Conspiracy abounds in pro sports

They're out there, folks.

Lurking within the shadows of the money-driven and power-hungry form of entertainment we call sports, there lie conspiracies.

Call me stupid, but sometimes the outcome of a game or event can seem too perfect to be accepted as just another captivating moment in sports.

I never considered it until the 1998 NFC Championship game, in which the heavily favored Minnesota Vikings somehow lost to the Atlanta Falcons.

Maybe I'm biased because I'm a Vikings fan, but how did Gary Anderson, who had connected on all 35 of his field goal attempts in the regular season, miss a simple 38-yard kick indoors? And after seeing his Oscar-nominated reaction to the miscue, I began to question the situation.

My guess is the NFL conspirators paid him off to throw the game so the inferior Falcons could advance and become the whipping boys for the AFC champion Denver Broncos in Super Bowl XXXIII. As a result, legendary Broncos quarterback John Elway rode off into the sunset of retirement with another Super Bowl ring on his finger.

Still think I'm crazy? Well, I'm not the only one privy to the schemes of professional sports.

During the 2001 NBA Eastern Conference Finals between the Milwaukee Bucks and Philadelphia 76ers, Bucks guard Ray Allen implied that NBA commissioner David Stern forced the referees to make questionable calls against the Bucks so they would lose.

Allen thought the league wanted to ensure that the dream matchup between the 76ers, led by MVP Allen Iverson, and the Los Angeles Lakers occurred in the Finals.

The driving force behind these and other conspiracies is money.

On the surface, professional sports leagues serve the purpose of entertaining their viewers with jaw-dropping plays, close competition and fantastic finishes.

But behind every organization is a corporate world focused on accumulating the maximum amount of dollars in order to satisfy fans with dramatic contests, please players with fat contracts and place prized newcomers in major marketing areas for publicity.

A prime example of such foul play is the 1985 NBA Draft. The most coveted player in the draft pool was Georgetown's Patrick Ewing, and the mecca of the entertainment market is by far the city of New York. So with the Knicks having a chance to win the No. 1 pick, I guess the temptation to conspire was just too great.

Back then, the draft order was decided randomly by picking white envelopes out of a clear globe, and the theory goes that NBA officials froze New York's envelope beforehand so that Stern would know which one to avoid until the final drawing.

In addition to monetary motives, conspiracies can also come about in order to create those "feel-good" moments in sports.

In the 2001 MLB All-Star game, 40-year-old Cal Ripken blasted a solo moonshot off the first pitch he saw from Chan Ho Park. This home run on a perfectly placed fastball was all Ripken needed to win the MVP award in his final all-star contest. Go figure.

Of course, such scheming behavior does not occur on a regular basis since there is only so much the powers that be can do to control athletic activity.

But in America, money talks in ways that some players and organizations can't refuse if they want to survive in the demanding business world of sports.

Maybe the recently canceled NHL should have considered a conspiracy or two.

Contact Brandon Parker at bcparker@email.unc.edu.