For those of you who might have missed it a while back, there was a bit of a scandal in the NBA. It was alleged the NBA referee Tim Donaghy bet on NBA games in which he officiated, and may have even tried to affect the outcome of those games.
It was a pretty big story when it broke with Commissioner David Stern calling it one of the biggest scandals to hit basketball. But an interesting thing has happened since the initial allegations - it has gone quiet. Donaghy has just resurfaced again this week alleging that the 2002 NBA playoffs might have been “fixed”. News outlets have reported about the allegations but that is about it. There hasn’t been massive inquiries or feigned outrage by political hacks. No threats of investigations or furrowed brow explanations by Stern about the importance of the integrity of the game and it would be looked into.
No, Stern has all but dismissed the allegations in one foul swoop. The media and others paint Donaghy as a desperate man trying to save himself some jail time…which he might be. But don’t we have the responsibility to follow up on this - even if the trail leads to no dead bodies? I mean, the same media that has praised Jose Canseco - the most desperate of money grubbing souls - with exposing the truth about steroids in baseball, is going to basically lay silent on this?
The NBA, since the Patrick Ewing draft conspiracy, has been rife with controversy. Whether it is teams complaining about foul calls or draft order etc, it always seems to have some bit of conspiracy element.
I don’t know if the allegations are true or not…but don’t we owe it to the sanctity of the game or the kids or the politicians to at least explore it? I mean those were all good reasons for the investigation of steroids in baseball weren’t they?
What are your thoughts? Should we have some serious inquisition into these allegations or what?
1 response so far ↓
1 Space // Jun 14, 2008 at 10:01 am
Tim Donaghy doesn’t need to be seen or heard when it comes to this. He sounds like a desperate man who is willing to say anything in order to save hisself on his own behalf. There shouldn’t be a Panel made up to look into these allegations.
Don’t our politicians have something better to do with their time than to focus on trivial things such as these. Shouldn’t they worry about us and say thing thats matter, i.e. Gas Prices.
The NBA should handle this in house and be forth right, with any information that they do or do not find. Some will look back and try to say look at those games in 2002 and 2005, look at that call or this call, doesn’t that seem strange. But we have to remember that Refs are human and that they too can get caught up in the moment of the game, which can influence the outcomes of the game. The only way to get around that is to have robots ref or let the players call their own fouls (we don’t want players calling their own fouls, the games would never end).
So, if we don’t hype up some comments by someone who has been caught then would it be as big of a deal. Jose Canseco has been wrong way more times then he has been right. Hell I could make some random comments about something going on in sports and I am sure the media will make a big deal out of it. Is that what sports have turned into? Do we care more about demoralizing and degrading the game or should we get rid of those who tarnish the game for life, i.e. Pete Rose and the Blacksox?
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