The NBA scandal

[Stu]

I can't believe this has not come up here, but whoa, get a load of the NBA point shaving ref scandal. This is amazing, I remember watching many games over the years and saying: "What the hell? No way that was a foul/travel whatever. This game has to be fixed." Little did I know... wow, I mean just wow.

Edit: I see now this was touched on in the NBA Playoffs thread, but I think it deserves its own bandwidth. The implications of this for The League are startling.

 

[chronoaug]

I thought he only reffed one game that he bet on. Still, this doesn't throw me into a world of insecurity as much as it makes me think it's a man making a bad decision. This is going to be very problematic for david stern and the nba though. Every time there is a playoff game with a bad call or two, people are going to start clammoring and david stern won't be able to shake it off. Soccer has survived it on plenty of occasions (and were more seriously invovled) and i think the nba will too. However, the nba has had a problem with their referees being relatively top heavy, with a few refs having lots of respect and getting most the big time playoff games. There have been quiet coach complaint about some of the refs on the bottom of the totem pole and david stern is going to have to address reffing quality and credibility as a whole, which in a way is a good thing. Still, crazy stuff.

 

[countdemoney]

Perhaps this will finally end Stearn's reign of terror.

 

[bachbeet]

Either espn or fox had a good article on this and it is truly damaging. This is the first time in the 4 major sports that any official has been involved. Never have any umps, football refs or hockey refs done this. The article also said Stern must crack down hard or people will lose all trust. I agree. The FBI investigated this ref and then caught him. Hope he gets jail time.

 

[texas_jack]

Does anybody know what his conection to the mob is? I keep hearing that it has something to do with them.

 

[jonnydrama]

Originally Posted by texas_jack

Does anybody know what his conection to the mob is? I keep hearing that it has something to do with them.

i think the bookie he was using was connected with the mob

 

[habeas_dorkus]

Originally Posted by jonnydrama

i think the bookie he was using was connected with the mob

The story I read said he was approached by several "low-level mob members" who used his heavy gambling debt to leverage him into making certain calls.

 

[chronoaug]

Originally Posted by countdemoney

Perhaps this will finally end Stearn's reign of terror.
edit: nevermind, i don't care enough to respond to the response I love stern as a commish and am very curious how he will handle this situation. It seems they're gonna squeeze donaguey to get more info and try to expose any other things like this. I don't think it's a widespread problem but hope they can get to the bottom of all this.

 

[habeas_dorkus]

Another story discussed Stern's experience with gambling as a lawyer for the NBA early in his career. Very interesting. Looks like he's coming full circle. Also interesting was the way the league handled Michael Jordan's gambling...

I'm not sure how much of it (if any) is his fault, but the NBA's ratings have been steadily dropping.

 

[matadorpoeta]

i called it. somebody give me props on this.

 

[chronoaug]

It's not that suprising when you think about it. I'm actually suprised something like this hasn't come out in the news earlier

 

[visionology]

This just proves what everyone has been thinking for years. I'm sure it happens all the time in many sports and not just for money, often favoritism plays it's part as well.

 

[pscolari]

Great. Now I am going to see more of Stephen A Smith on ESPN. Fantastic. Kill me now. At least I don't live in Philly and see him in my sports page.

 

[Southern-Nupe]

Originally Posted by habeas_dorkus

The story I read said he was approached by several "low-level mob members" who used his heavy gambling debt to leverage him into making certain calls.
Yeah, their saying that this is may be tied the Gambino crime family, and that he's seeking police protection, due to threats.

 

[lawyerdad]

Bill Simmons has a good column on espn.com today, discussing the fact that Donaghy worked the pivotal game 3 of this year's Suns-Spurs game.