Reddit reviews Interference: How Organized Crime Influences Professional Football
We found 5 Reddit comments about Interference: How Organized Crime Influences Professional Football. Here are the top ones, ranked by their Reddit score.
Used Book in Good Condition
http://www.amazon.com/Interference-Organized-Influences-Professional-Football/dp/068808303X
People don't realize it is completely legal for the NFL to fix its matches. This book is a little old (80s I think) but still has a lot of good info in it.
Here is a video of the author explaining it
Seems relevant
On a different note than everyone else here I recommend The Fix Is In by Brian Tuohy which covers how show business influences various sporting leagues. And also Interference by Dan E. Moldea which covers how gambling and organized crime influences the NFL.
Where to start....
You're OK It's Just a Bruise - A Doctor's Sideline Secrets About Pro Football's Most Outrageous Team by Rob Huizenga. As a team doctor for the Raiders during the 80s, Huizenga has access to Al Davis, Howie Long, Lyle Alzado, and others. Another in a long line of books that shows player medical treatment is poor.
Interference: How Organized Crime Influences Professional Football by Dan Moldea. Eye opening stuff about the connections between the owners and the mafia. It raises suspicions on rigged games in the history of the NFL and also goes into the gambling connections.
Bringing the Heat by Mark Bowden. A great book about the Eagles of the early 90s. It goes into the lack of injury treatment, follows Reggie White and Buddy Ryan, and touches on Jerome Brown's death and it's impact to the team.
Boys Will Be Boys: The Glory Days and Party Nights of the Dallas Cowboys Dynasty by Jeff Pearlman. I grew up hating the 90s Cowboys, but it was nice to read about the inside of that team. The book goes into the personalities, the Jones-Johnson clash, the Irvin - McIver stabbing, and the cocaine houses.
The Dark Side of the Game by Tim Green. Another great book that goes into detail about drug tests, injuries, treatment, and everything that goes on in an NFL locker room. One of my favorites.
Happy to Be Alive by Darryl Stingley. This is an autobiography of receiver Darryl Stingley chronicling his life before and after the paralyzing hit by Jack Tatum.
Meat on a Hoof by Gary Shaw. It talks about college football at UT in the 70s. The treatment of the players was pretty shocking to read. This is one you can find cheaper in a used bookstore.
Every time I start looking at the claims of game fixing and ties to the mob the sources all end up coming back to this book by Dan Moldea. The book he wrote previously is "Dark Victory: Ronald Reagan, MCA, and the Mob (1986)" so he has a history of making grandiose claims about the reach of the mob. Anyway, he published "Interference" which brought about this review from the New York Times. Read it. The thing reads like a hit piece on the writer's creditability. So he did what you do when you think you've been libeled and sued. Which brings us to this judgement where the court ruled in favor of the New York Times. The reason for summary judgement being that the claims in the review are true. It is sloppy "journalism" poorly written, poorly reasoned, and often factually inaccurate.
But, let's just consider the idea of game fixing by the NFL without this "source". For the league to arrange game fixing, that means at least 1 high ranking league official, 1 head referee, and 1 owner has to be involved in a secret direct and plot to fix games. But, refs are reviewed and corrected so the reviewers and the head of officiating have to be involved to keep that head referee in place. All of those people need to be compensated appropriately and secretly so that it doesn't become apparent that this is going on which means money laundering and tax evasion has to be accomplished and requires other people to do. After that you need the TV producer, commentators, and reporters not to draw attention to this issue so they need to be paid too. Finally, you need enough people to be stupid enough not to notice this going on under their noses or to willfully ignore the impact on a sport most of them love and not say anything. Then you need that to happen for 40 years. Hundreds of people in multiple separate companies over 40 years to perpetuate 1 game a week of fixing in a shadowy organization with none of them coming forward except for one author 30 years ago. That's a pretty hard to swallow claim when there is no incentive for the practice that isn't served just as well by the real result of a competition.