My friends, we can rise from our sofas tonight, as we have done every night, win or lose, and buy into the tale THEY want you to believe - or we can make a choice. A choice to NOT believe the falsehoods. A choice to REJECT the official version of the events of Wednesday, April 23, 2014. A choice to ask the questions that MUST be asked.
Many of you are hesitant. "We watched the game. It was a fair game, and the Spurs lost.", you'd say. Until this fateful night in April, I was one of you. I once believed that such sporting "spectacles" were honest competitions. But after that travesty of a so-called Dallas Mavericks "win", I have for now and ever turned my back on such naivete.
We are being DECEIVED. And there is ample evidence to lift the veil from our eyes for evermore!
SEEDING: THE UNEXPLAINABLE
Have you studied the history of the NBA? Since 1984 (note the symbolism - they aren't even masking their intentions), the NBA playoffs have featured sixteen teams: eight Western Conference teams, eight Eastern Conference teams. The team that earns the best record in its conference meets the playoff team with the worst record in round one. When you read over those history pages, you will find that #1 versus #8 is always a colossal mismatch. 1984: Lakers 3, Kings 0. 1985: Lakers 3, Suns 0. 1986: Lakers 3, Spurs 0; Celtics 3, Bulls 0. 1987: Lakers 3, Nuggets 0; Celtics 3, Bulls 0. On and on and on it goes.
But, the pro-NBA "skeptic" will say, what about the change in format, when the NBA changed round one from best-of-five to best-of-seven in 2003? Well, let's look at that, then. 2004: Pacers 4, Celtics 0. 2005: Heat 4, Nets 0. 2007: Pistons 4, Magic 0. Just last year, the Heat swept the Bucks, 4-0. On and on it goes.
A sixty-win team might win as many as 69 games. A forty-win team might win as few as 40 games. Yet, we are supposed to believe that a sixty-win Spurs team, seeded #1, could be tied 1-1 after two games against a forty-win, #8 seeded Mavericks team?
Not convinced? Well, let's move to the scene of the crime to uncover further evidence.
PANDORA'S BOX SCORE
Who would you assume won a game when one team shot 50% and the other shot 48.9%? What about a game where one team shot 50% from the three-point line and the other shot 38.1%? Here's another one: how about a game when one team shot nearly TWICE as many free throws as the other? The official version of events simply doesn't jibe with the reality we've been conditioned to believe in.
The leading scorer in the so-called "game" was Manu Ginobili. Question: Who is the most successful basketball player of all time? Michael Jordan, of course. As we all know, Jordan's Chicago Bulls rarely lost, and Jordan was always the game's leading scorer. In so doing, Jordan was able to turn the process of winning into a science, i.e., the team with the leading scorer wins the game. And of course, Ginobili was a great admirer of Jordan's as a young player.
The Spurs out-shot the Mavericks. The Spurs were much superior from the three-point line. The Spurs got to the free-throw line with greater frequency. And a Spur, Manu Ginobili, led the game in scoring. But we are all supposed to believe that the Mavericks "won" "game" "two". Color me unimpressed.
LARGE MARKET ROYALTY
ESPN, the so-called "Worldwide Leader in Sports", is a corporate partner with the NBA. In 2002, ESPN and ABC acquired the broadcast rights to NBA basketball games to the tune of $400 million dollars per season. With that kind of dough at stake, the NBA wants the most bang for its buck. How can the NBA accomplish this? Answer: you reward the largest fanbases (ie, largest TV markets). Which are those, you ask?
1. New York City
2. Los Angeles
3. Chicago
4. Philadelphia
5. Dallas
6. San Francisco
7. Boston
And how many NBA championships have those cities won? In sixty-seven seasons, those cities - represented by the Knicks, Lakers, Bulls, 76ers, Mavericks, Warriors, and Celtics - have won 48 championships. Throw in the next four TV markets - Atlanta, Washington DC, Houston, and Detroit - and the number grows to 56 out of sixty-seven. With that in mind, note that only one franchise outside the top 40 US TV markets has appeared in an NBA Finals since 1960.
Let's go back to the NBA's broadcast partner, ESPN. In 2009, ESPN launched a local website venture covering various markets around the country. Which markets, you ask?
ESPNNewYork.com
ESPNLosAngeles.com
ESPNChicago.com
ESPNDallas.com
ESPNBoston.com
Media markets #1, 2, 3, 5, and 7. QED.
WE WILL LOOSE CHANGE UPON THEM!
All of this 100% factual evidence will serve as the backbone to my upcoming documentary FOULED OUT, due to release some time after the NBA Finals...if THEY don't shut us down. Jesse Ventura will serve as narrator, Jim Marrs is our head of research, and we've got my second cousin Mark who edited a VHS tape once. Mark my words: Game two of Spurs-Mavericks 2014 will unleash a fierce tidal wave of apathy unlike the world has ever seen before.