Ex-referee Tim Donaghy blows whistle on NBA dirty secrets

... that part I actually believe.

 

I knew this would happen. Everyone said that the conspiracy idea was dumb but now you have this from Donaghy. The proverbial lid has been blown. It was the tip of the iceberg then and it is still now.

You can bring this to the bank. Wait and see what the Feds do. The Feds will not bring a case up unless it's airtight. All one has to do is look at the Michael Vick case.

 

O SNAP

"A certain 2005 series"

 

But we knew this all along. Some hard hitting sentencing better come down. Basketball is a sport for entertainment, but they are playing with millions of dollars here and used lives. The punishment must be severe, anything short of the death penalty. I believe I stated on these boards here before, the punishment must be worse than the mob's, the fear of the law must be greater than the fear of the mob.

Whoever said conspiracy was dumb is dumb themselves. People who don't want to face the ugly truth. It may be very well too bad that we can't do much personally about it, it may be unpleasant to think about, but it is only cowardly to deny what is true and what is unjust.

 

Vindication feels good but ultimately means nothing. Can we get an asterisk next to our first round exit? Doubt it.

Still, I'm all fired up about something that was over 3 years ago. That's rare.

 

From Sports Illustrated: Same Story, Different Version

http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/200....ap/index.html

Donaghy implicates other referees

NEW YORK (AP) -- NBA referees, influenced by cozy relationships with league officials, rigged a 2002 playoff series to force it to a revenue-boosting seven games, a former referee at the center of a gambling scandal alleged Tuesday.

Without identifying anyone or naming teams, Tim Donaghy also claimed the NBA routinely encouraged refs to ring up bogus fouls to manipulate results but discouraged them from calling technical fouls on star players to keep them in games and protect ticket sales and television ratings.

The allegations were contained in a letter filed by a lawyer for Donaghy, who pleaded guilty last year to felony charges alleging he took cash payoffs from gamblers and bet on games himself. The 41-year-old Donaghy faces up to 33 months in prison at sentencing on July 14.

"If the NBA wanted a team to succeed, league officials would inform referees that opposing players were getting away with violations," the letter said. "Referees then would call fouls on certain players, frequently resulting in victory for the opposing team."

The league called Donaghy's allegations false and self-serving, saying the scandal was limited to him and two co-defendants, both former high school classmates who also pleaded guilty to gambling charges.

"The NBA remains vigilant in protecting the integrity of our game and has fully cooperated with the government at every stage of its investigation," Richard Buchanan, NBA executive vice president and general counsel, said in a statement. "The only criminal activity uncovered is Mr. Donaghy's."

Donaghy's lawyer has sought to convince a federal judge in Brooklyn that Donaghy, of Bradenton, Fla., deserves more credit for coming forward before he was charged to disclose behind-the-scenes misconduct within the NBA. The letter, filed Monday, suggests prosecutors have hurt Donaghy's chances for a lesser prison term by downplaying the extent of his cooperation.

Both Donaghy's attorney, John Lauro, and prosecutors declined comment.

In one of several allegations of corrupt refereeing, Donaghy said he learned in May 2002 that two referees known as "company men" were working a best-of-seven series in which "Team 5" was leading 3-2. In the sixth game, he alleged the referees purposely ignored personal fouls and called "made-up fouls on Team 5 in order to give additional free throw opportunities for Team 6."

"Team 6" won the game and came back to win the series, the letter said.

The letter also alleged manipulation during a 2005 playoff series.

"Team 3 lost the first two games in the series and Team 3's owner complained to NBA officials," the letter said. "Team 3's owner alleged that referees were letting a Team 4 player get away with illegal screens. NBA Executive Y told Referee Supervisor Z that the referees for that game were to enforce the screening rules strictly against that Team 4 player. ... The referees followed the league's instructions and Team 3 came back from behind to win the series. The NBA benefited from this because it prolonged the series, resulting in more tickets sold and more televised games."

Donaghy's letter said that in the first of several meetings with prosecutors and the FBI in New York in 2007, he named names while describing "various examples of improper interactions and relationships between referees and other league employees, such as players, coaches and management." For example, it said, referees broke NBA rules by hitting up players for autographs, socializing with coaches and accepting meals and merchandise from teams.

 

I'm gonna put it bluntly.. if you don't believe the nba is controlled somewhat by refs.... as in outcomes, not the inherent control of a game with refs... then YOU are naive... not the other way around..

don't fool yourselves...i know you want to!

 

Amazing, he actually speaks directly to the Rockets situation in 2005 in the Sports Illustrated Article. Van Gundy should be pissed off.

The letter also alleged manipulation during a 2005 playoff series.

"Team 3 lost the first two games in the series and Team 3's owner complained to NBA officials," the letter said. "Team 3's owner alleged that referees were letting a Team 4 player get away with illegal screens. NBA Executive Y told Referee Supervisor Z that the referees for that game were to enforce the screening rules strictly against that Team 4 player. ... The referees followed the league's instructions and Team 3 came back from behind to win the series. The NBA benefited from this because it prolonged the series, resulting in more tickets sold and more televised games."

 

I thought JVG did a good job just now when asked about the 2005 situation. Of course, I would have loved to see him blow the roof off the whole thing on national television but I'm sure he wants to keep his job and have a shot to coach in the league again some day. He did a great job of not backing off what he originally said without throwing grenades at Stern. I think anyone who watched that understands that what he said in 2005 was true but now isn't the time to throw Stern under the bus. That will come later hopefully.

Stern looked a bit nervous in the footage they showed of him from earlier today discussing the new allegations. He kinda reminds me of Roger Clemens in that he is such a smug bully who will not admit any wrong doing on his part.

 

Yeah, it was only a brief clip, and I know Donaghy has dealt w/ lots of shady characters. But a smug response is never going to win you supporters, Stern.

 

I agree...but why is that??? Seriously, I don't get it.

 

because as you have informed us, the NBA is a distant third and has the lowest TV ratings of three.

Also - the NBA has a negative perception as full of tattooed black thugs - it doesn't have the mom and dad and apple pie thing going, I mean I remember when you and others went insane over Janet Jackson's nipple at the sacrosanct Super Bowl. And all the steroid silliness (I don't care about steroids in baseball that much as a general matter, just the "oh X used, but Y NEVER could have used!" that is often exhibited) that causes gnashing of teeth and rending of garments about sacred records from Bob Costas' boyhood. I mean really...

Would you care about an NBA nipple? Or an NBA roider? Would it be perceived the same way? I doubt it would be.

Lower regard = lower expectations.

And finally - the FBI has been investigating this for over a year. No Tony Soprano has come out of the woodwork and nobody else has come close to being indicted. It's a pleading from Donaghy's allocution, and I can think of many ways to make things sound sinister in a pleading that would simply be the normal course of buisness for the league, i mean I have no doubt they discuss the way to officiate players and teams all the time.

 

that's part of it. i mean even as much as the yao thing sucked for us, telling the refs to call the rule strictly isn't exactly fixing a game, it sounds like following the letter of the law (even if it's a departure b/c they usually don't).

and refs getting meals and such from teams? it may be against the rules, just like going to casinos may have been also, but i'm guessing it has next to no effect. i see refs being buddy-buddy and joking around with players before games all the time. does that mean they're about to give that guy all the calls? of course not.

now if someone not named donaghy comes out with more of these allegations or donaghy has more specific instances then i might be more inclined to go with a full-blown conspiracy. right now we've got a game-fixer throwing everyone else under the bus and so far conveniently bringing up 2 of the most publicized cases of conspiracy talk (i could accuse them for game 6). we need other people to come forward.

 

Oh damn this is like 3rd grade all over again when I found out Wrestling wasn't real!

 

Someone killed someone but they got the murder suspect. They have enough evidence to put him away for life. Unless...a plea bargin. You'll give the guy 15 years and a chance to get out in 10 with good behavior if he turns in the others involved with the crime. It's done all the time so what Donaghy is doing is fine with me. Just get the rest of em.

 

im pretty sure i watched that game and was disgusted.

probably one of the reasons i dont watch all that much nba anymore besides rockets games...

 

San Antonio was 1-2 in those games and his credibility with the Spurs had been shot a year earlier when he shamefully challenged Tim Duncan to a fight and subsequently was socked with a suspension from the NBA.

"The bottom line is Crawford worked that game, and he hurt the Spurs, and that was a situation that should have been avoided, and worse, could have been avoided.

"The NBA made a bad decision to assign him to Spurs games because the league and Crawford can't win. If he makes questionable calls that work against the Spurs, then it lends to the appearance that, because of his past with Duncan, he has something against the Spurs. If he blows a call that works against the other team, then it lends to the appearance he's trying to execute a makeup call for the Spurs. The simple and easy thing to do is put Crawford on games that don't involve the Spurs.

http://www.broadbandnewsnet.com/newsmanager/anmviewer.asp?a=4821&z=1

 

Haha what do you know. So the Lakers-Kings game was rigged afterall

I actually popped onto a certain other board to see the reaction and what do you know....just exactly as I expected. All names withheld of course...

 

What exactly did JVG say about his comment on Yao being targeted??

 

1. Is it possible for you to talk about this without coming after me, personally? Or sounding so passive aggressive?

2. Mere allegation warrants congressional testimony for other sports. I have no doubt that if this were baseball going through this, some senator would be congressman would be standing in front of a camera today to tell us how hearings are necessary. What we're talking about (IF TRUE!!!) goes so far and beyond what we saw from either Spygate or the steroid scandal, it's silly.