“Tim acted in a completely selfish and unforgivable way, and has forever compromised the way people look at sports and officiating. However, NBA referees will continue to officiate with the highest level of integrity and professionalism.” Disgraced NBA ref Tim Donaghy is sentenced to 15 months in prison. Meanwhile, the forthcoming “Pedowitz report” on referee fraud is still pending, and Commissioner Stern still insists Donaghy was an unfortunate outlier. “‘The U.S. Attorney’s Office and the FBI have fully investigated it,’ Stern said on June 10, ‘and Mr. Donaghy is the only one that’s guilty of a crime.‘” Oookay…but is fixing games to extend series a “criminal” act? That sounds rather lawyerly to me.
Tag: Tim Donaghy
The Fix was In?
”My first thought [upon hearing Donaghy’s allegation] was: I knew it,’ [Scot] Pollard said Tuesday night. ‘I’m not going to say there was a conspiracy. I just think something wasn’t right. It was unfair. We didn’t have a chance to win that game.’” If he’s going down, he’s taking the League with him: In court filings yesterday, disgraced ref Tim Donaghy insinuates that NBA “company men” refs fixed several playoff games, including the much-disputed Lakers-Kings Game 6 of 2002 (a.k.a. “the Nader game.”) Uh oh…
Donaghy Don’ts.
Speaking of the death penalty, it’s a good thing David Stern wasn’t prosecuting this case…Crooked NBA ref Tim Donaghy pleads guilty to two felony charges, and now faces a maximum of 25 years in prison. “Donaghy provided recommendations, called ‘picks,’ to co-conspirators about what team they should bet on, said U.S. District Court Judge Carol Bagley Amon. If he was correct, they paid him. The picks included information about games that Donaghy officiated, the government said.” But did he actually fix those games? That’s still an open question…
Say it ain’t so, Tim.
So, as you may have heard this past week, and as you may long have expected if you’re a fellow pro basketball fan, it turns out several NBA games might well have been fixed by a crooked, desperate ref with mob connections, one Tim Donaghy. I run hot and cold on ESPN Sportsguy Bill Simmons, but his take on this growing scandal thus far is pretty solid: “When news of the scandal broke on Friday…every diehard NBA fan had the same reaction. They weren’t thinking, ‘I can’t believe it!’ or ‘Oh my God, how could this happen?’ They were thinking, ‘Which one was it?’” (Yeah, I did that.) Also, consider this: “Tim Donaghy didn’t just violate the integrity of the league and rig some games. There’s a good chance he altered the course of the 2007 championship.” Sigh…this is not good. Update: Commissioner Stern weighs in.