I’ve gotta say, I’m loving the controversy that Tim Donaghy’s confession about the NBA telling referees to cheat is stirring up. For anyone watching the NBA over the last eight to 10 years, this can’t be much of a surprise.
It seems everyone remembers that Game 6 of the 2002 Western Conference Finals in which the L.A. Lakers took 27 free throws in the final quarter. For me, it was the game that ended my day-to-day enthusiasm for the NBA and left me checking in ever since midway through the Conference Finals. But it was two years earlier, again in the 2000 Western Conference Finals, when the referees helped (again) the Lakers erase a 15-point fourth-quarter deficit to win, that I started believing that the referees were, simply, cheating. The biggest Game 7 fourth-quarter comeback in NBA history before that game was 6 points.
The league’s response has been intellectually flawed. The league’s very own Napoleon Bonaparte, David Stern, dismisses Donaghy as a convicted felon; but why would a convicted felon lie to the FBI before his sentencing? They dismiss that Lakers-Kings game as a “bad game” by the refs; but why would the refs have a fine game for 50 minutes, then completely lose their minds in the final 10 minutes and have EVERY call go one way (of course, the way of the much larger TV market with arguable its two biggest stars)? And, reffing the Western Conference Finals, these guys are supposed to be the best the League has; you’re telling me they just had a bad game in the most important game of the season until then? That’s far more impossible to believe than any conspiracy theory. -Cyd Zeigler jr.
on Jun 12th, 2008 at 10:51 AM
How long until some US Senator decides to hold a hearing on this…
on Jun 12th, 2008 at 11:40 AM
OK Cyd, so why has the NBA allowed the boring, small-market Spurs to win four of the last nine championships?
on Jun 12th, 2008 at 12:08 PM
LETS SEE WHAT SPORTING EVENT DO I WANT TO WATCH TONIGHT, WRESTLING OR BASKETBALL, WRESTLING OR BASKETBALL…DUH!
WHY IS ANYBODY SURPRISED ABOUT THIS “REVELATION”? NFL/AFL FOOTBALL AND MAJOR LEAGUE BASEBALL GAMES ARE ALSO “FIXED” THATS WHY THERE ARE INVESTIGATIONS INTO POINT SHAVING AND STERIOD/ENHANCING DRUG USE.
on Jun 12th, 2008 at 1:58 PM
I don’t think they fix every game or every series or every champion. I have a friend who says the Spurs are their “camouflage” (i.e., they’ve had them be good so people like you will say, ‘why’d the have the Spurs win’) – I don’t buy that. People pick and choose which fights, games, races they cheat in; and just because they don’t cheat in every game doesn’t mean they don’t cheat in some.
I think sometimes the refs consciously throw games. I think there is a mounting case to support it. These refs are NOT incompetent; and when a ref is staring right at Fisher slamming into Barry on the last play of a game and doesn’t call a foul – when he’s staring right at it – I’m left, knowing he’s a good ref, believing he intended to have the Lakers win.
on Jun 12th, 2008 at 7:31 PM
Dear Cyd,
I’m very upset with you. I thought you were in favor of cheating all this time. Now I find you’re against it? Oh dear.
Sincerely,
Bill Belichick
on Jun 12th, 2008 at 11:08 PM
Dear Joe,
Oldest fan rule in the book:
Cheating is completely unethical and totally unacceptable.
Unless it is done by your favorite team. Then it is simply doing whatever is necessary to win.
on Jun 13th, 2008 at 1:08 PM
Dear Joe,
Have they already counted this NBA season in the 100 straight seasons that Philadelphia hasn’t won a championship, or does this make it 101? Sorry, I’m just trying to figure out if Boston has won seven or eight championships since Philadelphia won one.
Sincerely,
Bob Ryan
on Jun 13th, 2008 at 4:23 PM
Who’s Bob Ryan?
on Jun 19th, 2008 at 3:18 PM
On October 27, 2007, Wallace stated that the NBA is no longer like a sport, but more like the World Wrestling Federation: fake and just for money and entertainment. NBA Commissioner David Stern rebuked him by calling his statement “disrespectful.”[1]
on Sep 1st, 2008 at 9:56 PM
It seems everyone remembers that Game 6 of the 2002 Western Conference Finals in which the L.A. Lakers took 27 free throws in the final quarter.