betting on the Vegas-based team:
"Gambling long has been a problem in sports, and leagues have made a point of educating players of the potential pitfalls. The NBA, for example, discusses gambling at rookie orientation, even bringing in former mobster Michael Franceze to speak. NBA commissioner David Stern had long objected to putting a team in Las Vegas because it permits betting on basketball, though earlier this year allowed Mayor Oscar Goodman to submit a proposal to owners on how the city would handle wagering on a team if it moved there."
Strange occurrences happen in the NBA, some of which doesn't make any sense.
Have you ever thought about the dynasty Chicago Bulls teams of the 1990s? In 1998, this team had a choice to bring back the same team and coaching staff that would have most certainly secured a fourth straight NBA title for the Chicago Bulls, but the Bulls owner, Jerry Kraus, willfully broke up the team and ended the dynasty. Was Bulls owner Jerry Kraus on drugs?
Why would you break up a team that had just won its third straight NBA title and that featured the league's best player, Michael Jordan?
All Chicago had to do was bring back coach Phil Jackson and Jordan would have stayed and played again. Chicago Bulls owner Kraus knew exactly what he was doing when he decided to not bring back coach Phil Jackson.
Dynasties beyond 3 years are no good for the NBA. Why? It's bad for gambling! If you think gambling wields no control over professional sports, you better go speak to Pete Rose, former MLB (Major League Baseball) Cincinnati Reds player.
Gambling and professional sports are synonymous, especially professional football (NFL). Why do you think newspapers give spreads for NFL teams every Sunday? Because the newspapers really believe a team will win by that particular margin they selected? Hell no!
When you see Oakland Raiders by 7 (a touchdown) over Cleveland Browns, or Dallas by 17 (2 touchdowns and a field goal) over New York Jets, that's not for the fan(s). That's for the bookies and gamblers, so bets can be made. These are spreads for gabling purposes.
While Los Angeles Lakers vs. Boston Celtics was good for the NBA last year, I don't think most NBA fans wanted to see a rematch between the Lakers and Celtics this year (2009), nor did the NBA. As of right now, my prediction for an NBA Finals featuring the MVPs of the last 2 years, Kobe Bryant and LeBron James, seem imminent. I became a little suspicious when Boston coach Doc Rivers said Kevin Garnett was not coming back at all for the 2009 playoffs despite being able to play. It was no way in the world Boston was going to advance to the NBA Finals without Kevin Garnett. If anything, the decision to not bring Kevin Garnet back almost ensured a showdown between Cleveland and Los Angeles Lakers and LeBron James and Kobe Bryant, which will be monumental for the NBA, both ball clubs, and television ratings.
However, as of the writing of this article (05/17/2009), Cleveland has to get past Orlando and the Lakers have to get past a good Denver Nuggets team to ensure a NBA Finals between the two best teams and players in the NBA.
I know there is more important and serious things to talk about, but hey, sports are doing what they are meant to do - divert attention away from more serious matters. In all seriousness, as I'm just having some fun here as Dherbs.com will always focus on serious matters, I wanted to use this article to educate people on something that I have long known - professional sports games are rigged; not of all of them or even most of them, but some of them; as well as to teach people about the nature and purpose of sports - to divert attention away from serious matters.
Let's get academic here and see if there is any substantiation to my claims above.
In the word 'disport' we find the word 'sport' and on a deeper level, sports means to carry you away from more serious matters.
Disport. Noun. Diversion from work or serious matters; recreation or amusement : the King and all his Court were met for solace and disport.
ORIGIN late Middle English : from Old French desporter, from des- 'away' + porter 'carry' (from Latin portare).
Sports divert our attention away from serious matters to things of a frivolous (albeit exciting) nature.
Sports is just an aspect of "Bread and Circus" (food and entertainment) and bread and circus is exactly what you get at games because stadiums and arenas sell you plenty of junk food and the competing teams (or athletes) provide plenty of entertainment: slam dunks, 3 point buzzer beater shots, touchdowns, game-winning field goals, homeruns, and knockouts.
I'm not saying we shouldn't watch sports, as we need excitement in our lives, especially residing here in this Matrix, but we shouldn't take sports so seriously, not over more important matters such as health, financial solvency and liberty, education, restoring the U.S. economy, fixing the real estate market, getting folks off of unemployment, getting U.S. troops out foreign countries and stopping these political and corporation-induced wars (that are strictly for profit and the expense of innocent human life); keeping our relationships together and healthy, keeping a watch out for New World Order initiatives and tyranny that will take away all of our civil liberties and constitutionally protected rights, and so many other important and serious matters.
Hopefully this article stimulated you, as it was the only purpose of the article. Everything is controlled here in the Matrix, including professional sports, which is to make money for the respective leagues, owners, and ball clubs and to divert attention away from more serious matters in the mind of fans.
Sports are very powerful in the minds of the masses (fans) and many of them take sports seriously, too seriously. After all, people will actually riot when their team wins a championship. What does this say when folks will riot and loot, and even risk going to jail, all because a ball club wins a championship?
This is something to seriously think about!
Thank you for reading!
This article is compliments of Dherbs.com and Djehuty Ma'at-Ra.
Additional articles by Djehuty available @ www.dherbs.com
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