History Main / ThrowingTheFight

** When it comes to international competition, politics may enter the picture. In the [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1978_FIFA_World_Cup#Group_B second round of the 1978 FIFA World Cup]], Argentina (who was host and had just undergone a coup de'tat two years before that put a military dictatorship that started Argentina's "Dirty War") needed to beat Peru by four goals in order to beat out Brazil by goal differential and make it to the final. The task was already daunting for the top level of play, compounded by the fact that Argentina had only scored a total of six goals in the first five games while Peru allowed a total of six goals in five games. Argentina won their match 6-0, prompting accusations of conflict of interest (i.e., that the Peruvian goalie was born in Argentina, that Peru was dependent on grain sales from Argentina, etc.) though nothing was ever proven.

** The NBA a few years back had a [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2007_NBA_betting_scandal betting scandal]] along similar lines instigated by former referee Tim Donaghy, where he would call the games in such a way so that he looks fair with the calls but the scores are higher than they otherwise would be (i.e., 110-100 rather than 96-86). He would bet on the "over" of the over/under (you bet "over" if you think the sum of the two teams' scores will be greater than the given line, say 200.5, and under if you think the sum will be less) for the game.

* Parodied in the ''RenAndStimpy'' episode "Mad Dog Hoek", in which a wrestling match is indeed fixed, and Ren & Stimpy's opponents do throw the fight.. ''after'' mercilessly pummeling the duo to jelly.

* As discussed at length in ''Freakonomics'', sumo wrestlers who face elimination (they must win 8 of 15 to avoid demotion) win 80% of the time vs. opponents with superior records, suggesting that the latter athlete is simply throwing the fight to allow their friend to avoid the shame.

* In ''CityLights'', CharlieChaplin's character agrees to throw a boxing match and split the prize money. Unfortunately, his co-conspirator is incapacitated at the last minute, and he has to fight the replacement for real.

* In the ''QuantumLeap'' episode "The Right Hand of God," Sam leaps into a crooked boxer who is under pressure to throw a match, but must win instead to earn money for a group of nuns.

People who take a dive may be doing so entirely for the paycheck, but they also may be getting their arms twisted by the Mob. In that case, it's not uncommon to see the athlete back out of the deal, thus making them some powerful enemies. In real life, those who get caught doing this can suffer some serious repercussions, most notably during the Black Sox scandal of 1919.

** The poor play of the Houston Rockets basketball team in 1983-84, which enabled it to choose Ralph Sampson first in the following year's NBA draft, drew enough suspicion to be parodied in the newspaper comic ''{{Tank McNamara}}'' (one strip showed a fan holding a sign that read "We're No. 26!"). For this reason, the NBA and later the NHL have instituted lotteries whereby teams at the bottom are not guaranteed the first pick in the following year's draft. However, the odds are still heavily weighted towards the worst teams, and in any case teams are still sometimes accused of "playing for ping-pong balls."

* The most famous example is the 1919 Black Sox scandal, where eight members of the Chicago White Sox were paid to lose the World Series, and were subsequently banned from baseball two years later.

** For bad teams in a given year, there is an existing incentive to tank in North American sports (especially if there is a really good player that will enter the league next season) since teams which perform poorly are generally awarded high draft picks. Accusations in hockey include the Pittsburgh Penguins in 1983-84 (to secure the first pick over the New Jersey Devils and get Mario Lemieux) and the Ottawa Senators in 1992-93 (for Alexandre Daigle). The poor play of the Houston Rockets basketball team in 1983-84, which enabled it to choose Ralph Sampson first in the following year's NBA draft, drew enough suspicion to be parodied in the newspaper comic Tank McNamara (one strip showed a fan holding a sign that read "We're No. 26!"). For this reason, the NBA and later the NHL have instituted lotteries whereby teams at the bottom are not guaranteed the first pick in the following year's draft. However, the odds are still heavily weighted towards the worst teams, and in any case teams are still sometimes accused of "playing for ping-pong balls".

* The most famous example is the 1919 Black Sox scandal, where eight members of the Chicago White Sox were paid to lose the World Series, and were subsequently banned from baseball.
* A lesser but related scam is point-shaving, which has been caught a few times over the years. A basketball player who knows the betting spread deliberately misses shots near the end of a game so that his team will win but not beat the spread.

** For bad teams in a given year, there is an existing incentive to tank in North American sports (especially if there is a really good player that will enter the league next season) since teams which perform poorly are generally awarded high draft picks. Accusations include the Pittsburgh Penguins in 1983-84 (to secure the 1st pick over the New Jersey Devils and get Mario Lemieux) and the Ottawa Senators in 1992-93 (for Alexandre Daigle). For this reason, the NBA and later the NHL have instituted lotteries whereby teams at the bottom are not guaranteed the first pick in the following year's draft. However, the odds are still heavily weighted towards the worst teams, and in any case teams are still sometimes accused of "playing for ping-pong balls".
*** This doesn't appear to be such a problem in MLB (possibly because the vast majority of those drafted go through several years in the minors first and many first-rounders don't ever make it to the bigs) or the NFL (possibly due to their large roster size and subsequent specialization of positions, meaning teams will have specific needs in a given year where a few slots in the draft board isn't something some savvy trades couldn't rectify[[hottip:*:and that's assuming, if you're going for something like the number one pick, you'd be willing to shell out the huge-ass contracts for a player that may or may not pan out]]), neither of which do lotteries.

** The 2006 Los Angeles Clippers allegedly tanked to get the 6th seed in the NBA Western Conference in order to both avoid the Dallas Mavericks in the first round (who had the better record that year and thus would have had home-court advantage) and delay facing the powerhouse Los Angeles Lakers until the third round of the playoffs (since the NBA Playoffs is a straight-up bracket). In addition, finishing 6th meant they faced the Denver Nuggets, who were only the 3rd seed by virtue of winning their division: the Clippers actually had a better record, which meant ''they'' got home-court advantage. The NBA changed the rules following the season to prevent that occurring again.
*** This isn't even limited to North America: Sweden's ice hockey team allegedly lost on purpose to Slovakia in the 2006 Turin Olympics in order to avoid both the Czech Republic and Canada (both powerhouses) in the opening knockout rounds. (There was even a Swedish 5-on-3 power play where five NHL stars were on the ice and none of them took a shot.) They faced Switzerland instead, and later went on to win the gold.

*** Of course, such shenanigans don't always work. In 2009, the Cincinnati Bengals faced the New York Jets at home in the final week of the season. Cincinnati had already locked up it's best result, but New York needed to win to get into the playoffs. Since New York would play at Cincinnati the next week if they entered the playoffs (their game was the Sunday Night Game and the last scheduled game of the regular season), Cincinnati played with minimal effort to avoid risking their players to injury or tipping off any of their plays. New York won, made the playoffs, and then ''[[HoistByHisOwnPetard beat the Bengals in the playoffs the next week]]''. The Football Gods chortled.

* As discussed at length in ''Freakonomics'', Sumo wrestlers who face elimination (they must win 8 of 15 to avoid demotion) win 80% of the time vs. opponents with superior records, suggesting that the latter athlete is simply throwing the fight to allow their friend to avoid the shame.

* ''PulpFiction'': BruceWillis is supposed to take a dive. He agrees to go down in the fifth round (as shown in the page quote), but then turns around and bets on himself, and winds up ''killing'' the other boxer during the fight. What follows is the weirdest fucking day of his life.

* Recently, there was a scandal in the Korean Starcraft leagues where a number of players, including Savior who had previously dominated the scene, were found to have deliberately lost matches for money.

* The most famous example is the 1919 Black Sox scandal, where several members of the White Sox were paid to lose the World Series, and were subsequently banned from baseball.

->''"Say it ain't so, Joe!"''

Taking a dive. Fixing the match. Intentionally losing a sporting event, usually for monetary gain. You [[ICouldaBeenAContender coulda been a contender]], but you're going down in the fourth round. A nice fun intersection between the world of professional sports and the world of organized crime.

* ''PulpFiction'': Bruce Willis is supposed to take a dive. He agrees to go down in the fifth round (as shown in the page quote), but then turns around and bets on himself, and winds up ''killing'' the other boxer during the fight. What follows is the weirdest fucking day of his life.

* Many of the races are fixed in ''[[Film/SpeedRacer Speed Racer]]''.

[[AC: {{Video Games}}]]

** In its spiritual predescessor, ''GuiltyGear'', a number of characters (Jam most notably) had to throw fights to get different routes in Story mode. This made getting Dizzy's third ending in ''XX'' an absolute chore, since she had to defeat Boss I-No on ''one try'' (if she lost, she got a different ending).

*** This doesn't appear to be such a problem in MLB (possibly because the vast majority of those drafted go through several years in the minors first and many first-rounders don't ever make it to the bigs) or the NFL (possibly due to their large roster size and subsequent specialization of positions, meaning teams will have specific needs in a given year where a few slots in the draft board isn't something some savvy trades couldn't rectify[[hottip:* :and that's assuming, if you're going for something like the number one pick, you'd be willing to shell out the huge-ass contracts for a player that may or may not pan out]]), neither of which do lotteries.

*** Of course, such shenanigans don't always work. In 2009, the Cincinnati Bengals faced the New York Jets at home in the final week of the season. Cincinnati had already locked up it's best result, but New York needed to win to get into the playoffs. Since New York would play at Cincinnati the next week if they entered the playoffs (their game was the Sunday Night Game and the last scheduled game of the regular season), Cincinnati played with minimal effort to avoid risking their players to injury or tipping off any of their plays. New York won, made the playoffs, and then ''[[HoistByHisOwnPetard beat the Bengals in the playoffs the next week.]]'' The Football Gods chortled.

** Recently, there was a scandal in the Korean Starcraft leagues where a number of players, including Savior who had previously dominated the scene, were found to have deliberately lost matches for money.

* ''LifeOnMars''
** PleaseElaborate

* In Formula One, Rubens Barriachello once pulled his car over to allow team mate Michael Schumacher to win the race, to help Schumacher win the championship.
** Does it really count if it helps a teammate?