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Monday Night Football Is Rigged

2000 Season

St. Louis Rams defeat Tennessee Titans 23-16 in 1999-2000 season Super Bowl.

The 2000-2001 Season begins.  To boost meager ratings, Monday Night Football starts the year with a new look.  Al Michaels, Dan Fouts, Dennis Miller, Eric Dickerson, and Melissa Stark star as on-air talent.

Here is a breakdown of the MNF games in the year 2000.  The theory being, Disney will rig as many home team wins as possible to please the fans and to make the game more enjoyable to watch on television (more cheering, upbeat ending) as well as keeping the games close so more viewers stay tuned throughout the game.

Week 1
Denver 36
St Louis 41

The Super Bowl champion Rams are welcomed home with a five-point victory over Denver. The Rams will enjoy two more appearances on MNF, but ultimately will not be pleased with the riggery.

Week 2
Patriots 19
Jets 20

This game was a big deal because of Bill Parcells and Keyshawn Johnson, and how he should have gotten the ball more the previous week. There's your story. But Wayne Chrebet stole the show in this close one. Home team wins again.  Note that this is pre-9/11.  We don't want to insinuate that Disney rigs games due to political motivation, but the Patriots began to win a lot more games post-9/11, including the Super Bowl.  Coincidence?

Week 3
Dallas 27
Washington 21

Home team doesn't win, in order to break any thought of that theory early in the season. And what better game to do it in than Deion Sanders' return to The Big D? Washington has the highest payroll in the league, with the biggest "money" player in the league - that is liked by hardly anyone other than 'Skins fans. What better way to please a TV audience that will be undoubtedly rooting against Deion and Co? And a win IN WASHINGTON would be even more sweet. Let Mickey provide.

Week 4
Jacksonville 14
Indianapolis 43

Wow Monday Night Football!!! Up until this week, three straight amazing contests! What more could you have in store for us?! You can almost hear the writers saying, "Play it down boys, or someone will be on to you….make this one a blowout; please the home fans." Done. Besides, the Jags are struggling, and could use a little extra cash in their front office. They'll take a dive with no complaints.

Week 5
Seahawks 17
KC Chiefs 24

Arrowhead Stadium was a rockin' when Monday Night Football came a-knockin,' and the MNF crew did not disappoint. Chiefs by a touchdown.

Week 6
Tampa Bay Bucs 23
MN Vikings 30

This game was very important for the Vikings to win, not only because it was against an inter-division rival, but also because the Vikings were scripted to lose a heartbreaker at Lambeau later in the season on MNF. The Metrodome was hoppin', the home team wins again.

Week 7
Jacksonville 13
Tennessee 27

Super Bowl runners-up getting pampered for taking such a close defeat in the big game last season. Who better to take one for their team than Jacksonville? Home team…there's a theme here.

Week 8
Dolphins 37
NY Jets 40

After simply pleasing the audience last week (as well as the Titans, who were fresh off a loss-by-inches in a possibly-rigged Super Bowl in January of 2000), the MNF writers got creative. Miami is one of the best defenses in the league and blows an improbable lead in the fourth quarter. And a lineman catches the game's most crucial TD pass.  Nope, we're not kidding. Read this

Week 9
Tennesse 27
Washington 21

A perfect scenario for a network trying to appease the Titans, who were rigged so wonderfully last season. Tennessee milks that Super Bowl loss for all they can, and "earns" a six-point win ON THE ROAD against WASHINGTON. Big surprise. I guess that's why you work for CBS now, right Deion?

Week 10
Vikings 20
Packers 26

This game is not only one of the top games in Monday Night Football History as voted by viewers, but it is also the most obvious case of riggery that was blown right past most people watching the game simply because there was such an amazing finish. Minnesota could have won the game at the end of regulation, but rather than have the NFL's all-time leading scorer Gary Anderson MISS a field goal, MNF had the Vikes just blow the entire play and sent the game into overtime. Sure, blame it on the rain or whatever, but this game wasn't supposed to end with the Packers disappointed. They WERE at home, after all. But let us never forget how Al Michaels repeatedly talked about Brett Favre in clutch situations as overtime got underway, and that he hollered, "Brett Favre has just asked for a dry ball," three or four times before Favre completed the game-winning pass to Antonio Freeman in the rain. Granted, the ball bounced off the back of Freeman, who had fallen to the ground, then Freeman rolled over, caught the ball, got up and ran for the game-winning score. That part, we must admit, could not have been rigged. The fact that Freeman caught the "dry ball," however, can not be disputed. Go here and see if you can believe what you read

Week 11
Raiders 24
Broncos 27

Yet another home team victory on a game-ending field goal. This one had to be close, it's the most historic rivalry in MNF history.

Week 12
Washington 33
St. Louis 20

Just when the odds were against Washington winning on Monday Night (not to mention on the road against the defending champs), Monday Night Football pulls a fast one on us, and undoubtedly gets rich by betting against Kurt Warner and the Rams. Had MNF written Washington to lose yet again, the program risked possible exposure by a fed-up bunch of overpaid Redskins. They played their cards right and probably made some cash in Vegas this day.

Week 13
Green bay 14
Carolina 31

Listen Green Bay, if you're going to be scripted to win one of Monday Night Football's greatest games, you have to take a lump at some point in front of a national audience. It's only fair. You know it, too, it's in your contract: Carolina's at home and has to win to please the fans and make Mickey and Michael Eisner a little more money in Vegas.

Week 14
KC Chiefs 24
Patriots 30

This is about the time of the season that ABC has the teams that took losses earlier in the year on MNF win a few, and the teams that won lose a few. In this instance, New England loses the thriller to the Jets early on, Kansas City beats Seattle on October 2, these teams each get what's coming to them. And the home team wins.

Week 15
Buffalo 20
Indianapolis Colts 44

The lucky horseshoe on the helmet of the Colts got them a pair of home appearances on Monday Night Football, and therefore guaranteed them a pair of wins.

Week 16
St. Louis 35
Tampa Bay 38

As the season winds down, the fans want something big. And this game was not only a big contest for the teams, but also for Monday Night Football. You see, ABC was almost exposed for the cheats that they are on what is simply known to us as "the most obviously-rigged drive in history." The Rams had just come back from 10 points down to start the fourth quarter, and gone up 35-31 with under 5½ minutes to go, on a 72-yard touchdown pass from Warner to Torry Holt. At this point, some of the Ram defenders decided not to go 1-2 on Monday Nights in 2000, but to shoot for the 2-1 mark and a better seat in the playoffs. This would go AGAINST ABC, and make them marked men, but they needed a victory. And just when Tampa Bay was scripted to drive down the field and win, the Rams defense stepped up and surprised the Bucs (who, like ABC, were expecting them to play soft) with an impressive defensive stand. And when Warrick Dunn was seemingly stuffed for a loss on a crucial play on the drive, he pitched the ball back to quarterback Shaun King, who ran for a first down. Not only did a near-impossible play just develop, but an "obvious" 15-yard unsportsmanlike conduct penalty was handed out at the end of the play. So what should have been a Buccaneer loss of yards and ultimately the game, MNF was bailed out by Dunn and King, and Tampa Bay went on to a miracle win at home. ABC held a grudge against the Rams into 2001, and may have paid Az-Zahir Hakim to fumble a punt that cost his team the game in the 2001 playoffs versus New Orleans. It just goes to show you - don't mess with Mickey Mouse.  Read about it here

Week 17
Dallas Cowboys 0
Tennessee 31

Merry Christmas Tennessee. One thing's for sure. If you endure such heartbreak written by ABC in such a big game as the Super Bowl, you do get some nice pay back. Disney takes care of their own. And on Christmas, too. A big fat goose egg for "America's Team," and a third victory of the season for the recovering Titans.

Super Bowl
Baltimore 34
Giants 7

Home team record: 14-3 = winning percentage of .824.  Compare that to the season home team winning record of 138-110, or .559.  Is this Fantasy Land?  No, it's the NFL.  But it does smell of Disney.

 

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