(#20) Cal Ripken's Streak Was Saved After His Wife Slept With Kevin Costner
Everyone loves a good sports sex scandal as much as they love a good sports accomplishment. So it makes sense that Cal Ripken Jr.’s historic consecutive games played streak would be the subject of a sexcapade urban legend. In this case, it’s that in 1997, Ripken found his wife in bed with actor Kevin Costner, and was so distraught (or injured in a fistfight with Costner) that he couldn’t play that day – which would end his streak. So the team cooked up a fake electrical problem with their stadium, resulting in a canceled game, giving Ripken time to cool off.
Everyone involved has denied the incident ever happened, with Costner threatening to knock the heads off a pair of sports DJs who claimed it was true.
(#18) Tyson vs. Douglas Was Fixed
Mike Tyson was the most accomplished, most feared, and most powerful heavyweight boxer on the planet in 1990. And yet he lost a title fight to Buster Douglas, a guy perceived as an overweight tomato can that Tyson would destroy. Obvious candidate for a fix, right? Boxing experts agree that while Tyson went into the bout as the superior fighter, he was under-prepared and took his win for granted, not counting on running into an opponent who trained maniacally and would have the night of his life.
Douglas never repeated his success, and once he got a huge payday for fighting Evander Holyfield, faded into obscurity.
(#7) Michael Jordan's Father Was Murdered Because Of Gambling Debt
Michael Jordan’s gambling habit was always an open secret among NBA fans. In fact, his retirement in 1993 is thought by many to have been a secret suspension because of his betting woes.
So when Jordan’s father was shot dead in 1993, seemingly at random by two men trying to rob him, rumors flew that the two were connected. However, the two killers later said they didn’t know who James Jordan was at the time, only that they stumbled on a Lexus parked in the back roads of North Carolina, and thought it was theirs for the taking.
(#6) Delonte West Hooked Up With LeBron James's Mom
One of the strangest rumors to hit pro sports in recent years is that former Cleveland Cavaliers player Delonte West was carrying on affair with LeBron James’s mother – and that when it came to light, it destroyed the team and ended West’s NBA career. The source of the rumor was an email that started going around the day after the Cavs were eliminated from the 2010 NBA playoffs by Boston.
As with almost all chain emails, its original source is lost to history, with the whistleblower being anyone from a contractor at the Cavs home arena to a relative of James to some guy somebody knew. The fact that it was impossible to attribute also made it impossible to kill, and it went from chain email to national news in a week. Since then James left, and then went back to the Cavs, while West bombed out of the NBA and started playing in China.
(#14) Bobby Riggs Took A Dive In The Battle Of The Sexes
Did Bobby Riggs intentionally lose to Billie Jean King in the “Battle of the Sexes” tennis match to settle his gambling debts? Neither Riggs nor King ever claimed anything of the sort. King claimed she played as if Riggs was trying to beat her, and that she was just the better player that day.
And though the game was played under normal rules of tennis (as opposed to rules modified to help King), Riggs was 25 years older than King and far from in top shape. He was also unprepared and assumed he’d have no trouble beating King.
(#9) Sonny Liston Took A Dive For Muhammad Ali
It’s long been thought that Sonny Liston took a dive for Muhammad Ali (then still fighting under his birth name of Cassius Clay) when they fought for the second time in 1965. Ali’s “phantom punch” knocked Liston down in the first round, despite barely connecting with the fighter. There were rumors of some kind of mafia involvement, or possibly that Liston was deep in debt and bet against himself.
No investigation ever proved that anything untoward happened, and everyone involved denied the same. At worst, Liston might have realized Clay was going to beat the stuffing out of him, and wanted no part of it.
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Whether it is the NBA, the NFL, or other leagues, there have been a lot of conspiracy theories related to sports, most of which are rumors that the lottery companies control the games, or the league or organizers confirmed the winners. These conspiracy theories are usually justified and even citing evidence. Moreover, the penalties of many games are indeed bizarre, making these conspiracy theories more true.
Over the years, lots of sports fans said that they watch any games like watching WWE. Indeed, there are more and more commercial sports competitions. What real sports needs are fairness and justice. You will find random 21 of the biggest sports-related conspiracy theories, the generator shows more information.
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