I was surprised about that until I heard Stern talking about learning these things on June 20th. That's not that long ago -- and although PR people can clean things up and prep for the worst pretty quickly, it's probably the best they could have done in the month. Great post.
I believe 'slick' would have been inappropriate for this heavy scandal. I just hope he's not pulling a Nixon and we'll get daily hammers dropping on refs' betting. That would be career ending for the commish.
Yeah but you'd be surprised how much people can get done in a month when you tell them they have carte blanche, billing-wise. It raises another point that perhaps Stern has waited to go into full damage control mode because he himself was uncertain of the full extent of the damage? Or else he is just trying to go low key. On a related note - it seems to me that Goodell's morality campaign has drawn more negative attention to things like Pac-Man and Tank Johson and Michael Vick than Tagliabue's bury-head-in-sand strategy when Ray Lewis & Rae Carruth were out slicing and dicing.
Ain't that the truth, and I also have plenty of friends that have given up on the NBA. Guaranteed contracts.
Mine are exactly the opposite. I know many longtime NBA fans who don't watch anymore for one reason only: the officiating and flopping.
It's not the FBI's job to monitor the refs; it's the commisioner's. This is especially true when Stern is the one who goes out of his way to shield refs from criticism by issuing exorbitant fines left and right (including $100,000 to JVG, among others). You'd think he'd review tapes and have transparency. It took a ref to commit assault (by threatening Duncan) for him to ever chastise a referee. The reality is that Stern is horrendous, nepotistic and egomanianical in defending "his" league. When players and owners raise legitimate concerns regarding the officiating, he just fines them and silences them. When respected university researchers cite racism in the NBA, he simply dismisses them. Instead of improving the product, he continues to just defend their incompetence and criminality. It had to take a freaking FBI investigation for him to admit the possibility that the sacred "integrity" of the game that had been beyond reproach could actually be tainted and bloody filthy. He owes a lot of people apologies and refunds on idiotic fines, and a lot of us fans a gigantic apology.
Stern doesn't have access to the kind of things the FBI has access to. If Donaghy makes a few dodgy calls and turns a 6pt game into a twelve point game - how many people are going to notice? He can't exactly get wiretaps on his refs phones, and subpoena bank records can he?
Though that sounds a bit strong I agree that he is far too defensive whenever he or the league is openly questioned (be it by players/coaches/owners or the press). He also doesn't seem to enjoy or care about the NBA as much as he did say 15 years ago -- just look at tape of draft/finals trophy from then and from now. He has done a good job though in my opinion at least until recently.
David Stern should probably still be the commisioner if he wishes, but I do think he needs to delegate more. I can't fault his business decisions, which have resulted in the globalization of the NBA. However, the NBA has pretty much spread for as far as it can for the near future(unless Stern wants to set up team in Europe/Asia). And he needs to concentrate on the product itself. This, unfortunately, is not Stern's strong suit.
you have to remember in spite of all the negatives that are mentioned in this thread, the NBA is still a solid profitable league, Stern deserves credit. I can't imagine another commissioner who could handle the scandal like this one. And if he ever did step down, I would automatically think the league might take a dip in profitability because Stern knows how to make money for the owners. In a league full of spoiled brats, you need a dictator to put a foot down.
Thank you. For what? Listen, nobody watches more games than I do. I'm confident in that. And the most I ever came away with, after watching Donaghy referee hundreds of games? The fact that he's a mini-Bennett Salvatore, with Steve Javie's old temper. That's it. If Stern should be putting the hammer down on refs that call too much, then why isn't Bennett Salvatore behind bars? Does every needless hand-check call now force Stern into contacting the FBI, or wiretapping phones? And what does this do to the refs that want to keep the game clean, get rid of hand-checks, get rid of bumping screeners away from the ball -- should they be worried about fans like you that think that they're in a point shaving scheme every time they blow what you think is a ticky-tack call? Come on. The fact of the matter is that these are the most qualified and most experienced people ON EARTH to be reffing these games. And even with all that -- with the money and the training and the pre and post-game scrutiny and the hours of video sessions, tons and tons of calls are blown. It's a damn-near impossible game to referee at that level. I just don't understand why some never understand that point.
why you gotta be a hater? wael was on fire and railing against the system. quit trying to deny the unfounded blanket accusations against da man. stu jackson is david stern's son!
Haha good luck with that. We'll one thing I'v allways given props to the commish for is how he took the game to a international level. I'm not saying he didn't do a good job. All I'm saying is its time for a change.
He made the NBA what it is today. The second most popular sport in the WORLD. Baseball hasnt done that and neither has football and if I'm not mistaken they are both older sports. He's a marketing genius. And as someone posted earlier he is the best in the business. This league is too strong to be broken down by a gambling referee if there are other involved then we have a problem, specially if there is a player or two involved.
Kelly, great job obscuring what i posted. The issue (and you can see this from my earlier post) is that Stern has went out of his way to shield the refs from any, and i mean ANY, criticism of the officiating. There is no freedom of speech or any questioning the "integrity" of playcalling. All the times he whomped ludicrous fines and silenced people forcibly. If you do that then the burden to ensure that calls are being called fairly rests solely on you as commissioner. Here he has failed utterly. No one questions the fact you watch a lot of games, but even a casual observer can tell you that the playoffs officiating has been absolutely horrendous at best. But you claim they're "the best in the world" (lol) I don't believe, as you wrongly implicated me in mentioning that point shaving happens constantly. Let's get the issue straight. The issue is about it being the Commissioner's responsibility to review all these shady calls, especially when he refuses to allow any criticism of all of these refs. You're smart enough to make a point without having to misrepresent the facts and my posts. p.s. the nepotism is cultural (see Silver, your future commissioner)
Oh, it's that kind of thing. Don't forget to throw in a reference to the Protocols of the Elders of Zion while you're at it.
I don't really get how the NBA works. Is david stern more like a dictator or is there more like a democratic structure when a decision is being made? For instance, the new basketball introduction last year. Did david stern simply say we will do that, and away it goes? Or was there a committe set up to discuss and vote on matters just like a Shareholder's meeting in a company?
