HoopsHype - NBA Rumors http://www.nytimes.com/2009/12/03/sports/basketball/03donaghy.html?_r=2&ref=basketball This portion was from hoops hype, but I linked the rest of the article for your reading pleasure.
No problem, and yea, I thought that it was both enlightening and far more disturbing than a guy manipulating the game by himself for a buck. If it is true....wow. It again feeds into the whole NBA not being entirely fair group.
Donahy on 60 Minutes Sunday night...should be interesting as he explains comments from the book.....Stern will deny everything
Ex-NBA referee Tim Donaghy: I refused to affect results of games - ESPN Interesting that the FBI backs him up.
On 60 minutes last night, he indicated that for all of this he made only $100,000 betting on the games. Once the mob found out he was making a few bucks they turned into a million dollar enterprise based on inside tips from him. They bet on one game where the Spurs were supposed cover a spread and win and he through Popovich out in the first qtr and the Spurs lost the game..... Donaghy almost his family on that and when he eventually went to jail, the mod had someone in there who was threatening to bust his kneecaps. YouTube - 60 Minutes - December 6, 2009 Personal Foul [Part 1] Tim Donaghy YouTube - 60 Minutes - December 6, 2009 Personal Foul [Part 2] Tim Donaghy
If anyone just saw outside the lines (OTL) on ESPN right now. Tim Donaghy would conspire against Rasheed Wallace and Chauncey Billups! He mentions he would try to "hurt" Detroit because they were on team. Wow. Rasheed Wallace must be FUMING!
I was going to paste just a piece...then it got longer and longer. I'll post the portion but please do yourself a favor and read the article. Disgraced former ref Donaghy details scam on '60 Minutes' - NBA - CBSSports.com Basketball
If you are hell bent on rigging a game and then the game starts going your way, then you obviously lay off the manipulation. Not sure what I believe from this guy. All I know is that if I were an NBA ref and I wanted to tilt the odds in one team's favor, it would be very easy to do without being obvious. Just knowing that it is possible makes it very likely that it happens.
I saw that..never saw any thing that Billups did that make refs not like him...don't recall any calls going against him or being pick on like Sheed. Then again our arrogance during those years following the ship even made some of sick... If the refs noticed it too, it explains why Wade and Lebron got free trips to the line in the 06 and 07 ECF's when we were clearly the better team.....at least when the series started....
This is the problem. You could force feed facts to some people and the "truth" is limited to what they are willing to believe. Yes he got busted, but this isn't any different that when young people get busted and if everyone sticks up for everyone else, they all suffer or get off together, but when they throw one guy under the bus, he says, 'Fine, then the rest of you are going down for what you did.' It's just human nature. It doesn't mean he's lying, but he's damn sure not going to take the fall alone once those who were in on it act like they were innocent. Stern made this bed by showing blind loyalty to the refs, shielding them by way of fines, and never allowing them to be held accountable in the same fashion he holds the players. It's funny how every time another person goes public calling him a con, someone pops up to corroborate his comments.
Chauncey Billups and Rasheed. There's two names. Our whining cost us the ref's good graces. If they are going to be corrupt, why make it worse with incessant whining.
Can't speak for Bad Boys I, but that Pistons team a few years ago robbed itself. The Donaghy issue is interesting, but there really isn't a clear cut truth in any of this. Clearly he doesn't have the greatest reputation and is likely stretching the truth here. He still says his calls that favored his bets on games wasn't manipulation. But to say that Stern was right and he was some rogue referee isn't completely right either. I'm sure he's not the only referee to ever bet on the game, he may be the worst example though. And a lot of his stories are about personal vendettas against certain players by certain refs. That's not acceptable, but is human nature. My opinion on this whole thing is that it just show that the league could definitely improve it's refereeing system. Bill Simmons had a good idea about a referee academy. I don't know what'd really work. I don't however think there is some league mandate that is set up to screw the small market teams and only benefit the league's most profitable.
Rasheed, I understand. But Billups?? Not even Rip but Billups? Wow...no wonder Billups almost got a triple double today on AI's Sixers. Guess the refs is trying to proof Donaghy wrong now to cover their behinds.
When the gov't and NBA says that Donaghy was the only one who participated in a criminal act and that he acted alone, all they are saying is that he was the only one who was betting on the games with these particular people. The FBI was investigating the bookies, not the referees. You've got to keep your eye on the ball. One player at a time that Donaghy was being singled out by the L for his officiating excellence was able to call him out for the rat he is.
This may sound naive, but this is extremely frightening to me. Not that i'm gonna piss my pants, I just didn't know refs were at this level of corruption if Donaghy is telling the truth. I knew they probably had players they disliked so they ignored calls on them sometimes, but I didn't know there was a concerted effort to dictate the ways a player got calls.
I can't decide to go with the part of me who agrees with you or the cynical part that says of course this must be going on all the time. For now I'll side with you and the angels. Pretty scary though.
Thank you Slow One!!!! I've been waiting for someone to point this out. Stern is doing his darndest to fake us out. Are you missing a word here? I'm trying to figure out exactly what you mean.
