As you've no doubt heard by now, the NBA is in "oh crap" mode after it came to light that one of their referee's gambled on games that he officiated. Not a good thing. Tim Donaghy is under an intense investigation for gambling on football and on NBA games that he officiated. This is obviously an absolute nightmare for the NBA.
I am just old enough to remember when Pete Rose was busted for gambling on baseball. It was huge. Pete Rose was on the lead story on the national news. Sure, Tim Donaghy is no Pete Rose but Pete Rose could only control what happened with his own team. Donaghy held the fate of every NBA team at one time or another. There is no telling how much damage he did to the NBA, not yet anyway. I am believer in the livelihood of sports. If a team is on a role in a game, say it's an NBA game, and the Hawks are leading the Spurs by 11. Suddenly the officials call 4 consecutive fouls on the Hawks that they believe are unfair. All of the sudden the tide has shifted and it has nothing to do with what the Hawks have done, it's all on the refs. Now the Hawks are down in the dumps and they are upset. They go on to lose the game by 11 points. Sure, those four fouls in no way make up a 22 point swing, but they sure helped set the whole thing in motion. There is no telling how often that scenario played out because of Tim Donaghy manipulating the game.
The next big moment will come when/if Donaghy names names. If he names no one the NBA will suffer for the next few years. If he names a couple of Refs and/or players the league may be through. I don't think that is an exaggeration either, I really think that if there is this huge ring of gambling within the NBA that the league will be done. Professional basketball will have to start from scratch.
One final troubling note is that there is word now the NBA knew that there was a chance Donaghy was gambling. They heard he was gambling on NFL games. If it comes out, that they FOR SURE knew he was gambling on the NFL and they knew in January/February and still let him officiate games after that, they are really in a whole. I imagine it could cost David Stern his job.
The fact for now is that we just don't know enough yet. This story should get juicier and juicier as the summer moves along.
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7 comments:
This makes a lot more sense now. For years now, people have talked about how the NBA is rigged. They have been saying that the NBA would like Lebron in the finals and not the Pistons for example. Maybe its not the NBA its the referees wanting the underdog in the finals.
I am curious to see how aggressively ESPN will follow this story considering that they have just extended their contract with the NBA. Blake, you and I recently had a conversation about how ESPN over hypes sports in which it is paying rights fees to. Where do you see the coverage of this story going? I am sure that the initial coverage will remain thorough. Do you see ESPN swallowing up the "lone gunman" story currently being told by David Stern, or will they put in a concerted effort to dig deeper into this story? Looking forward to your thoughts.
I think they'll push the story as much as they can. It's a huge story if there is more activity there and they love huge stories over there at ESPN. I'm guessing they're eating this stuff up for as long as they can. I still wonder how much this will hurt the fan base. We'll see.
This is another example of how professional sports is so jaded. The MLB has steroids, the NFL has dogifhgting, and now the NBA has gambling referees. On top of all that, you have a group of players in each league that think they are better than everyone else and deserve gobs of money (i.e. Asante Samuels).
As far as ESPN's coverage goes, we all should know by now that they will run this story into the ground like they do every other story. I don't think there will be an loyalty even though they have the new deal with the NBA.
It is a sad state of affairs but I would prefer the headlining stories to be the "Who's Now" series as opposed to all this garbage happening in the world of sports.
You must be joking! The "Who's Now" segment is the worst piece of sports journalism since Jim Rome's fight with Jim Everett. I would rather watch T.O. do sit-ups in his driveway all day than hear Keyshawn Johnson tell me why Kobe Bryant is so "now." The most comedic part of the whole "Who's Now" debacle is that they named one of their brackets after Billie Jean King. I don't know what "now" means, but I am sure it never was an ugly lesbian tennis player who's major claim to fame was beating an elderly man (whom by all accounts didn't even try to win) in tennis. Rant over.
I'm pretty sure Rob was being sarcastic since I think I had a conversation or two with him about how awful the "Who's Now" segment is.
ALright Travis, relax dude.
THe "Who's Now" thing is completely idiotic. Funny side story, my wife and I had a conversation about Manning vs. A-Rod and who is more now. I never thought that would happen as my wife has virtually no sports back ground. I digress...
The point was that between animal abuse, steroid abuse, and gambling addications, I would rather those things were not happening so that the biggest thing we had to complain about was "Who's Now" as opposed to the faltering integrity of three of four major sports.
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