Tom Donaghy is the crooked ref

[fatboy11]

yea, i guess you are dense. sorry dude but this is a HUGE deal.

How is it going to hurt the league?

It's only one ref.

Guess I'm dense.....

[Rasheed1]

it wont take decades to repair, but this is a serious issue... Stern will face alot of new problems next year due to this....

How does he react to the complainin next year with this hanging over the league?

He cant pretend its preposterous anymore...and it may spiral out of control sorta like the steroid scandal in baseball....If the league isnt careful, the games integrity could take a huge blow and make the league a laughing stock

[TheBynumProject]

David Stern is scum so I would not be surprised if he was in on it. That might be going over the top suggesting Stern is in on it but it would not be shocking to me. All he cares about is money.

That is the stupidest thing you could possibly say. What makes Stern and the NBA more money, a thriving, healthy league or a league littered with bad pub and betting scandals?

Stern cares about money for the L and his fellow owners, not illicit gambling money. Idiot.

[fatboy11]

Yes it will. You never know if any other refs are doing it. Refs were never that liked anyways and always got critisized and now, they will have to be even more careful since their gonna be under everyone's eye. Mark Cuban is gonna make even more comments about the refs.

You can say about that anything.

Were any other MLB managers betting on their teams and baseball because Pete Rose did?

Are any other NFL players fighting dogs like Mike Vick?

You guys are overreacting.

[thenextgreatbigman]

How is it going to hurt the league?

It's only one ref.

Guess I'm dense.....

because you never know if it's only one guy and anytime something goes wrong people will try to link it to outside influences.

[Xsatyr]

That is the stupidest thing you could possibly say. What makes Stern and the NBA more money, a thriving, healthy league or a league littered with bad pub and betting scandals?

Stern cares about money for the L and his fellow owners, not illicit gambling money. Idiot.

Not really considering how often there are bad officiating games but yet we do not see improvement. I don't see Stern making strives to help the officiating. I think he is greedy and can be concerned about making his own money. But like I said, I could be going over the top but people have done worse things which is why I wouldn't be shocked.

[ExpatSunsFan]

Stern cares about money for the L and his fellow owners, not illicit gambling money. Idiot.

Stern obviously wasn't getting a cut, we'll all agree there. The question is whether he covered this up (and for how long), with the idea of burying it before anybody caught wind of it.


When did Stern know about this? Did he first learn about it before the playoffs began, and if so, why did he send Donaghy out there to officiate?

[XxNeXuSxX]

http://www.covers.com/pageLoader/pag...03935.html&t=0

[Optimus Prime]

Uh oh, the conspiracy theories for every game this guy ever officiated in will now begin...

But seriously though, this is bad news for the NBA. Every sport always has allegations of crooked refs. Now there's proof that a ref actually WAS on the take?

Not good.

[DTD]

This is only the tip of the ice berg. The NBA officiating has been rumored to be involved in fixes for years. People will only be fooling themselves if they think only one official is invloved. He will probably be the fall man for a "ring" that has been involved with this fixing of games for quite some time. The NBA is too powerful and corporate driven for the entire truth to come out about how deep this really is; so the story wil be only "one official involved."...and the fans once again get ripped off.

One official my ass.

[niko]

How is it going to hurt the league?

It's only one ref.

Guess I'm dense.....

apparently.

if people think the games are fixed they won't watch. If they don't watch, what is the nba? and people already think games are fixed even before this.

why is this hard to understand?

[fatboy11]

apparently.

if people think the games are fixed they won't watch. If they don't watch, what is the nba? and people already think games are fixed even before this.

why is this hard to understand?

The ratings will be just as bad as ever.........

[ExpatSunsFan]

http://www.eastvalleytribune.com/story/64331

Game 3 of Suns/Lakers, 2006.

Check out the picture.

[kentatm]

How is it going to hurt the league?

It's only one ref.

Guess I'm dense.....

The NBA has a bad rep as having awful refs that blow calls with regularity. Having it turn out one is rigging games.... That is a monstrous blow to the Ls integrity. Especially when Stern was openly scoffing at there ever being a chance of this happening while in Vegas this past AllStar game.

The the worst thing you can have in sports is a rigged game. People forgive steroids, drugs, domestic fights etc but they do NOT forgive rigging the game. If they did, Pete Rose would be in the HOF. (and he shouldnt be for that)

[Timmy D for MVP]

Speaking of NBA referees. I opened up my SI magazine and was shocked to discover that Shag Crawford (famous umpire who umped from the late 50's to late 70's. Founder of the umpire's union) had two sons. One named Jerry who went on to umpire as well, the other was Joey Crawford, yes the NBA referee. That's a ridiculous set of great officiators.