# Conspiracy Theorists **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [September 27, 2023, 8:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/conspiracy-theorists/990788 "2023-09-27T20:27:15Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 6\ **Page:** 6
**Author:** ![Airbeck](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/airbeck/32/6574_2.png) [@Airbeck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Airbeck)\ **Post date:** [November 3, 2023, 5:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/conspiracy-theorists/990788/101 "2023-11-03T17:09:45Z")
I would think suspending the number 1 player in the game for gambling would be quite a message to the rest of the league, right? ---
**Author:** ![Atamasama](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/atamasama/32/12961_2.png) [@Atamasama](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Atamasama)\ **Post date:** [November 3, 2023, 5:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/conspiracy-theorists/990788/102 "2023-11-03T17:13:31Z")
If there needed to be a message, sure. But if it wasn’t a prolific issue with other players, and they didn’t want to drag their star player’s name through the mud, especially after his dad was murdered… But this is all speculation and it’s probably bullshit. ---
**Author:** ![Moriarty](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/moriarty/32/49_2.png) [@Moriarty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Moriarty)\ **Post date:** [November 4, 2023, 12:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/conspiracy-theorists/990788/103 "2023-11-04T00:43:44Z")
> [@Airbeck](#): > > I have heard this theory before, but isn’t part of the point of suspensions for rules violations supposed to be a an example to deter other athletes in the sport from doing the same thing? I’m not sure I get the idea of why they would want it to be extra secret, and that it is still secret all these years later? As I’ve heard it said, Jordan’s father was murdered _because_ of Jordan’s gambling debts. So, there was heat from serious underworld figures. Consider also that the underworld may have also been fixing games (Tim Donaghy would acknowledge betting on games as a ref a decade later, and yet another conspiracy theory says that the league mandated the Kobe/Shaq Lakers, and not the Sacramento Kings, in the Finals, and used the refs to make it happen). So it’s possible that the league itself (and David Stern in particular) didn’t want a big expose on gambling at the highest level of the NBA. Jordan had to lay low while he cleared his debts (and so he “retired” while still working for Jerry Reinsdorf, the owner of both the Bulls and Sox), and Stern might have been sending a message to the underworld gambling community to back down. Or something. ---
**Author:** ![straight\_man](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/straight_man/32/3027_2.png) [@straight\_man](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/straight_man)\ **Post date:** [November 4, 2023, 1:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/conspiracy-theorists/990788/104 "2023-11-04T01:03:54Z")
> [@Dissonance](#): > > For something that those involved with had no problems with it becoming openly known what was going on, it’s rather odd that it was the threat of it being publicly exposed in the media that shut it down, no? > > [Tuskegee Syphilis Study - Termination](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tuskegee_Syphilis_Study#Study_termination) As I read it, this does not show that the Tuskegee Experiment was a secret. It shows that nobody who both cared and had the power to do anything about it knew what was going on. When someone who did care and did have the power to do something about it (a reporter) looked into it, then suddenly there were consequences. Exercise Tiger might be another example. There were obvious means and motives to keep it a secret during wartime, but afterward, is there any particular reason to think that survivors weren’t telling their families/friends/etc.? Or is it just that nobody was bothering to write it into histories of World War 2? ETA: according to [a link from Wikipedia](https://www.history.navy.mil/research/library/online-reading-room/title-list-alphabetically/s/slapton-sands-the-cover-up-that-never-was.html), that’s exactly it. It stopped being a secret before the war even ended, but it didn’t reach public awareness. It’s a bit like Bill Cosby or R. Kelly or Jeffrey Epstein. It wasn’t remotely secret that they were serial sex offenders. All three of them had gone through public legal proceedings, and comedians were joking about Cosby and Macklemore was referencing R. Kelly’s problems in a #1 hit song. But nobody did much of anything about it and most people didn’t know about it, until suddenly they did. Or like the Tulsa Race Massacre, or other episodes that get lost to history and then suddenly explode into public consciousness when they match the zeitgeist, or some journalist writes a story or book about them, or some public post goes viral. These examples don’t tell us much about JFK/9/11/moon landing conspiracy theories. For something like that, pretty much anyone who knew about the conspiracy could make the information public with one phone call to the _New York Times_, so you need everyone who knows about it to be onboard with the conspiracy. That’s a whole other ballgame. ---
**Author:** ![kaylasdad99](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kaylasdad99/32/3398_2.png) [@kaylasdad99](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kaylasdad99)\ **Post date:** [November 4, 2023, 3:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/conspiracy-theorists/990788/105 "2023-11-04T03:00:42Z")
> [@Moriarty](#): > > (Tim Donaghy would acknowledge betting on games as a ref a decade later, and yet another conspiracy theory says that the league mandated the Kobe/Shaq Lakers, and not the Sacramento Kings, in the Finals, and used the refs to make it happen). Pardon (and cure) my ignorance, please: what does “_the league mandated_” mean? My initial reading is that _shadowy figures controlling the NBA decided among themselves that the championship title ought to go to the Lakers, and took steps to achieve that outcome_, but that seems kinda out there. But _is_ that the reading you intended? ETA: And if so, shouldn’t the phrase be _the ASSOCIATION mandated_, on account of they call themselves an association, rather than a league? ---
**Author:** ![Moriarty](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/moriarty/32/49_2.png) [@Moriarty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Moriarty)\ **Post date:** [November 4, 2023, 12:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/conspiracy-theorists/990788/106 "2023-11-04T12:11:20Z")
> [@kaylasdad99](#): > > Pardon (and cure) my ignorance, please: what does “_the league mandated_” mean? Here ya go > [@](#): > > According to Donaghy, NBA executives directed referees “to manipulate games” in order to “boost ticket sales and television ratings,” and he cited several examples. Although the team names were withheld, Donaghy pointed to Game 6 of the 2002 Western Conference finals as one such instance. > > The Los Angeles Lakers shot 40 free throws in that game - 27 in the fourth quarter - and beat Sacramento, 106-102, forcing a seventh game. The Lakers went on to win the series and beat the Nets for their third straight NBA title. > > The letter describes a 2002 playoff series that went seven games; the Western Conference finals was the only series to require seven games. > > According to Lauro’s letter: “Tim learned from Referee A that Referees A and F wanted to extend the series to seven games. Tim knew Referees A and F to be ‘company men,’ always acting in the interest of the NBA, and that night, it was in the NBA’s interest to add another game to the series.” The game was refereed by three tenured veterans, Dick Bavetta, Ted Bernhardt and Bob Delaney. [https://www.nytimes.com/2008/06/11/sports/11iht-REF.1.13635698.html#:~:text=Tim%20knew%20Referees%20A%20and,Ted%20Bernhardt%20and%20Bob%20Delaney](https://www.nytimes.com/2008/06/11/sports/11iht-REF.1.13635698.html#:~:text=Tim%20knew%20Referees%20A%20and,Ted%20Bernhardt%20and%20Bob%20Delaney). [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/conspiracy-theorists/990788.md?page=5)