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typical self-important yanks i guess,seen 100% verifiable,admitted evidence of fixing in other sports all over the planet-cycling,soccer,cricket,athletics,tennis but then top american pro sports involving anything under-handed or scurrilous??oh dear no,perish the thought.....money talks,everyone got their price. simple as that.
now i aint got the faintest idea if,when and how fixing takes place in major u.s. pro sports.....but i think id be a damned fool to rule it out.
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Other sports save EPL are fixed internationally because they don't get paid as much as American athletes. Easier temptation. In the US to get the players to ensure you effect a game in say football baseball etc you would need to bribe make so much there's no way it's worth it to the fixers. If Im the bad guy, I say to myself this NFL guy wants $250k? Screw that Ill just go over to this footballer from Crystal Palace who'll do it for 100£ and a pint.
Also, in the case of cycling, athletics (Im assuming you mean track here) and tennis, you only have to get one guy to tank so I think most US bettors see that is possible for international players to be on the take. If US players are going to,cheat its with PEDs! We don't deny it exists but those individual sports aren't the ones that usually interest US bettors.
I think the NBA is probably your strongest case where this most likely could/has/can happen. If you get one starter thats 20% of the team that can affect play.
MJ issues were shady but remember that was 20 years ago. Also way more thug life in the NBA then. I think the recent trend as players become better developed and trained from the get go is to be risk averse by life managers. I think the fix odds go down.
I think the malaise of an 82 game regular season is more to blame for mid season slumps and not trying in a particular game than being bought. Again, not saying the NBA is rules out but that the times are few and far between and declining.
As for the refs, Instant replay has to really cut into what a ref can get away with as well. If he continually makes shitty calls, he's going to get recognized. US refs make a decent living and have a good pension, why risk it? They are always under the public eye here too. International guys get $20 a match and it seems there are five trillion of them in FIFA. How do you keep track?. There's incentive and its easier to just buy whoevers refing that particular match internationally.
Yeah we are self important and maybe that leads to a cleaner game. Lots of pride will keep a man from unscrupulous behavior. In the US, a guy on the take in sports is lowest of the low. Very shameful. Even if he doesn't get caught, he knows this. In Croatia for example, where everyone from the President to the local garbage man is on the take, it's a way of life. Socially acceptable.
Finally, unlike US players, I agree international players have the incentive. i mean just look at their lives. I mean if you played for Sri Lanka cricket or God forbid Leeds football, wouldn't you just be trying to collect as much as possible and get the hell out of there?
My two cents.