Richard Justice was on Mike and Mike in the Morning being critical of JVG for changing his story from "official" to "league official". Now the refs are calling for a suspension at least. I guess it all depends on what your official definition of "official" is. edit: sorry I forgot to mention Justice was being critical of JVG
I see, so if the MEDIA infers that JVG was talking about a ref and he wasnt, JVG should be punished. How about we punish the MEDIA for not asking the right questions to get the right answers? Ridiculous
I think JVG used the word "official" on purpose. This guy is savy and he has been known to play the media. He knew immediately that the media and pretty much everyone else who played basketball would assume by "official" he meant referee.
Justice was quite critical of JVG and seemed to imply that JVG's rep, especially here in Houston, would be irreparably damaged. He seems to believe JVG should step down. Where before JVG was revered here for standing up to the league, Justice now believes JVG's 180 degree has destroyed that here. The radio show hosts played up the ref association's position that JVG should be punished more for "impugning" the reputation of refs (yea, like their reps were spotless before and aprt from JVG's comments).
Richard Justice is like any reporter, he has his own opinions but that doesn't necessarily mean he is right.
http://www.chron.com/cs/CDA/ssistory.mpl/sports/3174728 1. JVG admits he intended to deceive by using the word 'official.' 2. He didn't admit to anything, except the subterfuge of suggesting he spoke with a ref, when he actually got his info from a different sort of official. I like how he's conceded without actually conceding. Stern and Granik say he's apologized and that he never did get info from a ref, but that's all beside the point anyway. Van Gundy stands beside his original statements, and his accusation that the refs were looking at Yao because of Cuban's complaints are never dispelled. It reminds me of the Van Gundy-Francis Superbowl scandal where both parties say they've worked it out and both parties still insist on a different version of events. I'm proud that he wasn't forced to cower and recant everything.
I don't see how anybody can get 'league official' from JVG's original comment because of the 'not working the playoffs' qualifier. Working the playoffs is a term that can only describe a game official and not a league official. I heard a bit of the Mike & Mike show this morning, including the Justice interview. Everybody that I heard was still quite critical of Van Gundy, probably even moreso than when he made the original comment.
I think stern comes off looking like a jackass. Van Gundy was accurate quoted. Stern, not unreasonably, assumes that Van Gundy meant "referee" when he said "official". However, before you take a huge, unprecedented move of fining a coach 100K and threatening lifetime ban . . . don't you think you should check to make sure you understand exactly what Van Gundy said??? No, Stern is king sh-- on turd mountain and did what he wanted to do.
I think JVG gets the last laugh. He outsmarted Stern. Rockets fans get another excuse for any possible conspiracies in the future. I don't have any problem with the situation, and don't think JVG's reputation did anything but improve in the eyes of Houstonians.
I think what Jeff Van Gundy seems to have done was borderline unethical. He deliberately mislead the public to believe that the NBA had some kind of conspiracy against Yao, thus attempting to damage the reputation of the NBA. IMHO, this is dirty pool and: HE SHOULD RESIGN!!!
I agree it was an iffy thing to do, but I don't think he's lying about it...if someone did give him this info, and they are a credible source, that's pretty strong. I mean, did he just clarify the wording, or say it was all fabricated?
He "clarified" his comments. But this tells me that JVG is one sly person, he is a seasoned politician with a move like this. So if he ever considers retiring from coaching, he should consider a career in politics. That was one sly move, and shows just how savvy he is. I mean he got his point across, was fined for it and lead the public to speculate on the "real meaning" of his statement, only to come back and throw the whole blame on a "misunderstanding" of what he really meant to say. JVG is one sly dude I just hope this is all set and done. I don't want this topic to keep coming up again and again, although I am sure that the media will hammer it to death for a few weeks. All I care about is JVG as a coach, and as long as he learns from this experience and vows not to repeat it, I am OK with him.
I don't know. That's still to be seen. He never took back that he was told (by someone) that the refs were told to watch Yao. It's just as much a conspiracy now as it was when he first said it -- to whatever degree that is.
even though he's clarifying that it was an official and not a referee, can we still ignore the fact that he was told by this official that the league told it's referees to referee Yao differently??? So regardless of official or ref...isn't the substance of the message givin to JVG still disturbing? maybe I am misunderstanding something.
I bet you that the league wouldn't have closed the investigation so suddenly if JVG was lying, they would have been on a crusade to discredit him and have him dismissed from the league. This, if anything, proves to me that JVG has something that does, in fact, hurt the integrity of the league, and that he didn't lie about the whole "bias" claim. Therefore, I am led to believe that the league found JVG's claims to be truthful, and thus had to shut down the whole issue as fast as possible, to cover up their findings. JVG only said basically to substitute "league official" for "game official", but the rest (his allegation of bias) "still stand and I was quoted accurately." So no, JVG didn't lie in this case, it doesn't look like it.
That logic doesn't follow either because the NBA officials are pursuing the issue now and if it was an "official", which it probably was, who gave JVG the info I'm sure they would know if there was some mandate to watch Yao.
Apparently, the refs union has issued a statement that they want JVG fired. Doesn't look like the calls will be improving any time soon. When they screw us next year, it will reinforce further JVG's point that the refs are crooked. They basically drove Pat Riley out of the league a few years ago. This whole fiasco could really bite us in the ass.
I agree, they were talking about this today on PTI with Tony Kornheiser asking-- "What if the refs decide not to give Van Gundy any calls next year?
