Conspiracy Theorist Takes Aim At Seahawks' Victory Over 49ers In NFC Championship
(CBS SF) - A YouTube video purporting to lay bare a conspiracy that the NFC Championship game between Seattle Seahawks and San Francisco 49ers was rigged in the Seahawks' favor was gaining legions of viewers after being published this week.
The video, uploaded by user 'NFL is Rigged' on February 3rd, is closing in on 600,000 views as of Wednesday afternoon.
In the 15-minute-long video, highlights of disputed plays or officials' calls are showed and accompanied by text which make the case that taken together, the plays had the effect of denying the 49ers a victory in the title game.
The video offers the unsubstantiated claim that the NFL has been fixing games since the early 2000s, and that players and coaches are not involved, only league officials.
A graphic near the end of the video reads, "The prospect of Denver vs Seattle and the #1 ranked offense vs the #1 ranked defense in football matching up in the super bowl [sic] was the reason for the NFL pre-determining the outcome of this game."
The video does show a number of instances of incorrect officials calls against the 49ers, and goes on to say they far outweighed the bad calls against the Seahawks.
As expected, the video has been ridiculed by Seahawks fans online and even on some 49ers fan blogs. Comments on the YouTube video post have totaled more than 4,000, with opinions across the spectrum.
CBS San Francisco reached out to user 'NFL is Rigged' for comment but has not received a response.
