As if a betting scandal involving a referee is not bad enough for me as a NBA fan, it's also coming out that the tainted ref Tim Donaghy refereed game 3 of the pivotal Sun-Spurs playoffs series. I can't even imagine how bad I would feel if it comes out that he actually fixed that game. It was a poorly officiated game and here's a great Youtube video clip from a Suns fan.
Suns fans are already bitter about the game 5 suspensions that David Stern foisted on us by choosing a stupid rule over common sense. Now game 3 was fixed? You got be kidding me! Why is God so cruel to Suns fans? We are good guys really! This game 3 was the final game Donaghy officiated last season. Bill Simmons ripped the officiating just 2 days after that game and he now looks like a genius. Well, I think the "Sports Guy" is a genius anyways, but how ironic is it that he actually referred to the Cocaine era of the NBA while criticizing the officiating in this game? As it turns out, this is the biggest NBA scandal since the cocaine days and frankly much bigger than that.
It's one thing for some regular season games to be under the microscope, but if this playoff game is in question, especially the Suns-Spurs series which everybody knew was the de-facto NBA finals, it's a huge black eye for the league. Basically it means Donaghy determined last year's NBA champion. NBA has got a problem much bigger than the cocaine era or even the steroids issue in MLB. Gambling is the biggest fear of all sports leagues. Thats why Pete Rose is still outside looking in while the MLB hall of fame has it's share of racists, thieves and roid-heads. Thats why Vegas has no pro teams. Even a drop of gambling suspicion, and the NBA becomes the WWF (or WWE or whatever the hell it's called these days). Nothing threatens the integrity of a sport like a betting scandal. And NBA has got a juicy one on it's hands now. The only thing that can make it worse is if more referees and/or players are involved and if this game 3 was actually fixed. Heck, you look at the officiating in that game, you almost have to assume all 3 refs were involved! Bad call after bad call and only a few of them were actually Donaghy's.
NBA has multiple problems here. For one, it's already struggling with it's popularity due to a variety of reasons. Now this becomes another convenient and valid reason for NBA-haters to bash the league and stay away from it. The deeper this thing gets, the worse it is going to be for the NBA to recover. Just like the MLB with the steroids, you'll not see the impact immediately at the gate. People will still show up and have a good time, but the TV ratings and the general penetration of the game might not improve for years to come. It's already close to becoming a niche sport and the fear is, it might get there in a hurry and stay there for a while if this thing gets uglier.
The other big issue for the NBA is, the refs NEVER had any credibility in the first place. They were always viewed as guys who were implementing some external agenda by being preferential to the super-stars and the big market teams. The public rarely believed the refs called the game as they saw it on the court. You know what, I would agree with those doubters and the league is at fault for that. NBA is always subject to a lot of conspiracy theories and nothing in sports has lesser credibility than the NBA draft lottery. I don't buy most of these stories, but I have never been a fan of the officiating in this league. I hate the "super-star rules" and I have felt several games, especially in the playoffs, are manipulated to either help the home team, or push it to a game 7 or whatever. Even as a Suns fan, I can't forget or pardon the game 6 of the LA Lakers-Sacramento Kings series in the Western Conference finals in 2002. NBA basically gave that game to the Lakers so that they can all go to Sacramento and have a game 7 in one of the most entertaining series since MJ retired.
I am almost glad this scandal came out because everybody's eyes are on the NBA officiating and I am hoping desperately that the league will finally give their refs the rule book and ask them to call the game as it's meant to be. I met a friend from Bulgaria recently who said he used to play basketball growing up in his country. He told me the basketball rules are different in Europe and in the NBA. I was a little surprised and asked him which rules? He very innocently answered me "well they allow 3 steps in the NBA". I laughed and cried at the same time. This dude actually thought 3 steps was legal in the NBA. This tells you all you need to know about the officiating in this league. The league was apparently surprised that they couldn't spot anything wrong with Donaghy's officiating in their daily analysis of all officials and every call they make and do not make. My theory is, the NBA officiating is so uneven, incompetent and stage managed, it's hard to see when a ref is screwing up on purpose on his own. This is a wake-up call for the league. Call the freaking game like it supposed to be and may be you can spot such impropriety sooner than later.
David Stern and the league are also under fire here. Among other reasons, one reason Stern is facing the music is because of how steadfast he has been in supporting the refs and how quick he has been in fining people heavily for any criticism of the refs. What if Cuban and other guys were upset after some Donaghy games and what if those games were badly officiated or even fixed? Is the Commish going to refund those fines? One of last year's big fines was levied against the Magic coach Brian Hill after he criticized the officiating in a Donaghy officiated game. May be if the league had really looked at Donaghy's calls instead of figuring out how much to fine the coach, we wouldn't be in this mess right now.
There are a lot of fascinating facts about this coming out - from how inconsequential free-throws in a blowout can help the point spread to how the technical fouls can be used to go "over" rather than stay "under". There's also all kinds of theories on when exactly NBA knew about this guy's issues. Some stories say the league know about his gambling problems even last year, but just let him continue for some reason. Here's one of the article if you are interested.
http://www.nypost.com/seven/07212007/news/nationalnews/best_bet_is_foul_play_nationalnews_mike_battaglino__post_wire_services.htm
It's just a bad time for all of sports right now. NBA and this betting scandal, Bonds and his big head chasing MLB's greatest record and Michael Vick slamming dogs and the Atlanta owner's hopes on the concrete floor. Thats the big 3 sports if you need 'em.
1 comment:
suns-spurs game as the nba finals? u wish....if suns had won against the spurs, they would have lost elsewhere.
eitherway, even after whatever bias was there against the suns, think back to game 1 last minute where the suns doctor was incompetent to stop bleeding on steve nash or the game where amare and another guy was suspended and they were up 20 points going into third quarter, and still lost.
betting or not, spurs would find a way to beat the suns. just finding out about mr. betting refree might give u suns some consolation at losing but it will be false consolation.
all u suns got is steve nash and he is getting older and back hurts and he cant really day in and day out run 45 minutes per game. sooner or later, he will get tired. till he does, the ride is all fun, after he does, suns have no other go-to-player and they go down in flames, exciting yes, but all the way thru, no!
guess who i am?
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