40 YEARS LATER: RIGGS RIGGED IT. CALL THE RACQUET SQUAD

As the U.S. Open starts up amid oppressive humidity...a very cold sports event from the past has heated up.

It's alleged that the infamous Bobby Riggs vs Billie Jean King "Battle of the Sexes" match was deliberately thrown by Riggs.

WHAT, you may well ask, is the point of bringing up a story from 40 years ago? Yes, at the time it was an amusing pop culture moment that helped the women's lib movement. But what point does it serve to question whether it was legit or not? Especially when we can still ask who killed Kennedy, was there a Diana conspiracy, and was Michael Jackson really gay?

The point is to affirm Lily Tomlin's quote, "No matter how cynical you are, it's hard to keep up." And to a lesser degree, that eventually "the truth will emerge." And in this case, the truth is that "entertainment" involving sports events can always be corrupt and manipulated. Betting on sports didn't end with Pete Rose, and taking steroids hasn't ended with the disgrace of Roger Clemens. 40 years after it happened, we can look back at this now-tainted event and say, "Damn...FOOLED AGAIN."

I remember the event vividly...that's usually the case when things happen when you're young and impressionable. "Women's Lib" was a hot topic, and surprising as it might seem, there were a lot of people who still felt a woman couldn't or shouldn't be much more than a housewife, teacher or secretary. Some truly believed women were the "weaker sex" in every way. "Male chauvinist pigs" were chided for their views, but there were few female politicians, newscasters, or business executives. In sports, few women were stars, and the ones that were, were not being paid much or considered major athletes. Into this mess came Bobby Riggs, a retired and obscure tennis player who loudly claimed that not only couldn't a woman compete against a man equally...the best woman tennis player couldn't even beat a guy 20 years older. HIM.

Riggs was vaguely known as a gambler and "hustler," but his personality sold a challenge match between himself and Margaret Court, one of the best of the ladies. Short, aging, but a cagey player who relied on slices, spins and more guile than power, Riggs easily defeated Court. He then agreed to prove this was no fluke, and take on the only other star player in a skirt, Billie Jean King. To the astonishment of most everyone, Riggs seemed to have gotten suddenly old. His play was weak and sloppy. Even men who agreed with "equality" wanted Bobby to win...but in storybook fashion, the big bad wolfish pig LOST. And he lost to a kind of mannish (she later came out as lesbian) woman who wasn't exactly a graceful winner.

Some time later, the two had a comical ping-pong match in an episode of the sitcom "The Odd Couple," and the great event became just a silly footnote in the history of the women's movement. King would retire with an enviable record as the best woman tennis player (a title that wavered away from her thanks to Navratilova and then Serena) and Riggs, hardly pulling the stunts of an Evel Knievel, simply faded away into obscurity.

NOW? 40 years later, it turns out that Riggs was being leaned on for gambling debts and threw the match to keep from being thrown into the river. Seems like the truth. While Riggs was known to be a fairly expert gambler, who's to say he didn't have ups and downs...and at one point be very short of cash and facing very angry collectors?

An 80 year old man who overheard the mobsters getting to Riggs wants to set the record straight. Why now? Maybe because those mobsters are dead and gone and it's safe. At 80, he's not in this for the fame, and telling his story to a reporter for the momentary amusement of someone browsing the day's paper isn't going to bring him much money, if any. A friend of Riggs trying to "clear" is name? Nope. If anything, Riggs still comes across as a loser. There's no reason to NOT believe the guy. The only one hurt by this is Billie Jean King, who can't deny the story, just go with her gut feeling that Riggs (consummate con artist and actor) looked like he wanted to win, and seemed like he was trying his best. I buy the story that he tanked. I think he could've defeated King, who was only marginally better than Margaret Court at the time.

Really, what we take away from this is not whether a 55 year old man could defeat TWO of the best 30-something women in the world or just ONE of them...but that nothing is what it seems. In our desire to suspend disbelief, to accept ENTERTAIMENT, and to lose ourselves in amusement...any kind of disgusting behavior is possible. The fix could be in.

The funny thing is how often we don't want to know, and how often...we just don't fucking care. A lot of people love pro wrestling...they know it's not a sport. It's not regulated by any sports body. It's sold as entertainment, as "exhibition." So what. Boxing, which IS a sport, and a damn painful one...is regularly attacked for horrible "hometown decisions," bad judging, and corrupt organizations and promoters. Anyone remember Billy Collins? Resto? Was that the last time "loaded gloves" were in a ring? Of course not. We shrug and can't wait for Michael Buffer's next shout of "Let's get ready to RUMBLE..." He might as well say "Let's get ready to CHEAT, BE CORRUPT...BET ON A FIXED FIGHT..."

So it turns out that Bobby Riggs was in trouble with the wiseguys. Gosh, the same wiseguys that allegedly took down both John Kennedy and Robert Kennedy? Nevermind. We're not that interested in who killed the Kennedys unless it's presented as an entertaining "unsolved mystery." Then we forget that two men were shot in the head, their brains leaking out, and we just concentrate on the game of wondering if it was done by the mafia, the CIA, Castro, Russia, or some fun combination. Some even still go back to "conspiracy theory" on the Lincoln assassination, although it's not really needed in that case...that event, after all, was good theater.

When we go to the beach, and dive into the surf, we suspend the truth...that a shark COULD be in the water nearby. Nah. It's easy to forget about it and enjoy the swim.

This is why few of us get too upset after a boxing match is called a draw or the wrong guy is declared the winner. It's why we accept that Olympic events will be rigged, especially if the host country is Communist. We're not surprised when a basketball referee admits he kept making bad call after bad call because he was paid to make sure the gambling "point spread" was just right for some betting. At the very least, the Riggs story is a reminder that what we think is fact and reality and history...isn't. So let's keep our eyes wide shut.

We spend so much time, to quote a line from a Sam Phillips song, ignoring our conscience "like a crying child."

We just smile at Bob Dylan's line, "even the swap meets are gettin' pretty corrupt." Meaning, you might not get a bargain 45 rpm at the boot sale, because the dealer's keeping the good stuff for some dotty, half-senile old man who pays a little bit extra for the privilege of checking out the boxes kept under the table till he arrives! "I just want to buy records," says the guy with the pension money to spend, who refers to himself as The Duke, or The Prince or some other delusional royal title. "I'll guarantee to buy dozens of 45's so don't let someone else see everything before I do. The fix is in!" And what's so bad about that? We all would like to get special favors, be able to "tip" someone or be in a power position to get preferential treatment...and to know that in an emergency, most everyone can be bought.

Me, I'll tune in a little of the U.S. Open, but not much of it. It's kind of boring. Odds are nobody is being bribed to lose. It's just meaningless...and winning the U.S. is no big deal as there's always the French or the Australian or Wimbledon. Plenty of cash and prizes for all.

So I might re-run CASABLANCA instead....

Ugarte: Rick, think of all the poor devils who can't meet Renault's price. I get it for them for half. Is that so parasitic?

Rick Blaine: I don't mind a parasite. I object to a cut-rate one.