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Where there's smoke, there's fire! Join us as we count down our picks for the sports rumors that turned out to be completely true! Our countdown includes scandals from Olympic doping to sign stealing, match fixing to athletic sabotage. These weren't just wild speculations – they were shocking truths hiding in plain sight.
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00:00Testing didn't come into play until 2003. They never tested positive. They were never reprimanded
00:05by the sport of Major League Baseball. Welcome to WatchMojo. Today we're counting down our picks
00:09for the sports rumors that ended up being more than just empty speculation. I was aware that
00:13it was a very, very, very, very high possibility. Number 10. College Football BCS Pole Manipulation.
00:22The Bowl Championship Series or BCS was used to determine the two teams that would play in the
00:26National Championship game. Using human polling and computer rankings, it was claimed that the BCS
00:38system was truly the fairest way to do it. However, in 2003, the wheels fell off. Despite being outranked
00:43by LSU and USC in nearly every category, Oklahoma was still seen as the number one team by BCS.
00:49Oklahoma remains number one by virtue of the points they piled up over the course of a dominating
00:54season prior to being dominated by Kansas State. In other words, they got a spot in the final when
00:59in reality, they deserve the bronze medal. This led to a suspicion over the BCS system. And that
01:03suspicion was proven to be correct. It was a flawed way to figure out finalists and its limitations
01:08became clear in 2003. The bottom line is the consensus number one ranked team in both polls
01:13is not playing in the BCS title game. My opinion, guys, strictly my opinion, I believe that the BCS
01:20is now irrelevant. Number nine, Brock Lesnar's UFC 200 appearance. When the UFC announced that the
01:25legendary former heavyweight champion Brock Lesnar was returning from retirement, it was a huge shock.
01:30I picked up the phone. I called Dana White and said, listen, if there was any time for Brock Lesnar
01:35to come back, it would just make sense that it would be for UFC 200. Sure, their landmark event,
01:40UFC 200, needed saving after their original headliners fell through. But suspicions were high
01:45that Lesnar had been dipping into banned substances in his off years. You're just so big and you come
01:50out of the world of pro wrestling. We're done. The UFC counteracted this by handing the WWE superstar
01:56exemptions from mandatory testing for any formerly retired fighters. In other words, they pulled some
02:00strings and fast-tracked him back into eligibility. He showed up on fight night and defeated Mark Hunt
02:05on the scorecards. Then after a whole lot of speculation about his potential PED use, surprise,
02:09surprise, he tested positive. Anything in the name of a quick buck, it seems.
02:12Well, let's get one thing clear. Brock Lesnar does what Brock Lesnar wants to do.
02:17Number 8. Astros stealing signs. The Houston Astros were on top of the world after their
02:212017 World Series victory. But when things began to unravel, it got really ugly.
02:25That 2017 World Series championship is also tainted in the minds of pretty much anybody in
02:31baseball. In 2020, their first championship title came under scrutiny when it became known that the
02:35Astros had been stealing signs from opponents using hidden cameras. The team holding a press conference
02:40to address its role in the sign-stealing scandal that has rocked baseball. The Astros accused of
02:45using a sophisticated video system and a more primitive code of trash can bangs to alert its
02:50batters to which pitches were coming.
02:52Yeah, you heard us. They literally spied on opposition players to get a sense of what play
02:56was incoming. Then they would bang on trash cans in a kind of code to let their own players know
03:00what was coming. The consequences were a $5 million fine and a loss of two draft picks. But to this
03:05day, their 2017 World Series title stands.
03:07Here's a ground ball, right side could do it. The Houston Astros are world champions!
03:13Number 7. Calciopoli referee assignment fixing. On the long list of football corruption scandals,
03:18nothing in recent history had quite the hands-on effect that Calciopoli did.
03:22But behind the dream come true was a nightmare, as the country's national pastime was hit by one of
03:27the biggest football scandals ever. Allegations of match-rigging were at the heart of a story that would
03:33make headlines worldwide. Several Serie A clubs, most notably Italian elites Juventus, were found
03:38to have engaged in referee assignment fixing. Executives at these clubs were influencing referee
03:43selection to get friendlier refs assigned to key matches, hoping for favourable decisions.
03:47Officials uncovered evidence that some of the top people in Italian football were putting pressure
03:52on referees. Investigation started after their general manager, Luciano Moggi, had his phone
03:57tapped and he was taped discussing refereeing appointments with Italian football officials.
04:01This was a scandal that rocked Italian football and Juventus were stripped of the title they won in
04:062005 and relegated to Serie B ahead of the following season. It was a controversy that hurt the legitimacy of
04:11the sport in Italy, even though they managed to win the World Cup in 2006.
04:17Number 6. FIFA Bribery and World Cup Bid Scandals Hosting the World Cup isn't just a prestigious
04:22assignment in football. It also provides a huge economic boost for the nation in question.
04:26Host countries rely on the economic impact derived from the tournament. They are short-term and long-term,
04:31and it varies from country to country. For years, there was speculation over shady behind-the-scenes
04:36dealings to secure votes for hosting duties. Then, two specific tournaments made the corruption clear.
04:40From the outset, officials have insisted everything was above board. The selection process for the
04:462018 and 2022 World Cups in Russia and Qatar, respectively, were found to have been tainted
04:51by a number of bribes and backroom payments. FIFA president Sepp Blatter eventually resigned over
04:56his part in the scandal, and increased regulations have since been imposed so this never happens again.
05:01Two of the sport's most powerful figures, Sepp Blatter and Michael Platini, the former UEFA president,
05:07who was at the time a potential successor to Blatter, would be handed eight-year bans by the FIFA Ethics
05:14Committee. Number 5. Patriots Taping Opponent Signals One of the biggest scandals in 21st century
05:19American football came to light when the almighty New England Patriots were implicated in the infamous
05:24Spygate controversy. During this game against the Jets, Bill Belichick's Patriots were caught
05:29videotaping the hand signals of New York's coaches in what eventually became known as Spygate. In 2007,
05:37the Patriots under coach Bill Belichick were caught illegally videotaping the New York Jets defensive
05:42coach's signals during a game. It was later found that the Patriots had been doing this for quite some
05:46time, with Belichick offering up the weak excuse that he didn't know it was cheating. He received
05:56a $500,000 fine, the largest for a coach in NFL history. It was just one of the scandals that
06:01tainted the franchise's run of dominance through the 2000s. It's over and we're moving on. It's in
06:07the past. We're done with it. Number 4. Harding Carrigan Attack One of the most grotesque and inexcusable
06:13moments in sporting history took place in 1994. Tanya Harding believed she might not make the
06:18Olympic team because of a bias that favored Nancy Carrigan. Jeff Galluli hatched a plan.
06:23Figure skaters Tanya Harding and Nancy Carrigan were fierce rivals who were painted as polar opposites
06:28by the American media. The clean-cut Carrigan and the edgier Harding. As both women competed for a spot
06:33on the 1994 Winter Olympics team, something truly unexpected happened.
06:37The attack plunged Carrigan's Olympic dreams into doubt and focused suspicion on rival skater Tanya
06:44Harding. Carrigan was brutally attacked after a practice session, leaving her unable to compete for
06:49that coveted Olympic Games spot. It was later found that Harding's ex-husband had hired the attacker and
06:53that, as everyone had suspected, Harding herself was aware of the plan to sabotage her rival. Unsurprisingly,
06:58she was banned for life for her actions. But as has happened too often in Tanya's life,
07:03the choice may not be hers to make.
07:063. Lance Armstrong's Doping Scandal He was a hero to many. A generational athlete,
07:10a cancer survivor, and a man who had done tremendous work with charity organizations over the years.
07:15Before the Lance Armstrong Foundation, what it was like to have cancer was totally different.
07:20It was much more private and much more isolated.
07:26Lance removed the stigma of being a young adult with cancer.
07:29However, cycling's reputation for PED usage brought Armstrong under quite a lot of suspicion.
07:34Winning seven consecutive Tour de France titles will do that. After years of aggressively defending
07:39himself and even being confrontational about it, Armstrong finally admitted his wrongdoings in 2013.
07:44We did what we had to do to win.
07:46He had been part of one of the most sophisticated doping scandals the world had ever known, and it
07:50immediately tore his reputation to shreds, ending his career then and there.
07:53But I wouldn't change a thing. I've said that three times, and I'll say it again,
07:56I would not change a thing.
07:582. Major League Baseball Steroid Use
08:00Some people look back fondly on the steroid era of the MLB,
08:03mainly because of how electric it was when a lot of the biggest stars were juicing.
08:06Down the left field line, is it enough? Gone! There it is! 62!
08:14However, when the hammer finally fell and players like Barry Bonds and Mark McGuire were
08:18found out as cheaters, it hurt the credibility of baseball badly.
08:20I'm not here to talk about the past.
08:22There were practically no PED tests to deal with at this time, so the sport became a free-for-all.
08:26When all of this finally came to light, however, many Hall of Fame-level careers had to be totally
08:31re-examined, and several players lost their honors.
08:33You chose the money, and now you want your reputation back, and you can't have both.
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08:561. State-Sponsored Russian Doping
08:58After many years of rumors, in 2014 the Russian government was found to be complicit in perhaps
09:03the biggest doping scandal of all time.
09:19The government, anti-doping authorities, and intelligence agencies were all working together
09:24to manipulate drug tests to win medals and national prestige. The whistleblower, Dr. Grigory
09:28Rodchenkov, risked his life and his family's safety in order to bring the truth to light.
09:32My own credibility is always on the line, because what I'm saying is absolutely shocking.
09:39And it was a state program, which was so much thoroughly deliberate,
09:47that I was responsible for my particular part of work.
09:51He was personally responsible for creating the PED cocktails, and helping to manipulate test results.
09:56Russia was banned from competing in the 2016 Olympics, and the scandal shone a light on just
10:00how deep corruption can run in sports. The exposure of state-sponsored doping in Russia
10:05led to a partial ban of Russian athletes at this year's Rio Olympics. Russian officials have dismissed
10:10the latest report as the work of only one individual. Do you remember any of these scandals?
10:15Which sports rumor do you think is the most shocking? Let us know in the comments below.
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