I'm sure all NBA employees have received stern warnings not to corroborate Donaghy's story. The general gist of what he's saying is entirely plausible. Officials are human, and wouldn't be all that surprising for them to hold grudges. I'm not sure its quite as out in the open as Donaghy put it, though.
Matt and Adam said they will be interviewing him (Exclusive first time on radio) tomorrow I think at 9:00am.
I believe just about every word from Donaghy. It seems hardly surprising, honestly - and it has seriously impacted my ability to enjoy the NBA. What's amazing to me is how little press this is still getting.
He was betting on the games, so he definitely means the point spread. He says he was winning so much that the mob noticed, which was why they then threatened his family to force him to start giving them tips.
Dude, stop it. There is no conspiracy to keep the Chinese man down in America. America doesn't even care enough about Asians in America to conspire against any. Please tell me why the Mob are not interested in allowing Chinese people to win in America.
If I said this everyone would just assume it's because i'm a baseball homer...but this story sooooooo far exceeds the implications of the "steroid scandal" in MLB that it's beyond funny. And the media lapped that up for years, even when the general public indicated it didn't care.
I see you're still singing the same song. Not really worth getting into because it's so absurd, but the implication that the NBA is a media darling while MLB is unfairly tarred and feathered is laughable.
Not saying the NBA is a media darling. Not saying that at all. Like rhad said, I have no idea why this story isn't getting more coverage. I'm not suggesting it's because the NBA is a media darling.
For the same reason why the biggest betting scandal in sports history in the biggest sport in the world is getting virtually no coverage here (did you even know about it?) http://www.nytimes.com/2009/11/21/sports/soccer/21fix.html This is actually a real scandal, with dozens of arrests and millions of dollars changing hands, not just allegations like Donaghy.
Very insightful and accurate. But since it is not politically correct I expect others to contradict your statements on Yao by mouthing platitudes about "there is no racism in America" or some other similar bs.
not necessarily, fbi supposedly found out about tim through the mafia. If he never got involved with the mafia, he may still be refereeing and gambling.
Donaghy was able to make $$ from his knowledge of ref attitudes and biases, so yeah I think it's pertinent - it's an example of how the refs may have changed the outcome of that game, maybe even the series. My theory is that, at that time, the NBA loved Stockton and Malone's clean-cute, wholesome image. There was a TON of negative press given to guys like Rodman and Barkley. On the flip side, if you didn't love the Jazz (and liked Jordan and the Bulls), then you really, really hated them. Every good story has a villian. At that very least, you have to admit that the Jazz were (and are) a hard team to officiate. Go back and watch the Game 2 tape from the 97 Rockets-Jazz series.
It's not getting a lot of coverage because Basketball is not beloved by White America like Baseball is. Baseball is the so called "America's pastime" which is why the whole steroids stuff were very publicized.
I would expect that I wouldn't be getting daily doses of stories about what happening in pro sports in Europe. I would assume that we would be getting some coverage of this NBA issue beyond 60 Minutes reports. Allegations alone fueled the steroid coverage for years. Gambling leading to outcomes is the worst "sin" in sports. It nearly levelled baseball in 1919.
bullcrap. there are a helluva lot of white folks shelling out lots of money to watch these games. there are a helluva lot of white folks who sign in here consistently to talk about their favorite team. the nba isn't making money on everyone but white folks...and i'm hoping you're not saying that you have to be white to care about gambling affecting the outcomes of sporting events you're paying to see.
I don't know about the Mob stuff. But the other part, you're looking at it from the wrong direction. It isn't a matter of anti-Chinese, China being another emerging power and market. If they called half the fouls that are committed on Yao, what with Yao's free throw shooting, he'd lead the league in scoring, or be very close. And I think the NBA has no interest in a foreign player (unless we were talking about Dirk, the Blond Jesus, and even then I'd have questions) being the NBA's Top Dog.
The reason is that Baseball is more popular and more wrapped in idealized nostalgia than the NBA - hence greater coverage of its steroid scandal (for which there was and is a lot more evidence, I mean the visual sight of guys turning into musclemen over night and hitting 70 home runs is simply a lot more black and white). I don't think this is really that difficult to see. Meanwhile basketball is less popular and frequently stereotyped in the media as the domain of tattooed overpaid thugs (who happen to be black). Sorry but if you don't think the two sports have very different images that are portrayed by the media, very different demographic profiles both in terms of athletes, and of who they are marketed too, you're being intentionally delusional. On the larger issue, I don't know what people actually expect of officials with respect to superstar calls. Superstar calls are just going to happen regardless and probably happen in every sport, becuase the human eye and brain simply can't process information as quickly as it's going to happen in real time. So when you see Michael Jordan get the ball stripped from him with contact, you're going to assume it was more likely than not a foul, since Michael Jordan is an exceptionally good player who has proven in the past that he is difficult to stop- it's probably impossible to filter that bias out completely, and perhaps the bias proves correct and leads to a proper result more often than not. Same thing probably happens with a Mariano Rivera fastball, or Andre Johnson drawing contact from a defensive back.
NFL has some replay ability. But both the NFL and MLB have much more clear-cut rules, period. The subjectivity of basketball rules makes fair play exceedingly more difficult. And I'm frankly rather tired of it.
I think one reason MLB gets more attention from their scandal is because it was the superstars who were cheating, not the refs. People like the drama of celebrities caught in lies and whether they admit it or not. Lebron or Kobe caught using steroids would be a far more explosive story than this.
