The FBI doesn’t know much about basketball, but they do know a lot about crime. Which makes them different than all the ESPN people commenting on Donaghy’s credibility They all know a lot about basketball and not much about crime.

You see, the FBI only makes deals for information they think is credible and valuable. If the FBI was willing to deal with Donaghy for this information, they’d actually have to believe it’s useful. That’s why I believe it’s useful.

The NBA, and David Stern specifically, promised us all transparency after the first scandal. They keep claiming they have statistics to show that there is no bias in refereeing. I talked to my mom about this, who knows a lot about statistics and marketing and comically little about basketball. From that view, it was simple: if the statistics claimed what Stern claims they claim (stick with me here), then they’d be available. The fact that they are not available is proof that there is bias.

I know what you mean.

Although, if it’s true, I’d rather the truth come out and the game be cleansed so that the blazers have a fair shake.

The first half of that Celtics game was pretty bad…

The Sacramento game was absolutely horrible.

blzrfan beat me to this in damir’s fanpost… good job blazrfan!

I wrote in the comments of the fanpost that the writer of the SacBee watched that game 6 again and noted those two referees were calling an atrocious game. I always thought Dick Bavetta was alright.

And they got rid of all the witches, didn’t they?

or whoever it is who employs Phil. :)

you can say that I brought up an excellent point, because I’ve been preaching something along those lines for years. I think I shut up a few years ago when the blazers stopped making the play-offs. Officiating has annoyed me forever. Then I could sound brilliant (which I was) and you wouldn’t need to quote PHil Jackson (who, if true, doesn’t deserve all those rings. hmmm… who’s the faker NOW PHil?)

True, Stern may have done good else where, but the unwillingness to incorporate technology that wouldn’t slow the game and would help with the calls, and create a program that helps the refs make better calls and reviews plays (even privately) with the regs, has caused Stern to be on my “I’m unhappy with you list” for a while.

Stern has put himself in this position by refusing to enact change. He’s refused to recognize, even if the calls ARE legit or were made with good intentions, that technology can help the refs due a better job and doing something to address the situation is better than ignoring it.

I have very little doubt these accusations are true and that is Stern’s fault for inaction and thus supporting the accusations. I saw bad calls with the Jazz in a game 6 against the bulls, I saw it in the sacramento game, and I saw it in game two of the Celtics in the first half. People know which games I’m talking about without more explanation, and that should stand out even more.

that Stern is a good commish. I think the success the NBA has had comes in spite of the man.

that game was worse than the Jazz game or even the Boston game.

If I knew something and believed in it, (right or wrong can be in the eye of the beholder) then I wouldn’t spill no matter what. That’s my nature.

Just because something can’t be proven doesn’t prove the absence of that something.

UFOs could exist. I’m not sure that I believe that they do, but a lack of evidence doesn’t exactly prove them false either, it just makes it that less likely but it could be we’re looking in the wrong places in the wrong way.

Just saying.

It really wouldn’t take that many and those people could also have their jobs/reputations on the line. Why ruin a good thing?

We always find a way to screw things up somehow. I would not be surprised to find out that this stuff was true. Still, I don’t think it is (Or is that hope?). So I agree with you, except for the humanity thing.

You are the voice of reason. And liking to look at myself as a reasonable person …. I’m in total agreement.

the good old boy network.

It can be very unhealthy at times because people stop holding each other accountable.

he looked very uncomfortable addressing it live like that. Can’t blame him, totally awkward. I’m actually surprised that it was even brought up, I thought they’d just ignore it (at least during the game)

To me, you can’t ensure that no refs are shady, but you can severely limit their influence. Personally, I’d like to see their influence, shady or not, reduced. For instance, very few times have I heard of referees blowing football games or conspiracy theories regarding that, either.

For one, basketball fouls are HIGHLY subjective, and any time flopping or ‘selling’ or ‘earning’ a foul comes along, you know that the system’s a little screwy. I’d like to see some much more transparent evidence of fouls come out other than ‘he fell over’ or ‘his arms flailed’. This isn’t entertainment and this isn’t sporting. I think football gets it right to a degree with the splitting up of duties. Perhaps that could be incorporated into the system to get things a little more concrete.

in the finals, yet it has happened. That’s bunk to me that there was no way the refs were not going to let LA lose. That game could easily have been won by Boston as it was close in the 4th.

That doesn’t mean I don’t agree that the officiating isn’t biased toward the stars (which I have always hated).
But in this series there are stars on both teams, although the Celts have two more than the Lakers. Is the NBA biased toward certain big-market teams? Sure seems like it but then how do you explain the success of the Spurs and other NBA unpopular teams?.

http://www.amazon.com/Foul-Connie-Hawkins-Story-David/dp/0030860210

From the first review:

Finally, the book delivers a detailed account of the legal fight undertaken to remove the ban. This was achieved by his committed - and of course poorly paid - attorneys over the determined opposition of, among others, current NBA commissioner David Stern, who hardly expresses remorse in his interviews with the author.

Italian soccer just went through the Serie A Scandal, wherein numerous clubs conspired with referees to fix matches (the leagues themselves were not involved). If Donaghy’s allegations are true, than this is at least as bad, if not worse.

I wouldn’t mind sending the Lakers to the NBDL, how that I think about it. :)

“I have a job! So do most of you (regardless of the popular belief that most of us live in our mother’s basement). As a member of the leadership team at my office I have to evaluate other employees. This is a pretty subjective type of thing (much like reffing an NBA game). However, I don’t do this in a vacuum. I don’t just go with what appeals to me. I don’t give good performance reviews to people because they have been good in the past or because I like them (or bad ones if I dislike them). Our entire leadership team sits down and and practices with evaluations (from real people) to acheive consistancy, so that when I go back and evaluate performance I will be fair and consistant. What’s more a performance review I give will not be sustantially different from what any other manager would have given to the same employee. This calibration is a very boring process and we do it at least once a month but is super important to fairness and our people count on us being impartial and fair. Is this starting sound familiar?

1. My job can be a very tough job with pressure and scrutiny
2. My best people can make me more money and deserve my respect but not to the detriment of my other people
3. I am human and can (and do) make mistakes but I strive to minimize them and am held accountable for them.
4. My Boss and his boss not only can look at my evals at any time they want but do so regularly. Not only that …they will meet with my people to make sure I am treating them fairly. (Dave Stearn could take a lesson from that).
5. Lastly ….there is a viable perception of fairness that permeates our organization because of #’s 1-4

A couple of points. The inconsistancy of the refs can be fixed with a calibration like I mentioned above. The star system diminishes everyone …including the stars. Many fans believe that the only reason Kobe (or whoever) is as good as they are is because they get special treatment. The whole process that refs go thru needs to be transparent….now!!!! Lastly Stearn needs to let go of his hubris and do whatever is humanly possible nullify this perception of corruption….even if it isn’t as widespread as the conspiracy theorists would believe, he needs to do it. Our game is in trouble, commish. Get it fixed!!”

The open aboveboard evaluations of refs is absolutely mandatory. Perception is reality and the perception of NBA refs is pretty much crap…regardless if Donaghy is telling the truth or not.

The 2000 Western Conference Finals really got you started, right?

The 2000 season was pretty key for me, I had a fairly successful 1998-1999 season betting NBA and also had saved up quite a bit of money from my summer job as a skycap at the airport.

I was in the process of getting a degree in Philosophy at the University of Manitoba and I began to wonder what I was going to do with myself, the prospect of continuing my education and going on to grad school wasn’t too exciting.

Around the same time Phil Jackson was hired to coach the Lakers and in my mind they immediately became the favorite to win the NBA championship. I placed several wagers on them in the first week of the season to win the NBA championship at what I thought was a fair price. I put aside enough money to cover my expenses for that school year and bet the rest of my savings on the Lakers to win the title.

When I tell the story now people look at me as if I was insane betting all my money on one event, but really I felt like not taking that chance would have been a bigger mistake. Basically my life wouldn’t have changed that much had the Lakers not won the title.

I would have continued living in my older brother’s basement and finished up my degree—the money I bet wasn’t life changing money, but if I won the bet with the 7 – 7.5 to 1 odds I felt like I could really change my life.

The only time I really regretted making the bet was when the Lakers were down, what was it, 12 points going into the fourth quarter of Game 7 vs. Portland in the western conference finals.

At that time it didn’t seem like such a wise move. But luckily, the Lakers came back to win the game and went on to win in the Finals pretty handily and I never really looked back.