The Subtle Art of Losing at Connect Four

In which I confess to the great sporting scandal of our time

There are certain expectations that we have when watching sports.

We may not expect that every game will be well-played, or even entertaining. We may not reasonably expect that our team will win every single game, unless we root for Alabama football. We may not expect to get anything specific out of watching any particular match. Fundamentally, though, we expect that the games will be fair—that the contest we are witnessing is a legitimate competition, and that the end result will be the product of both sides’ best effort.

At times, this belief has been shaken.

Major point-shaving scandals have struck college basketball—at City College of New York in the 1950s, Boston College in the 1970s, and Tulane in the 1980s. The Chicago White Sox memorably threw the 1919 World Series in what came to be known as the “Black Sox” scandal. At the beginning of the 21st century, NBA referee Tim Donaghy conspired with gamblers to impact the result of playoff games, possibly costing the Sacramento Kings th…