The Conspiracy Narrative Around Here (1 Viewer)

[Blessedog]

I have seen over the years that a lot of you are very passionate about Saints football… as am I. So how does one continue to have such a love for the game when it’s no longer fair and/or genuine??? How can someone who believes these conspiracies still follow the sport? Why would anyone willingly allow themselves to be duped by what they perceive to be a farce? How can you love the games???

Does the NFL specifically conspire against the Saints and only the Saints? No.

Do they likely setup narratives and matchups and purposely keep teams in games late via penalty? Probably.

Do they do everything in their power to drive up revenue and can that potentially bleed over into very gray areas? Absolutely.

If you believe any of these to be true then you believe the NFL rigs games/matchups that favor higher revenue generating outcomes.

I don't think anyone believes that football games are as fake as wrestling but I do think that people understand that the NFL has a vested interest in who wins games and the storylines that can be created out of that. Does it always work out? Absolutely not. Does that mean they won't do their best to ensure that it does play out so they can generate max revenue? Absolutely not.

 

[Saint Jack]

Does the NFL specifically conspire against the Saints and only the Saints? No.

Do they likely setup narratives and matchups and purposely keep teams in games late via penalty? Probably.

Do they do everything in their power to drive up revenue and can that potentially bleed over into very gray areas? Absolutely.

If you believe any of these to be true then you believe the NFL rigs games/matchups that favor higher revenue generating outcomes.

I don't think anyone believes that football games are as fake as wrestling but I do think that people understand that the NFL has a vested interest in who wins games and the storylines that can be created out of that. Does it always work out? Absolutely not. Does that mean they won't do their best to ensure that it does play out so they can generate max revenue? Absolutely not.

But that’s not how conspiracies work.
On one hand, it’s like the NFL is the puppetmaster controlling every outcome of the game, then there are some times we’re it doesn’t work out.
You can’t have it both ways.

 

[IbanezSaint]

While I don't believe the NFL is doing anything obvious like straight up rigging outcomes of games, you can't ignore data. The disparity of penalties immediately after the "no call" in the 2018 playoff game looks a lot like causation vs simply correlation. Just seems to be too many factors to just be purely coincidence.

 

[TheRamboTX]

OP, I would urge you to watch one of the videos about the NBA scandal involving the NBA ref Tim Donaghy.

Setting up your poll as the only two options being 1) wrestling level of choreographed wins and losses versus 2) zero bias and everyone is treated perfectly equal and fair leaves a lot of other options out.

In the NBA scandal, the ref was letting the mob know who was going to win before the game based just on what the league was telling the refs that day to emphasize in the game.

I believe that the NFL has admitted to changing what it's refs emphasize, even while the season is ongoing, right?

Check out the reporting in the 2019 season when holding calls were a point of emphasis going into the season. Then, after a couple of games, Al Riveron had a conference call with the refs and they changed the emphasis. There was a lot of reporting on it because Brady had complained and then the emphasis changed.

I think bias is there, emphasis changes games, and there are relationships that lead to disparate treatment (knowingly or not).

 

[OldTimeGamer1966]

I agree with Bill wholeheartedly . The whole Rams no call game is just a person's perception it's not some great conspiracy we should have that game sewed up by the end of the 3rd quarter watch the game with a neutral vision.

If anything the defense faltered in the end also the offense missed opportunity after opportunity it was a total team failure. There have been games where the officiating has been one sided against us but you can see this happen in a lot games it's not like we are the only team getting the short end of the stick. I only watch what's on TV if it's the Saints then I will watch but my enthusiasm for NFL and the way it is run has fallen off dramatically so this year I have totally put it to rest the NFL has ruined football for me it's just boring now due crappy calls at crucial times in a game it does ruin the whole experience.

 

[Bill]

Let’s think of a different angle:
How do the Saints sign free agents to play here knowing that it’s ‘iffy’ at best that the league might allow us a shot at another Lombardi? Do we just tell these kids that the feud is over between us and the league? Do we just look for kids who only care about getting the most money without any hope of a championship? Or do we (heaven forbid) just not let the cat out of the bag that we are a condemned team by the league and leave them to discover this travesty on their own?

What a dilemma we face when looking for some needed talent on a team that really has no chance of success anymore!

 

[liveoakh]

No, but what we do have is many different rule books and punishments for many different teams and owners. Who routinely put there thumb on the scale for things that happen off the field. But, the "in game" fix............no! That would be a scandal bigger than the Black Sox scandal in base ball.

 

[texasjefe]

"Is the NFL rigging games?" is a question I've heard for 40 years. The NFL can privately hope for a business win from action on the field, but i am not one to believe that officials got a coded or verbal memo instructing them to help one team over another.

Did Tommylee get mauled? of course he did but it was a bang-bang play and I believe the officials who had core responsibility for the call, led by Vinovich, had a brain freeze. Then they looked to the head referee to bail the missed call out, but the head referee felt he himself had not seen enough to rule on it or throw a late flag. Since it was not reviewable, the no-call stood.

In earlier years, the missed call would have devastated me. But now, at the older age and with the Saints finally having a Super Bowl ring, I'm pragmatic about the incompetence and abuse of the NFL and the officials. It did not bother me. I do not play or coach in the game, so I have absolutely zero control over the events or outcome. To win, you have to beat your opponent AND the officials.

What has always been a sore-point for me is why did the Saints end up throwing the ball to TLL at that moment? He's a smallish under-performing no-name, and a more higher-profile receiver gets that call. Throughout almost the entire Payton era, including this moment in time, the Saints have rolled out an under-stocked receiving corps.

You beat the official in that Rams NFCCG by not blowing a fat lead, or by Dan Arnold not letting a dagger TD catch trickle out of his hands.

 

[dtc]

Frankly I find all the dialog on the SSF pertaining to a systematic mandate of favoritism by the NFL to be both paranoidal & childish.
"Whaaaaaaa, they don't like my team! Whaaaaaaaa!!!"

I am finding this mindset among many (if not most) of the members to be at least somewhat irritating. And i really don't get it for a LOT of reasons. But I thought I'd attempt to see just how prevalent this thinking is around here by making a poll. It's up to you is you wish to respond to it. I won't ask for identification. It's just to see how far we've all moved into the ranks of conspiracy theorists.

I completely agree. The notion that the NFL has it out for the Saints is preposterous and I have no idea why so many have such a deeply rooted persecution complex around here.

Frankly, it's pitiful.

 

[Snakehead]

It's mind boggling that some people actually think the NFL is on the up and up.

 

[SystemShock]

Did Tommylee get mauled? of course he did but it was a bang-bang play

So you haven't seen the play?

 

[DCTransplant]

Every incident is separate, and no, it doesn't necessarily mean that 'the league' has it out for the Saints. I'm not a conspiracy theorist. Conspiracies require multiple people planning in advance, and I don't think that happened in either of the 2 blatantly ridiculous incidents that have happened to the Saints in the last 10 years.

1) Bountygate - The most unfair and harsh discipline levied on a team that I've ever seen. Why? Goodell's dislike for Payton + threat of lawsuits. Not a conspiracy, just 1 evil clown face.

2) The no-call - I've watched a lot of football. I've seen a lot of missed calls. I've NEVER seen one missed that was a) more obvious and b) more influential on the outcome of a game that determined who was in the Super Bowl. Those things together suggest that the league would want to get it right for their own credibility. That clearly was not the case. That's the known.... The unknown is WHY? And I blame no one for coming up with any semi-plausible theory.

I don't agree that those 2 things together suggest the league is out to get the Saints... but those are 2 pretty freaking major incidents that completely derailed the best 2 teams we've had since the Super Bowl win.... So yeah, people may go to the well a bit too much about league bias against us, but it does not mean there aren't legitimate suspicion of those incidents.... Nobody gets to attribute those to paranoid Saints fans. Not until they can reasonably explain them away.

 

[SuperDome]

This was NOT a bang-bang play…

 

[Bill]

OP, I would urge you to watch one of the videos about the NBA scandal involving the NBA ref Tim Donaghy.

I know the story. When did I ever say that there have never been any dishonest/cheating officials in the NFL?
I happen to believe that there was (likely) some bias by the ref that blew the call in the Rams NFCCG. I mean, the dude was from Los Angeles.
My guess is that a Saints fan who became an NFL official could possibly show the same bias if he was making a call in a game that would help the Saints.

But that is far different than what I'm talking about here. For me it just gets a bit irritating on this forum when every time a flag is thrown on the Saints in a critical situation someone on here jumps in quickly to post, "The FIX is in!" And then a few pages of dialog is written about how badly Roger Goodell has it in for the Saints.
I know that everyone is still hurt from 2018... but it's pure insanity to believe that every hurtful penalty on us is a "FIX" by the league. I just don't get it.

 

[Saint Jack]

I know the story. When did I ever say that there have never been any dishonest/cheating officials in the NFL?
I happen to believe that there was (likely) some bias by the ref that blew the call in the Rams NFCCG. I mean, the dude was from Los Angeles.
My guess is that a Saints fan who became an NFL official could possibly show the same bias if he was making a call in a game that would help the Saints.

But that is far different than what I'm talking about here. For me it just gets a bit irritating on this forum when every time a flag is thrown on the Saints in a critical situation someone on here jumps in quickly to post, "The FIX is in!" And then a few pages of dialog is written about how badly Roger Goodell has it in for the Saints.
I know that everyone is still hurt from 2018... but it's pure insanity to believe that every hurtful penalty on us is a "FIX" by the league. I just don't get it.

It doesn’t add up. The League isn’t hiding the Saints like the Jaguars or bad/small market teams.
They get put in prime time often. Heck, after Brees’ retirement the Saints got five prime time games.