Donaghy blows the whistle: Refs were told not to eject star players
HOLY CRAP ON A WHOA
Ex-NBA referee Tim Donaghy told the feds two refs fixed the outcome of one playoff series - and that officials were told not to eject star players from games for fear of hurting ticket sales.
The bombshell allegations are contained in a court document filed Tuesday by Donaghy's lawyer. It describes the “inner workings" of the NBA in which top league executives used referees to manipulate games.
Donaghy, who pleaded guilty in Brooklyn Federal Court to charges of betting on games he officiated, told FBI agents “league officials would tell referees that they should withhold calling technical fouls on certain star players because doing so hurt ticket sales and television ratings," the document said.
Donaghy claims he was told that two refs who were “company men” acting in the interest of the NBA conspired to extend a playoff series in 2002 to a seventh game.
WOW. This is horrible.
Kings - Lakers 2002 WCF?
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WOW...
this could be really good for the Blazers in years to come, as few people want a small market team to be a champ for years and years, and in the aftermath of this, Stern might have to pull back his henchmen.
Blake brings it up on the right, swings it to Webster on the elbow, he moves around the key and passes to the low left block for Aldridge, Aldridge jukes baseline, turns back in and finds Roy cutting down the seam, ROY THROWS IT UP AT THE RIM FOR ODEN WHO THROWS IT DOWN FOR THE TWO HANDED MONSTER JAM!!! BOOM-SHAKA-LAKA!!! -Wheeler '08-'09
i can't wait
by you'vegottomakeyourfreethrows on Jun 10, 2008 3:33 PM PDT reply actions
They just said on Sportcenter
That it was in fact game 6 of the Kings/Lakers series. 25 4th quarter freethrows should have been enough evidence to begin with. Stern has problems right, about…. now.
RUDY > MJ
I just read the article
and the guys on ESPN seemed to have a different look at it. They seemed to be accusing the refs of favoring the big market team(Lakers) in the Kings/Lakers series. Thus resulting in 25 4th quarter free throws.
RUDY > MJ
Indeed! Put it in a jar, everybody...
.................... send me to Las Vegas Summer League next year with the proceeds, so I can sit behind Dave, taunting him throughout the game and using my very best pottymouth vocabulary (which is quite extensive).
t
"You don't live by the jumpshot, you die by the jumpshot." ---Charles Barkley, 2/7/08
hmmm...
unfortunately this will all blow over. No one’s going to buy it coming from a guys who’s been busted for what he’s done. This would have carried a lot of weight if he was a trustworthy whistle blower, not some guy trying to cut a deal with the feds.
Deals being cut with the feds
is often how the truth comes to light.
Blake brings it up on the right, swings it to Webster on the elbow, he moves around the key and passes to the low left block for Aldridge, Aldridge jukes baseline, turns back in and finds Roy cutting down the seam, ROY THROWS IT UP AT THE RIM FOR ODEN WHO THROWS IT DOWN FOR THE TWO HANDED MONSTER JAM!!! BOOM-SHAKA-LAKA!!! -Wheeler '08-'09
i can't wait
by you'vegottomakeyourfreethrows on Jun 10, 2008 3:45 PM PDT up reply actions
like EScotty says below
it’s just too hard to know. without a paper trail and heresay from a crooked ass ref with no integrity, we really have no way of knowing for sure. That’s why I say it blows over
whistle blowing
anytime that whistle blows something is amiss…. and who coulda thunk that ref’s are less then impartial after watching Buck and Clyde each get the screw in their day from who was it …. Jake?
If you dont talk to your cats about catnip, who will?
Check out this story in the Sac Bee one year ago
http://www.sacbee.com/100/story/297829.html
There are still no excuses for not winning the seventh game at Arco Arena, for allowing the horrific officiating by Bob Delaney and Ted Bernhardt (and very few of the mistakes in Game 6 are attributable to crew chief Dick Bavetta, by the way) to mess with their minds.
Could they be the two “company men”?
BINGO, BANGO, BONGO
If this is true...
...it could be bad news.
Is it true? I don’t know… obviously few of us do. It could be a crooked ref trying to get a shorter prison term.
Or, it could be true. The problem with virtually all pro sports leagues, especially the NBA, is an astonishing lack of transparency in these matters.
Methinks that Game 7 of the 200 WCF was fixed myself… :(
the 200 AD WCF wasn't that Jerusalem Vs. Gaul?
I know Jerusalem like Chicago just isn’t the team it once was without it’s legendary player.
http://www.theonion.com/content/node/50097
He's Coming! Oden Slayer of Giants
by Idog1976 on Jun 10, 2008 10:07 PM PDT up reply actions 1 recs
Nice work.
You get a “rec” for linking to one of my favorite Onion articles of all time.
Trade Freeland!
by rockingharder on Jun 10, 2008 11:36 PM PDT up reply actions
great fanpost
my mind just exploded
"Honor Terry Porter." Email me with your TP stories and memories.
LAKERS KINGS ONLY GAME TO GO 7 IN 2002
http://www.basketball-reference.com/playoffs/NBA_2002.html
HOOOOOLY.
That’s the ONLY game that went 7 games that year.
What are the odds...
(bad choice of words there…) that tonight’s game will be the best called game in the history of the NBA? EVERYONE will be watching this one through a microscope.
"You don’t visit the coast, then ask where you could get some average seafood." -tominhawaii
Well I watched it
and it looked worse than before. That may mean they’re just dumb. Or, that they think we’re that dumb.
I'm a really really ridiculously good looking orange mocha frappaccino drinking manhammer sandwich
KABLOOM!
Ben is right. My head just exploded.
Quick story: I once sent a girl the April fool’s joke fake bbc page that claimed zombies were real, because she has a real fear of zombies. Her immediate reaction: “I KNEW IT! I always said I didn’t believe in zombies because I didn’t want to be made fun of, but I ALWAYS KNEW THEY EXISTED!”
Anyway, that was pretty humiliating for her.
So, for the current, I won’t be shouting “I KNEW IT!” to too many people, but I certainly want to.
BLZRS FRVR
you must link
I must have the zombies!!!
"We play for one thing and one thing only, and that's championships." - The Devil Spawned
Here is the link to that zombie story by the way:
Still a great prank to play on people. The page looks so real:
Cambodian Troops Quarantine Quan’sul
BLZRS FRVR
oh...
you did… AWESOME!!!
"We play for one thing and one thing only, and that's championships." - The Devil Spawned
I believe Donaghy
I believe him for two reasons. First of all, he has little to gain (except some publicity…maybe he already has an idea for a book) It wasn’t the NBA that busted him, rather it was the feds. A grudge against the NBA wouldn’t make a lot of sense.
Secondly, you would have to be a blind man in a dark room looking for a black cat that isn’t even there to honestly believe that games are called the right way all of the time. There are way too many times when we have all seen refs make a rediculous call. It is the call when all 20,000 fans in the stands can see it is a silly call, as well as all 20 million viewers at home can see that it is silly. How is it that everyone EXCEPT the referee knows what the right call is, yet it is failed to be made correctly? How else do you explain that these same refs that make these horrible calls never seem to get reprimanded. Supposedly there is a head referee or referees that evaluate all of the calls throughout a season, and then game refs are dealt with later on. Good grief, there is no reason on God’s green Earth that Steve Javie, Violet Palmer, and such should still have jobs in this league.
Want a perfect example of a game being rigged? Look no further than the job Jake O’Donnel did on us in Game 6 of the Blazers vs Bulls Finals. That was as lopsided of a 4th quarter officating job as I’ve ever seen. I was 14 and knew it was BS back then. Believe me, the refs did everything they could to help the Bulls make their great comeback. Our own players have even gone as far as to insinuate that was the case.
Looks like Bubba may have some new company in prison before all is said and done.
Can I buy you a fish sandwich?
The officiating
in the 4th quarter of that Blazers/Bulls game was horrid. I thought it was as bad or worse than the famous Lakers/Kings game.
I’ve often wanted to watch that game again where the Blazers had it all sewn up in the 4th quarter before the refs took over. Had the Blazers won that game, they would have had an excellent chance at taking the series, and Jordan with one less ring, today would be perched on a shorter pedestal .... plus the Blazers would have a pair of championships. We lost another pivotal game in the finals against Detroit when it looked like we had the game in hand, but that one had nothing to do with the refs; it was Vinnie Johnson living up to his “microwave” nickname. He WOULD have picked THAT game to have one of his best performances ever.
I’ve always wondered how I could get a tape of that Blazer/Bulls game so I could remind myself of how influential that Jordan star power was.
Maaaannnnnn...
I want so badly for the games to not be fixed or manipulated (I know they can’t ever fix the games COMPLETELY, but a manipulated game is just as bad). I get no peace of mind if the 2000 WCF was fixed, nor the 2002 WCF, in favor of the Lakers. I want it to be the better team going on, or the luckier team, or ANYTHING besides uppity muckity mucks deciding star power over letting the teams PLAY.
This hurts my head to think about.
EVEN IF NOT TRUE, it feels true to many, many people. This claim, even if never really proven, will serve as FACT for every NBA conspiracist. It may not explain the Spurs, however…
I want our small market team to have the chance to win it all because of the talent we have, not because of our stars or lack thereof. This is incredibly disheartening if true.
One quick question (I’ll have more later I’m sure): How does not kicking a star out of a game help ticket sales? People are already there. Nobody gets a refund if Kobe gets ejected for having a pretty mouth. That doesn’t make any sense.
I believe refs have always had biases, as it is normal human nature. If they don’t like someone or some franchise on a personal level, it will effect their refereeing—to think otherwise is to think too highly of the common person. I just wished it wasn’t a NBA mandated secret rule, that certain refs try to ensure certain teams make it further.
Hey, it casts a shadow across what the Lakers and Phil Jackson have done, so there is some good in it.
Mortimer
You could argue
that the consumers would be given pause if they thought their favorite player wouldn’t play for much of the game they were going to pay to witness. If NO stars ever get thrown out of games in the early minutes (or at all) there is no cause for concern.
Still—it seems more like a television ratings problem than a ticket sales one. I can see the casual fan switching channels if Kobe leaves the game five minutes in.
BLZRS FRVR
by nightbluefruit on Jun 10, 2008 4:52 PM PDT up reply actions
Kobe whines at the refs
But he certainly doesn’t seem to whine so much that an obvious reluctance to throw him out is on display.
I know some players know they can get away with more than others, and act accordingly, but I don’t see it at a level where the ref let’s them rant and yell without punishing them.
And I don’t think there has ever been an era in the NBA where people were worried their favorite player would be thrown out in the 1st quarter regularly. Not even Sheed did that.
I agree, it seems like a TV ratings problem more than a ticket sales one, and I’m sure some lame people would turn the channel if Kobe or Lebron weren’t able to play. I just don’t SEE this taking place as we watch the games, nor being an actual worry. If a player was so awful to the refs that he deserved to be kicked out, but the ref was biting his own tongue per league orders, I haven’t seen it routinely. That would be hard to hide, and I think whining players often get a technical for their troubles.
In certain situations, obviously Kobe can say something Martell Webster can’t get away with. Refs are more lenient to stars in the big moments of games. I just don’t think I’ve seen a situation where a star deserved to be tossed and wasn’t, at least early in a game.
I know this is possible, just doesn’t seem very reasonable to me.
Mortimer
Good points, all
But let me urge you to go back and watch the tape of game two again. Kobe got one technical early on (deservedly) for constant chirping at the refs. Then, uh, it got worse but the whistle kept quiet. Imagine if Sheed acted this way. He’d be gone.
Crap. I was going to link to a site that lets you look through game tape but it turns out it’s illegal and has been shut down. Anyone know of another one?
BLZRS FRVR
by nightbluefruit on Jun 10, 2008 5:09 PM PDT up reply actions
Ahhh
Well, you are right, Kobe did get worse.
I chalked it up to them letting him whine as the big star he is as the game got bigger… one of the allowances the NBA Star system allows.
It being the Finals makes it even more of a ‘big game’, obviously, with more big moments, where I’ve always felt the refs really let the ‘key players’ get away with murder in what they say. So, I totally agree with you there.
I guess my biggest problem with the ‘no technicals’ claim is that it is trying to say it applies to early on in games, or normal mid-season games. I think the bigger the moment, the bigger the stage, the more the refs let the stars get away with… and as a NBA fan, I can’t get TOO angry about that. I want the best players out on the floor, letting them decide what happens.
Of course, if the refs are throwing one guy out because he isn’t as big of a star but letting Kobe yap yap, that’s one thing.
If they’re letting the players rant and whine during big key moments where emotions are high, I can’t say I got a problem with that. If they are allowing it when it isn’t warranted (1st quarter, regular season meaningless game, etc) then I think it’d be more obvious.
I think we basically agree though. Stars get leniency for what they say and do on the court.
Mortimer
I sawr it
Sheed was Biatchin’ at the Refs this Play Offs and shoulda a been tossed
BUT he woulda been out o’ The Next Game!
I sawr the one ref pull the other one’s T signal down to his waist. What was dat?
Technical Fouls are called to soon at times. These need to be used when things are getting Out of Control only. Not for emotion to the initial call or maybe even on goin’ vocal abuse o’ a Ref. It does need control a Player before he causes physical harm on the court. A hard decision to control misdirected emotion.
I just watched a Phil Jackson (The Putz) interview on ESPN. When asked about the Donaghy Testimony. The one thing I took away was;
The Referees should be
“Independent of The NBA”Brilliant!!!
"Always Willing, Ever Able" - rivbike.com
"If you don't want to get banged. Don't go in there" - Van Gundy
While the NBA star treatment is true,
I don’t think the conspiracy theories really have any weight, and my supporting arguments for my belief are 1. San Antonio Spurs, 2. San Antonio Spurs, 3. San Antonio Spurs. If Stern and league brass are trying to fix matches, why would they allow the refs to eject amare and diaw in last years semis against the spurs for getting off the bench? I can’t figure out why the refs would make that call if this fixing theory is true, and especially why the brass would uphold that call after review. SAS has won four championships, they are a small market team, and they play allegedly boring bball. And frankly, I do not buy that the league would take chances on fixing games, especially when the officials can’t guarantee anything. I mean, think about it. If you’re an NBA official, and you’re involved with the mafia in a racketeering operation, would you take the risk of trying to fix a game in a particular manner depending on your “client’s” wishes, especially if you couldn’t guarantee that result? I mean, that is some really shady stuff. I just don’t see that kind of dealing going on in an organized fashion, especially considering the lack of guarantees involved with fixing games. I mean honestly, it doesn’t matter how many fouls you call, the players still have to make the shots.
Well Duh
Anybody who’s watched the NBA for the last 20 years could tell this was going on…it just took company spokesmen like Steve “Snapper” Jones to remind all of us peons that “the calls even out as the game/series goes along”
yeah, surrre
It didn’t seem to matter to Jake O’Donnell that Clyde Drexler and Buck Williams were “name” players when he ejected them back in the day. I guess when it comes to NBA markets, size matters
This allegation is actually a conspiracy...
to thwart the Blazers impending dynasty.
The powers that be-the guys that control David Stern’s strings-have determined that allowing the Blazers, with B-Roy, Oden, LMA, etc. to bring title after title after title to the Pacific Northwest, is simply intolerable.
So they’ve decided to blow up the NBA; in the New Order, we’ll be the Charlotte Bobcats.
:)
Am I being paranoid? Probably. But it’s so much fun to promulgate wacky conspiracy theories—especially if by sheer coincidence, you turn out to be right.
Time to go home now…
Whatever the truth is the allegations alone will make the NBA stink.
It’ll be interesting to see how they handle it.
"Besides, AnntheFan will be here any minute to #25 you." T Darkstar
The thing about the Spurs Championships came when
LA, NY, Chicago, Boston, were not in a real position to challenge. Those 4 teams are what sells the league in Sterns eyes and superstars like Duncan get the benefit of the doubt in the lean years.
I'd add Detroit in the mix...
and I don’t think that the NBA minds success in other large markets, like Miami, Philly, Houston, or Phoenix either.
On the other hand, the thought of a Utah Jazz vs Charlotte Bobcats matchup in the Finals must scare the carp out of David Stern.
by EngineerScotty on Jun 10, 2008 8:35 PM PDT up reply actions
If this is true...
you’d have to consider that the league doesn’t just pander to big markets, they also HEAVILY market specific players. Wade became huge suddenly (granted it started by just drafting off Shaq) and after that title he was “the next Jordan” according to many people.
Does this worry me? No, between LMA’s comcast commercials and Oden with his now legendary car commercials, we have some heavily marketed talent for the league to “massage” deep into the playoffs.
Then we have to have a Lebron,
really the only big market player in a small market city. If Oden can be that guy, and he’s the only player we have that would qualify, we could make it. I really dont think LMA is in his league.
I could be wrong… But he already has the personality, and happens to be one of most anticipated top picks to come out, you could argue, since, Lebron. Wait til the announcers talk to him during halftime, or at the end of a big win. He reminds me of the big Aristotle. Heavily marketable. Luckily, since he’s in in Portland and not in LA we wont have to see him in any movies!
It is for the greater good
I don’t mind the refs fixing the games. For the most part, If the NBA is successful, then the teams in the NBA are successful. I hope this all goes away so we can get back to the draft.
"lowest common denominator - every time I think you hit rock bottom you sink it deeper into the shale" -- bow4meow
The game has evolved into footbasketball
Which is another cause of all of this. When you allow fouls on every trip down the floor, and only expect the refs to call them at certain times, on certain players, you’ve already destroyed whatever integrity the rules had. If your rules have no integrity, how can you expect the men enforcing them to? To this very day i’m in disbelief that the NBA re-hired convicted criminals to referee their games. CONVICTED CRIMINALS!!!
http://robots.cnnsi.com/basketball/nba/news/1998/06/24/referee_taxes/
And nobody seems to care.
Blazer Fan
WOW, that's bad
it shows the refs are constantly looking to scheme to make money. They’re willing to bend the freaking rules. These are the guys that are supposed to be ENFORCING them.
I'm a really really ridiculously good looking orange mocha frappaccino drinking manhammer sandwich
Speaking of fixes...
......................... I watched about 60 NFL games a couple years ago, and the first one of all those where it felt like the fix was on was the Steelers being handed the SuperBowl. There are good calls and bad calls in every game, but in that case there were drive-killing calls that were sheer fantasy.
I doubt Arlen Spector (R-PA) is gonna be too eager to hold hearings on THAT one though…
t
"You don't live by the jumpshot, you die by the jumpshot." ---Charles Barkley, 2/7/08
..........and in the NHL...
.........in the last game of the Stanley Cup Finals, Red Wings safely up 3-1, there was an absolutely false “hooking” call made at the 2:00 mark, resulting in a quick power play goal and a very close finish.
Coincidence?
The fact is THERE IS BIG, BIG MONEY in the championship games of the various sports. It’s in the interest of the leagues to have 7 game series with close results, it builds viewership and that’s where the big money is, in the long run. BILLIONS of dollars. And some VERY dodgy officiating going on. Fact.
t
"You don't live by the jumpshot, you die by the jumpshot." ---Charles Barkley, 2/7/08

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