A Conspiracy Busted

I always like conspiracy theories, because I love a good laugh. This week people are convinced that NASCAR rigged the qualifying for the Daytona 500 so that Dale Earnhardt, Jr. would be on the pole for the race marking the 10th Anniversary of his father Dale's death. Now, NASCAR has a history littered with examples of allegedly rigged storylines that, if true, would make professional wrestling proud, so this is not the most far-fetched idea you're ever going to find on the Internet. Plus, if you were going to rig something, this would be the event and the place to do it - it would be pretty easy to give Junior a funky restrictor plate so his car had more horsepower and then simply have the race official look the other way. Also, qualifying means very little in the grand scheme of a race this long and no points are awarded for winning the pole so no one really gets hurt in the season-long championship run. Basically, this would be a PR move more than anything else, which makes it slightly more possible. Even some of the driver's remarked that this seems to have all fallen into place really conveniently.

However, here's why I think everything about this is on the up-and-up: if NASCAR was going to rig something, wouldn't they go all out and rig it for their most popular driver to win the race, not just the pole? Also, if they were willing to sacrifice their very integrity of their sport for some good publicity and a nice TV rating, wouldn't they have done it well before now? Junior hasn't won a race in ages and ratings have been in a steady decline for a couple of seasons now. Really, waiting until now feels like the opportunity has passed them by. Plus, rigging qualifying for the only race that is a guaranteed rating boost would be like the NFL rigging the playoffs for a Jets/Giants Super Bowl. Yeah, it would be an historic number but you already get a good rating, so it comes across more like overkill. You're more likely to do it at an event no one is watching. Lastly, it is not like Junior needs any help. He always qualifies well at this track and he's got access to the best cars in the business (this is the second straight year Hendrick MotorSports has captured both spots on the front row for the Daytona 500). I'm not saying it is impossible to envision, but I just don't think NASCAR has it in them. Mostly, all this talk just makes me feel bad for Junior. If he wins everyone says he must have had help and if he doesn't it's because he'll never be as good as his father. That, above anything else, confirms my feelings that the qualifying wasn't rigged - there is no upside for him.

-Late last week the Cleveland Cavaliers won for the first time in 2011, snapping a streak of 26 straight losses . It was the longest losing streak of any kind for a professional (and, wow, do I use that term loosely) team in American sports history. Personally, I congratulate them for breaking the mark. Anyone can be bad, but only a select few can be historically bad. You have to really want it to lose that many games in a row. What struck me was that it took until loss 25 for coach Byron Scott to finally have a closed-door meeting to scream at his team for their lack of effort. Now, I know the Cavaliers have had some major injuries and lost the best player of the decade to free agency last summer and no one expect much of them this year, but it took 25 games for Scott to get mad? Look, I love the NBA, but the simple fact of the matter is that no team brings it every night, especially not in January. There is no reason that the Cavs shouldn't have been able to steal a win at some point during the month unless they were dogging it way before loss #25. This just proves that Scott is too much of a player's coach. I remember in 2007 when the Celtics lost 18 games in a row and Doc Rivers never got ejected, threw a chair or changed the line-up. At the time I thought he should have been fired, but now I realise that Doc is just more of a laid-back guy who should only coach veterans. Same goes for Scott. The problem for Cleveland is that I don't see them getting guys like KG and Allen in a trade. But, hey, the Browns look like they are headed in the right direction.