On the "80%". How did this guy get involved with the Mob if he is winning? How did this relationship began?
I'm going from my admittedly scattered memory here....but when the story originally broke -- didn't they say Donaghy got involved because he owed a bunch of money to the mob? Has anyone collaborated his 80% success rate? You'd think you could make a decent living with those odds. EDIT -- beaten to the draw by PGabs....
He was betting through a friend and the friend was winning a lot and the friend told the mob he had a ref on the inside.
and, if this guy isn't in debt, why would it matter? that's the point I'm getting at, now it could be that he was just betting through the mob and the extorted him by telling him they would rat him out if he didn't help. other than that, what leverage does the mob have if he's winning?
Very much, but not surprising. Stern didn't want to have anything to do with Donaghy, but he needs to come clean by saying NBA has never and will never do the stuff Donaghy alleges and list some those stuff.
because they want to win too. If the mob bet $20,000/game at an 80% win rate for 200 games at a typical -110 pt spread, that's about $2.1Mil per regular season.
3) Pushing a defensive player out of position is a foul also. I always hated the "backin it in" non call. If that had been called on Shaq, the Lakers would never have gotten past Portland on their way their 1st championship of the Shaq/Kobe era. LA also wouldn't have gained the momentum to take the next 2 championships......Please forgive me for venting!!! 4) I watched as much of the Big 10/ACC challange as I could. It was really refreshing to see traveling called when the pivot foot is moved. As Clutch said, if the FBI can't find any evidence of throwing games, it didn't happen. Besides, Donaghy's tossing Pop when SA lost a game he bet on SA, tends to support that finding.
Just watched the entire piece on CBS.com -- amazing that the NBA/ Stern wouldn't sit down for an interview. What Donaghy says is very believable and damning to the NBA if totally true. The AI comments are extremely hard to dismiss -and if they did it to Iverson they've done to other players, coaches, and owners. There is no way this is a 'rogue' event.
I understand that baseball is more popular than basketball in the US. I get that. But it's not like the NBA is without interest. It's not like it's not generating billions of dollars. If what Donaghy and others say is true, then it's been "fixed." That's the story of the decade, at the very least, in pro sports... if true. You're talking about the fall of one of the Big 3 in this country's pro sports landscape. You're talking about Congressional hearings. You're talking about public dollars spent on arenas for a league where outcomes are, at least in part, pre-determined. You're talking about all the magic of the Black Sox scandal with TODAY'S media. that seems like it would be generating a bit more interest.
The AI "evidence" would be more believable if someone else was reffing the game. I have no doubt that some refs hate AI, like I have no doubts that some NFL refs hate TO, like I have no doubt that some MLB umps hate Manram. is that really news?
If you read any of my other posts, you'd know I'm not saying Stern controls the media. He's not the only one saying it.
There is a huge difference between certain refs being biased, and games being 'fixed.' I'm not sure I'm ready to make the leap to 'fixed' yet. The FBI guy's conclusion on calls and non-calls and the absence of any evidence of intention to change outcomes leaves this more in the Pete Rose betting on baseball scandal, then the Black Sox debacle. So far.
Yes - this would relate to my block/charge comments. In the above situation I was referring to the "leaning into" the offensive player move where you slowly push him away from the basket, often before he even gets the ball. I'm just fed up with it. It's hard to care about the game when you can't trust that the rules are ever followed.
