By: Michael Kelley ’14 & Mick Kowaleski ’14

An investigation has revealed that more than 680 soccer matches—including World Cup qualifiers—may have been fixed by a Singapore-based crime group.

Kowaleski: Congratulations to every professional sports league in America. You may have controversies circulating about concussions, PEDs, doping, and deer antlers, but you’ve been overshadowed by a globe-trotting fixing conspiracy!

Matches in the prestigious Champions League in Europe are in question, as are matches in Africa, Asia, South America and Central America. Who the s#!% is this Singaporian crime family and why have I never heard of them before? They allegedly spent up to $136,500 per match to bribe players and officials. Everyone knows about the Mafia, the Yakuza, the Bloods and the Crips, but good God … these Singaporians have a pretty extensive reach. Not to mention that these near-700 matches are “just the tip of the iceberg,” according to a German investigator. No word yet on which players are involved, but it’s not like it’s going to matter. Planet Earth as a collective unit is crazy about soccer, and a few hundred fixed matches are seriously not going to deter most spectators.

Last thought: doesn’t this whole situation sound like it could/should be the plot to the next James Bond movie? Come on: 007 gets a mission briefing to stop a Singaporian crime syndicate from fixing World Cup matches! England still won’t win, but at least Daniel Craig can save the integrity of the world’s most popular sport. I’m calling MGM Studios right now.

Kelley: Anyone ever see “Eight Men Out?” You know, the movie based off the story where several members of the Chicago White Sox were bribed to throw the 1919 World Series? These members constantly complained of being under-compensated for their play and therefore found it acceptable to accept the bribe over the chance to win the sport’s greatest honor.

So, if you haven’t watched it yet, you should. It resembles this story about these near-700 soccer matches being fixed. What fascinates me is that almost every level of the game was tainted: the players, club staff, and even officials – this Singapore crime family must have some serious pull.

Unfortunately, it’s now become a weekly duty for us Mike’d UP guys to write about sports conspiracies. They’re endless and the new one seems to be even worse than the last.

Coming into Week 14 of the NCAA men’s basketball season, there is no team without a loss. Who is the true No. 1?

Kowaleski: Trick question. There is no No. 1 team in the country.

This season can be defined by one word: “crapshoot.” As opposed to last year, in which Kentucky dominated from start to finish with only one last-second buzzer beating loss of the season, no team has separated themselves from the pack. Indiana, Duke, Louisville and Michigan have all been at the top of the heap this season. Miami has been a giant slayer. Syracuse looked strong before losing a couple key players. Kansas has been lurking in the top five all year. Arizona, Florida, Ohio State and Butler have all looked strong at times. Hell, every team in the top 25 could probably win this thing. Every team has strengths. Every team has flaws. It’s going to be near impossible come tourney time to call a winner. God, my bracket’s going to suck even more than usual…

The point is that there is no top team in the nation this year. There is no top five. Hell, I’d say that a majority of the top ten is pretty fluid in terms of possibilities for mobility. This year’s champion is going to be determined by one thing, and one thing only: dumb luck. The teams are too close, skill wise, for the championship to be determined by anything else.

This is going to be the Maddest March of all. I can’t wait.

Kelley: Yes, indeed – it has certainly been a weird season of college basketball, with teams shifting to and from the No. 1 ranking like they’re in a game of musical chairs.

You talk about strengths and weaknesses of teams and your argument resonates – there is no clear-cut, dominant team that has an overwhelming amount of talent to vault them to the automatic frontrunner. But what you fail to mention is the ever important aspect of coaching.

Come the madness that is March, coaching will take the front seat. Last year with Kentucky, it was an excess amount of talent that led to Kentucky snipping down the nylon. Fast-forward a season, and it’ll be the coaching that catapults a team to a championship – at least in my mind. That is the beauty of college basketball.

So let me drop some names here and then explain why I am doing so: Coach K, Bill Self, Jim Boeheim, Rick Pitino, Tom Izzo.

These coaches have been there done that. Been there again, did it again. They know how to train their players to peak when it matters most in conference tournaments, and more importantly, the NCAA Tournament.

So while you think dumb luck will separate the champion from the chase pack, I put my faith in coaching. As a Pitt fan, my hope remains that Jamie Dixon will put his past March debacles behind him and put himself in the category of legends above.