NEW NBA Basketball Conspiracy?

I don't know if this is where to post this, I thought you guys had a sports conspiracy forum. This is the only forum that says non specific, so if it is in the wrong place, I hope a moderator will move it to the correct one.

Anyway, I have a theory about the basketball that is now being used by The NBA. It's a new microfiber composite material, which has also been used by the NCAA for the last 4 NCAA Tournaments.


www.nba.com...


I had a theory about 4 years ago, (which turned out to be the tournament year that the NCAA used a new ball). It just popped into my head and I told somebody and they tried to debunk it.

The theory was, that a device, possibly something magnetic, could be hidden inside the ball, so that someone behind the scenes could control the trajectory of the ball as it nears the rim, to create makes and misses.

This would not be full proof, as a player would still need to get the ball near the rim for this to work, but it could explain how bottom seeded teams can go into a tournament like the NCAA and defeat top seeded teams with hot shooting that they didn't really execute during the regular season (I believe they use a different ball for regular season games). The rim would conceal the control device. Possibly the device inside the ball is very small, or even embedded in the lining.

The person who argued with me on this, seems to think that it wouldn't even be possible, because all of the audio/video equipment would interfere with any kind of magnet.


Now, The NBA is using a new ball.


Now, some things that make me think conspiracy on this:


1) As already mentioned, teams coming from out of nowhere to upset top seeded teams. It happens every year and there is definitely motive to fix games, because of how much gambling goes on with The NCAA Tournament.

2) Unlike in Baseball, you can't just keep a basketbal if it goes into the crowd. They have a set ball during the game and rarely change balls throughout the game. It's unlikely that anyone would tear one open, even if they were able to acquire one.

Dirt gets onto a baseball, and they offer a new ball. A basketball gets damp, they wipe it off and move on. They usually have a rack for pregame shooting and this rack travels from city to city.

3) The balls have been manufactured by the same company for many years, which is Spalding. It's an exclusive contract. Spalding would be ruined if it ever came out that they had anything to do with fixing a game, so they could easily be trusted to keep the secret.



Well, there you have one of my "sports" conspiracies. What do you think?

Probably this'll get moved to BTS as it's not related to the website, but...

It's feasable on a one-shot basis that this could be done but like most conpiracy thinking, it's not reasonable to think of on a large scale. I don't see how A: all the thousands of balls can be controlled or tracked in the game, B: the shooters wouldn't notice their shot arcing to the left or right, and C: the risks would be far greater than fixing in some other way (bribing a player, etc). What about when a glitch makes a player's shot stick to the rim? Oooops.

Have you lost much money on b-ball games?

I am not really sure how feasible this idea would be. If you have ever played basketball you know that it would be very easy to detect something hidden inside the ball. Also any device hidden inside a ball would have to withstand thousands of very hard bounces, being slammed against the backboard, kicked, etc. Basketballs can take a beating during the game. I am not even sure how something magnetic could change the balls flight trajectory. The device itself would have to be so tiny and lightweight so that it would be impossible to detect and yet very powerful and nearly invincible to impact damage. If something was causing the ball to change its flight arc you would be able to see it. It would look like a curve ball.

Low seeded teams have been beating top ranked teams as far back as I can remember - back to the 1980's. It is just part of the game. And game balls are given away after games. The game balls are given to the athletes, coaches and schools after good games, they can be given to special guest fans, friends of the teams, etc. They are even raffled off.


[edit on 31-10-2006 by zerotime]

About the trajectory, it would only need to be a minor variation to cause some interesting things to happen.

I am not suggesting that this would occur with the ball from 5-6 feet out. Rather, someone watching behind the scenes would wait until the ball to come within about a foot from the rim and then activate it.

This means that you would still need a good player to get the ball in that position, but even great shooters hit at 40-50% on average, so it isn't odd that they miss some shots, but they are generally just off when they miss.

The idea is that the device or the lining of the ball (could be laced with this technology making it more undetectable), reacts with the device in or around the rim area to create the effect.

For instanc, the person behind the scenes controlling the device, could activate it for a split second when the ball is just about to come over the rim and it might cause the ball to fall in. Also, in the same way, they could cause the ball to reflect just enough to make it go in and out, hit the rim causing a bad bounce, etc, and noone would be the wiser. (if it were possible of course).

It also might not be with every single ball, or every game, and maybe not even used but for a few shots in the game to help a player get going or to mess with a point spread.

It would be obvious if the ball were being moved by something magnetic. At times the ball would have erratic behavior, moving in ways not normal.

If you play basketball, you know the farther out the shot, the farther out the rebound, usually. So if a deep 3 is shot, and the magnet is shot on, to where even though though shot is possibly missed, but travels virtually nowhere but a soft bounce off the rim, would prove something funny.

As well as someone shoot, and it's trajectory clearly showing it'll catch the rim, somehow getting a slight lift up to go in perfect would cause some curiosity. I don't think it's happening.

And if you want to talk sports, it's robably best over on SportzTawk... ATS's sister site. I moderate over there and we'd be more than happy to ad you to the site.

Well, I do play basketball. Not for the NCAA or NBA, but I did play throughout intermediate and one year of high school (got fed up with the politics of high school sports). I have to say that in my opinion this is very unlikely. The device in the ball couldn't be very small, because then it wouldn't function properly, and if it were too big you would definitely notice it while playing.

Also as mentioned previously by DarkHelmet, shots from far out do tend to bounce pretty hard off of the rim (hard enough for me to get my own rebound on numerous occasions). You would also have to deal with all of the rotation of the ball, so on every half rotation the magnetism would fluctuate between pushing and pulling. On one half spin it would push and on the other half spin it would pull virtually voiding all intended effects they wished to place on the ball. In order for this to work it would be a necessity to have a physicist controlling to on/off switch in order to even come close to getting the ball in the desired locations. Also, due to the rotation of the ball you would have to quickly switch between on and off to avoid the affects of the North/South magnetism.

What can I say, I like physics.

Peace,

Pancho

Very interesting theory, but I agree with the other posters in that it's highly unlikely. You mentioned that balls are very rarely switched in games, but every NBA game I've been at they are switching which ball they use quite often. As another poster already pointed out, upsets are a major part of sports, and it's why I tune in to watch my teams play, no matter how bad they may be. You just never know what's going to happen. If you want a conpspiracy in the NBA, I'd be looking at the refs and the really bizarre calls that have been made the last few years in the NBA finals.

Seems to me that a metal mesh woven into the ball could accomplish what you're suggesting. We know that magnetic fields can now be projected from quite a distance. Only a one or two inch movement of the ball would be required, and a noticeable slowing or quickening of the shot would not be neccessary. The player might be able to notice, but I know my shot does things I'm not expecting quite often.

On the other side, I think that all the electronics going on at todays games would be effected by such a EMF, and basketball is so influenced by the very subjective calls of the refs that I don't see how it's needed. Just look at last years finals to see what I mean.

reply to post by googlethis22


i know this is an old thread, but i am a new user and have recently been bugged by a memory i had in regards to bball.
in the 90's, i remember the evening news (im in LA) covering some local inventors in regards to a strange new basketball hoop they created. i specifically remember what the hoop did, but not how it did it. the hoop somehow cause a basketball (possibly a specialized ball specific for that rim) to continuously spin around the rim, whenever rim and ball made contact, causing the ball to miss, or make, at a higher rate.
the broadcast was after a laker game... a simple, 10-minute local story. the inventors were hoping to shop it to the nba. since, i never heard of the invention or anything in regards to it, again.
looking through hundreds of bball patents... the closest thing i could find from the 90s was bball "hoop guard patent":
www.freepatentsonline.com...
but there are like 3000 basketbal related patents... so cant say if it actually is there, or if it was ever even patented.

now... the standard NBA rim is a "breakaway" system. since its invention, it continuously has been modified but the main component of it is... magnets.

theclevelandfan.com...

sports.espn.go.com...

you have the the make-or-miss altering dynamic, the magnets, and the modern day re-invention of the NBA standard ball.... which includes:

www.patentgenius.com...

thats right, a self contained inflating mechanism.... that could possibly manipulate, in real time, balls in flight, balls within proximity of the backboard/rim (with possibly additional hidden tech within the known sensors and whatnots of regulation nba rims, balls, and backboards...)
so there is a known mechanical device within the modern ball.
add those along with...
en.wikipedia.org...
and viola... you have the grizzlies destroying the spurs in the 1st round... lakers being destroyed in the 2nd (utterly missing every 3point attempt in that one game... although i know the mavs are the better team)... and the best shooter since reggie miller going 0-8 in today's game against the mavericks.

you have full control of guiding the point spread and outcome to ensure your business reaps maximum profits.

peace.