now this is piling on Donaghy to face charges in Arizona PHOENIX -- Former NBA referee Tim Donaghy could face charges in Arizona's most populous county if investigations by the league and FBI show that he deliberately miscalled two Phoenix Suns playoff games this year, authorities said. Donaghy's Game Log Tim Donaghy left a record that shows he was often involved in games that displayed, in one expert's view, "abnormal" results on betting lines. A look at NBA games he officiated in the 2006-07 season. List In federal court Wednesday in New York, Donaghy pleaded guilty to two felony charges Wednesday in connection with an NBA betting scandal. Donaghy faces a maximum of 25 years in prison when he's sentenced for conspiracy to engage in wire fraud and transmitting waging information through interstate commerce. Maricopa County Attorney Andrew Thomas has sent letters to NBA Commissioner David Stern and the head of the FBI in Washington, saying he wants to know whether Donaghy gambled on the two Suns road playoff games, provided inside information to gamblers or helped determine the outcome by making bad officiating calls. Thomas said the games in question are the April 29 game against the Los Angeles Lakers and the May 12 game against the San Antonio Spurs. The Suns beat the Lakers 113-110 in the April 29 game, but lost to the Spurs 108-101 on May 12 in Game 3 of the Western Conference semifinals. Thomas said that if Donaghy "purposely failed to officiate the games properly and his conduct resulted in changing the outcome of the games, such conduct might have violated Arizona criminal statutes and could be the subject of criminal prosecution." Special Assistant County Attorney Barnett Lotstein said Arizona's "long arm statute" allows the county to prosecute in such cases. "If any element of the crime happened in our county, we have jurisdiction," Lotstein said. Among the possible felony charges are fraudulent schemes and artifices, which carry a possible prison sentence of 3 to 10 years; and bribery of participants in professional or amateur games, which carries a possible prison term of 1 to 3½ years, according to Arizona
NBA still has a referee problem NBA still has referee problem; bet on that By RANDY GALLOWAY Star-Telegram Staff Writer Just a thought, but with the general incompetence of referees in today's NBA, how could you possibly know which one was on the take from gamblers? Now that Tim Donaghy has pleaded guilty to felony charges of being involved in a betting conspiracy, my favorite story in the entire episode is this one: Once Donaghy's name surfaced, films of games he worked last season became a hot commodity. Every time his whistle blew in the regular season or the playoffs, it was heavily scrutinized. Much focus was placed on Game 3 of the Spurs and Suns in the playoffs, which, by the way, was Donaghy's final assignment. I remember watching that game, and hooting at the TV screen over some awful calls. I don't remember Donaghy, but did think the Suns got totally jacked on the road by the refs, which is nothing new for the NBA. It was, of course, Game 4 of that series where all hell broke loose with the controversy over commissioner David Stern handing down suspensions for two key Phoenix players. Anyway, the San Antonio and Phoenix newspapers both had reporters go back this summer and review every call made in Game 3 because of Donaghy's involvement and also the national backlash over the officiating in that particular contest. The two papers, although working separately, came up with the same conclusion. Donaghy was the best and most fair referee on the floor. And based on the film, and on controversial calls, if you wanted to question the integrity, or the competence, of any of the three refs that night, it would have been crew chief Eddie F. Rush. Excuse my laughter, but I find that funny, although not surprising. I bet Mark Cuban, who has wisely been very quiet through this entire Donaghy ordeal, privately agrees with me. Stern, of course, is not laughing. But now comes all the usual blah-blah-blah stuff. Yes, the next step for Stern, suddenly void of his usual smartest-guy-in-the-room bluster, is to assure us all that his beloved NBA will never ever be "Don-a-geed" again. Yes, the commissioner, who, in general, has been a good one all these years, can currently immerse himself in a massive public-trust recovery process from the credibility blow delivered by the Donaghy case. (Good luck on all that, David. But dig in. This is a process that will take awhile, if not forever). Yes, once Donaghy pleaded guilty this week to being a pawn for gamblers, Stern almost had a small victory to celebrate. Donaghy did not provide the feds with any other league names who were involved, which removed, at least for now, the possibility of even much greater devastation for the NBA. Yes, what should follow is the corporate mentality kicking in, with maybe a few heads also rolling in the league's New York office, and the announcement of many new safeguards being in place to prevent such a thing as Donaghy. Sorry, but Stern can't make good on that promise. No commissioner in any sport can. And it was also David who in February at the All-Star Game in Las Vegas hooted down a question about his having any worries over a Donaghy-type scenario. A rogue ref or umpire can happen at any time. As has been pointed out repeatedly in the Donaghy case, the money is so great in the major professional sports, players are not likely to be tempted by gamblers. And besides, for those so inclined to fix a game for wagering purposes, there are very few positions on the field, court or ice where an outcome could be arranged. Your best bet is and always has been those who have the ultimate authority -- a referee or umpire. Donaghy became one who crossed over that line. But by the NBA's own standards of rating officials, the league also just lost one of its best referees. Donaghy was not a bad official, just a rotten human being. The small irony here is the NBA can't afford to lose good refs. And now, because of Donaghy, an already difficult job (the hardest in all of sports officiating) just became even harder, with more pressure and more scrutiny for NBA refs. Cuban, of course, has forever had a major problem with how the league trains, grades and holds referees accountable. But the Donaghy case doesn't necessarily make him right with his displeasure. The real problem, at least based on conversations with people who have inside knowledge of the entire process, seems to come to this: On the floor every night of the season, the rank-and-file referee is as good as ever, but the competent crew chiefs are in such a minority that it's frightening. Outside of Joey Crawford, Danny Crawford and Steve Javie, many other crew chiefs are considered either too political or such lightweights that they shouldn't be in the position. A personal theory has agreed with Cuban that over the last decade the competence level of referees has declined dramatically. Not so, I've been told. In fact, Ronnie Nunn, the current director of officiating, is praised by people whose opinion I respect for upgrading the rank-and-file numbers by either adding promising new members or weeding out those who couldn't cut it. But being a good crew chief doesn't happen overnight. And good crew chiefs, in general, can keep a game moving and under control because they have the respect of the players, the coaches, and maybe most important, the other referees on the floor with them. Back to the blah-blah-blah. Yes, Tim Donaghy did tremendous damage to a good game. But even with him removed, that doesn't solve the other referee problems facing the NBA. Randy Galloway's Galloway & Co. can be heard weekdays 3-6 p.m. on ESPN/103.3 FM. http://www.star-telegram.com/287/story/204785.html
Totally agree. Donaghy deserves some jail time, but what vick did deserves the death penalty. Unfortunately, vick won't receive death even though he deserves it and really deserves to be electrocuted, hung and slammed to the ground like he did to those dogs. The people who defend vick are sick in the head and have no morals.
Hmmm....Have you ever harmed a living thing in your life.....you know like maybe a mosquito or a roach? Should you be swatted to death or forced to dine on some raid? Seriously, M Vick did what he did because he doesnt realize how bad it is. I know people are gonna say who doesnt know that fighting dogs is a bad thing. He will realize ALL the mistakes he made in life and the severity of them whenever he meets his maker, as will you. If he was your kin, I hope you wouldn"t be so quick to ask for his life
Haha, that is a joke come on man. That's totally laughable. He doesn't fit the bill even a little bit. It's almost equivalent of calling Skip Bayless a serious and respected journalist.
Who said anything about serious and respected? Deion has been a journalist for several years now, if you ignore him as a journalist than all the other ex jocks that are doing the job are worthless too. Unless you are going to define journalists, and have some secret code for what qualifies them or not....he is a journalist. DD
Count Deion Sanders as a journalist if you want, but if that is really the strongest example you've got of a black journalist defending Vick, I think you've lost the argument.
Yes all of them. The one thing that gets me is people think this is a race issue too. You hear those type of people call into talkshows and stuff, saying vick is being singled out cause he's black. I would feel the same way if it was peyton manning. They would all deserve to be tied up and then have a pack of hungry pitbulls let loose on them. That would be sweet justice. Animal cruelty laws are too lax and they should be equal to human laws. I would equate what vick did to first degree murder.
I should add human laws are also too lax. Murderers, rapists and child molestors all deserve the death penalty as well. Rehabilitation is a waste of tax payer money for those type of scumbags.
Holy sh*t. ESPN News just reported that Donaghy has implicated as many as 20 other NBA refs as involved in gambling on games.
Okay, they just clarified that it wasn't necessarily gambling on games, could just be some casino stuff as well. But still, each ref will have to be investigated and/or fired as warranted. Man, this could throw a real monkey wrench into next neason (or fix it perhaps).
I don't know about black journalist, but the NAACP has urged fairness and public restraint against judging Vick. http://www.sportingnews.com/yourturn/viewtopic.php?t=247833
