The Fix Is In: The Showbiz Manipulations of the NFL, MLB, NBA, NHL and NASCAR

Brian Tuohy exposes something much more significant in this book than just about the on going fixes and manipulations in American sports. I believe the usage of the word "Fix" in this title carries multiple connotations because the "Fix" goes beyond than just the mere simple and complex factors that influence sports outcomes but how psychologically it serves as fix from reality for the vast majority of American people.We all know how sports is such a widespread topic of conversation wherever you go; from the gym locker rooms; the office; the bar scenery; academics; family dinner tables; etc. It maybe the number one go to for small talk as well, "So, how about them Yankees" ? So where am I going with all of this ? Sports is becoming more of an unhealthy obsession than ever before. Don't get me wrong, I loved playing sports when I was a child and even now as an adult but I had much difficulty in serving the role as a spectator when it came to sports. I couldn't actually sit down and watch endless hours of sports chewing up my weekend time. For some, this is pure relaxation and it is all good; for another segment of the population it is revisiting an old past time. I get it. It's sheer entertainment and their is nothing wrong with that.What Brian focuses on in the beginning of this book is how unappreciated the average fan is. From a business perspective, fans are on the bottom of the totem pole; fans will spend their hard earned dollars on 10$ hot dogs, 8$ beers, 20$ parking, inflated seat prices, the works. And yet little does the fan know how uncaring these franchises really appreciate their dollars. How many fans will return to work on Monday morning with their heads down and their spirits broken only because "their" team failed to clinch a playoff sport or that "their" team lost to a rivalry in overtime. Guess what? A lot of people experience this. In all honesty, I couldn't step into a sports arena or stadium without feeling completely scammed or swindled. Besides the inflated prices, these sports athletes are not even playing the game honestly anymore. I thought the foundation of professional sports was supposed to be based on a special God given talent or natural ability. Nope. That has been thrown out the window a long long time ago. And yet sports fans will memorize and brag about their favorite athlete stats as if they were earned honestly. Do I need to go into spy scandals and illegal surveillance in club arena's ? Cheating is rampant in sports and I question the validity of these championships. Many of them are tainted. So let's not take these championships so seriously. But don't ever say that to a die hard fan because you may end up in the hospital.Most fans will say they understand that sports is business so why were so many fans in Cleveland booing Lebron James when he decided to play for Miami?Update 2015:And Here we go again. Fast Forward to 2014 and what happens ?! Lebron James returns to the Cleveland Cavaliers only to be welcomed with cheers and gigantic banners sporting bold letters, "Welcome back King James". Huh ? As time and time again proves, the average fan, although not very bright or sharp always manage to make room for forgiveness for their favorite athlete. One minute they're spitting on you and the next minute they're worshiping the ground you walk on. Similarly, when it comes cheating or any other act of dishonesty in professional sports, fans forgive this too in a blink of an eye. And if the cheating led to multiple championships, well, that's not really talked about, more like swept under the rug. But who cares, right ? If you're not cheating, you're not trying. It is tough to "crack down" on illegal drugs in sports when it provides such a powerful financial incentive for owners; players improve their performance illegally; ticket sales go up; commercials pay top dollar for television spots. It's a feeding trough. Standards are sacrificed to profit. Where else could one be convicted of a felony crime and serve a measly year and a half sentence only to be awarded a 100 million dollar contract ?But the sickness goes beyond that, how about sports fans beating other opposing sports fans into Comas simply because they were wearing a different jersey ? It's pathetic to say the very least. A few weeks ago, I saw an ESPN commercial showing "Die Hard" Fans who express their pride by having their favorite sports franchise logo on their tombstone. What is going on here ? Do people not realize how sick and depraved this culture is ? Would a stadium return the favor to Joe Six Pack who earns an income below the poverty line and hasn't seen his waistline since his childhood years an engraved plated space on a stadium seat ? I don't think so.With the aid of technology via smart phones sports has been elevated to a lifestyle of obsession. Countless times I will ride the subway or step into the office and see people on their phones checking up on the latest updates whether it is injuries, trades, drafts, or their precious fantasy league. Brian spends a short segment of the book on Fantasy league but I have much more to say about it. Once upon a time, sports fans would only follow their favored team but now since one's fantasy team involves players from all different teams in real time you have sports fans watching every game because each of these players performance affects their league. It's incredible.I conclude this review with the same question that Brian poses in the beginning of his book, "why do we even care about sports ? Personally, if sports disappeared I could care less. For some people this may be an apocalyptic scenario. I will take Brian's psychological argument further which is people are attracted to a sense of social belonging. Fair enough. This explains why sports fans grip so tightly to their winnings, loses, and championships almost as if they were theirs. Fans will use the personal pronoun "We" when referring to their team as if they were out there playing with them. It's so sad because on the other side, the team that they worship, has little or to no clue as to who their fans are. Nor do they care.As it was said of the masses under the Roman Empire that "The once sovereign people has thrown its cares to the winds, limits its ambitions and only asks anxiously for two things, bread and the games of the circus. "Updated 2015:I just couldn't help myself to stand silent after all of the endless commotion for "Super Bowl" week. Year after Year this mindless spectacle is praised and overly hyped more than ever; the interviews, the speculation, the dumb down commercials, the uneventful musical performances, the multi-million dollar tv ad spots......and yes, oh yes, we can't forget about the Scandals, or in this particular case, "Deflate Gate. " Another Scandal is exposed in the NFL and a lot of open questions still remain unanswered.The returning champions (Seahawks) lose to a franchise (Patriots) that has a checkered past when it comes to, well you know, playing the game honestly. After 11 of 12 footballs in the AFC vs NFC championship game were discovered to be under inflated or deflated below the required NFL standard, the Patriots seem to have escaped unscathed with a fresh new Lombardy Trophy. Sports commentators discuss dynasty, legacy, the hall of fame but very few of them failed to mention this scandal and their questionable past during the big game. Not really a surprise considering they wouldn't want to tarnish the image of the NFL. After all, the NFL pays these people a very generous salary to talk about absolutely nothing. But it is quite simple folks, a team is caught cheating their way to the championship game and so far nothing has happened, except the Patriots receiving more glory and praise after they won. Are you surprised ? I hope not. The patriots are good at denying and the commissioner (Roger Goodell) is, well, not so good at covering up another scandal. However, he is good at protecting the profits of the owners. Having a commissioner of the NFL is like having a fox run the hen house; the NFL teams are all profit sharing. The teams, including the commissioner, have a very big interest in these sort of outcomes. How can there be any ounce of integrity in a league where profits always reign king ? Easy. There simply can't be. It's impossible. Integrity will always be sacrificed for profits. A punishment dolled out to the Patriots before the big game would concede that they did cheat and they got caught which would bring the league's integrity into question. Nope, can't have that scenario. But hopefully an "on going" or "continuing" investigation will quell the on going suspicions. Time is marching along and we have yet to have a definitive answer to these shenanigans, which is only birthing more and more conspiracy theories. One in particular, The Colts deflated the balls with a needle ?! Seriously?! Let me make this more clear and more simple. First and foremost, The NFL is interested in making money, lots of it. And if their image is going to be threatened which in turn could affect those profits, well then, guess what ? You can be rest assured that the NFL will do anything to protect these profits. In this case, more and more conflicting conspiracy theories are surfacing rendering the whole scandal more difficult to interpret but it is quite clear. I believe the NFL already knows who did the crime. Unfortunately, for the NFL, the truth will not be on its side but will have a detrimental effect on the NFL's image. If the Colts won or if the Seahawks didn't forget they had the best running back in the league much of this child's play wouldn't even be broached. But here we have a reigning "Dynasty" franchise who has been caught cheating in the past. (SpyGate) And only a very small bit of knowledge about this past incident was brought to the public's attention. (Tapes being destroyed) We apparently do not know how truly extensive the taping was. Can we hope the NFL will adopt the punitive measures similar to the Olympics ? That maybe wishful thinking. As you all know, in the Olympics, when an Olympic gold winning athlete is caught cheating, those precious medals go bye bye, stripped and taken away. I can't see the NFL adopting these type of standards.And yet here we have another Super Bowl that breaks all records in terms of ratings. What is going on here !?? Unfortunately, the majority of the fans don't care. Cheating is trendy, if you're not cheating, you're simply not trying. That seems to be the moral compass fans follow nowadays. I mean what other morons would pay 5,000 for a seat at the Super Bowl. Not this guy, that's for sure. I like a little honesty with my bread and circus games thank you very much.

I've believed sports were rigged on some level for quite a long time. The NBA with its favoritism toward star players, and the NFL (particularly the last 10 years or so) with so many close Super Bowls after years of blow outs just seemed bogus. But I figured it was just conspiracy theory stuff and probably just a feeling I had, not something quantifiable. I stumbled across this book and lo and behold, there's evidence that actually supports my feelings. The book goes over major stories of corruption for all of the big four leagues plus NASCAR. The main takeaways, without giving much of the book away are:- Leagues do not promise to be about the contests, but rather are an exhibition of athletic skill with no promise that officiating is above board.- Leagues favor certain outcomes and will do everything they can to influence beneficial outcomes for those leagues.- Owners from some of the oldest franchises come from all sorts of sketchy backgrounds, but one thing that is common among many is their love of gambling. It would seem a conflict of interest but in fact the leagues are completely in bed with Vegas and organized crime.The book is a great reminder that sports are simply another form of entertainment, designed to take our money in a variety of ways and consume a good portion of our time watching them. The book is perhaps too lengthy with the examples of various corruption, and some of the editing isn't that great. But overall, it's a pretty good book and has taken a good portion of my interest in sports away. I'll admit it was already on the downward slide- football and fighting sports are just too brutal. I won't say I'll completely give up watching all sports, but I definitely don't plan on watching the NFL or NBA again.

It sure opened mine. I had always thought that sports were rigged to a certain extent, however, I didn't think it was this bad. The first game that really opened my eyes was the first Superbowl with Seattle (vs Pittsburgh). I came across this book after watching a lot of games that had calls that just didn't make any sense. The book has testimonies from former players, coaches, gangsters, and yes, referees that all suggest that sports are rigged in one way or another. It even goes on to explain how the fix applies outside of the actual games as well (such as the draft). I pretty much had a feeling the NBA was already in full swing, the Tim Donaghy incident pretty much just confirmed it. It's all about the money and ratings. He dedicates a part of the book to how you can't even have a stadium these days without a corporate name being attached to it. (Whatever happened to names like Tiger Stadium and Shea Stadium? Now we have names like Minute Maid Park and Coors Field.) The book has been labeled as nothing but one big conspiracy theory, and in a few cases I can see that. But at the same time a lot of what he writes about is well-documented and sourced. If you are a sports fan I'd highly recommend you give this a read.

This is a really nice book on the topic, and just about the only thing like it that I've run into. A solid run-down of lots of sports fixing over time, and a really clear assessment of why, how and when fixes happen in modern North American sports. One is left with the clear picture that sports in North America are probably fair most of the time, but fixing (especially point shaving) is also much more common than anyone might normally expect (especially in the NFL and NBA).There were a few moments were I felt Tuohy overstated his case. This came mostly when he starts to get more specific about particular games and fixes at the end of the text. He makes an excellent case for the nature of fixing in general, but it is much harder to prove it in a specific case, and it shows. Readers may disagree with him on some of these points, and Tuohy could have been a little better about expressing that his theories on specific games or controversies are not necessarily proven. Still, his discussion of the basic framework of fixing is really eye-opening and informative.Tuohy's book has made me a happier sports fan. I now take the major sports leagues a lot less seriously, knowing how corrupt they often are. But, I still like sports and I still watch them just as much as before. Now I just enjoy these sports for what they are - good entertainment, not necessarily fair competition - I don't like the corruption, but it doesn't get to me the way it used to.

Bought this for my sport addicted friend, he can't stop reading it!

glad someone had the balls to right this

As a longtime sports fan who had slowly been beginning to suspect that something fishy is going on, I was very eager to read this book when I heard about it. It does not disappoint. It' A terrific book loaded with evidence that is difficult to deny. You'll NEVER look at pro sports the same way again after reading this. This book not only provides compelling evidence which proves that game-fixing happens, but how bloody EASY it is to do it! Once you see how it happens you'll wonder why you hadn't figured it out before. I am now convinced... basketball, baseball, etc. are absolutely as fake as wrestling. At least wrestling has the guts to be honest with you that it's all predetermined.

Documented cases that are hard to argue with