In every sport, in every country around the world, there are fans on the losing side who know that something other than skill and luck beat their favorite team or player. Sometimes they're actually right. That's why sports lovers will devour this inside look at the 25 biggest myths and scandals in professional and collegiate athletics. Elliott Kalb examines each potential outrage in detail, supporting and debunking popular beliefs along the way. In some cases, proof does exist that the "fix" was in--like the 1919 World Series thrown by the Chicago "Black" Sox players or the conspiracy to keep African Americans out of Major League Baseball until 1947. In others, there remain only whispers of wrongdoing and suspicious circumstances, including the Jets' win in Super Bowl III and Muhammad Ali's first-round knockout of Sonny Liston. This is sure to capture the imagination of anyone who has ever wondered what really happened behind the scenes.
Customer Reviews:
Avg. Customer Rating: 4.0 / 5.0
An interesting read:
If you like conspiracy theories and you like American professional sports, this book is something you'll enjoy. Kalb writes well, and he gets his facts straight. Most of the stories are the ones you'd expect to read (1919 Black Sox scandal, Patrick Ewing's NBA draft, the Jets first Super Bowl, 1972 Olympic basketball final). But there are a few stories that surprised me. Kalb ends each story with his own 5-Oswald rating system, indicating the likelihood that a conspiracy really happened.
Sports conspiracies? Love it!!!:
Elliott Kalb has done a lot of sports writing and a couple of videos that I can remember off-the-bat, too. He knows his stats, and when the sports stories get a good conspiracy thing going, you've got a lot of guys hooked. This is great "toilet reading;" The kind of not-necessarily important reading one would need to know, but for the record, stuff I've sort of thought about and having seen so much of these pondered out loud for time immemorium, really cool.
Kalb covers everything from Sonny... more info
Really?:
I got this book for Christmas from my mom as a surprise gift. She knows I love sports and sports trivia, but I probably could've done without her spending $20 on this book. Maybe it's just me, but it seems like the writers sat down and named the most common conspiracies out there, and then proceeded to write a 1,500-2,000 word summary of each of them, ending each chapter (or subject) with their opinion on whether or not the conspiracy is possible. Every chapter/subject was a summary of things most... more info
For sports junkies:
Awesome collection for any sports fan or conspiracy nut. This is filled with some of the most clever theories established in the wide world of sports. From start-to-finish it is engaging.
