Donaghy: 2002 NBA Playoffs series fixed

The NBA's the only league that has ever had dubious officiating. Of course...

Can't wait until people start going into the tapes for: the Don Denkinger game (really, how could someone blow a call that badly unless Peter Ueberroth wanted a Game 7? Think of the ratings and money!!), the Eric Gregg strike zone game in 1997 (Selig needed Florida baseball to succeed), Jeffrey Maier (yankees, enough said), the Angels-White Sox series in 2005 (it was time for a Chicago team to finally win), the Drew Pearson pushoff of Nate Wright (NFL couldn't have America's team losing in Minnesota), the tuck rule (Al Davis will never be allowed to win another Super Bowl), the Super Bowl between the Steelers and Seahawks (Tagliabue needed Bettis to win a title), Jerry Rice fumbling on the drive Terrell Owens scored on the last play against the Packers, Peyton Manning's interception against the Steelers, etc., etc., etc.

Were those part of a conspiracy or just bad calls? The idea that the NBA would be so desperate for a Game 7 that they'd fix a game seems, to me, laughable. How much money would they get from that? 10 trillion dollars? Because it'd take about that amount for someone to be stupid enough to take the risk of fixing a game. And why just that particular game 6? There have been countless great series that have ended in six games. The NBA didn't need the revenue from those other potential Game 7s? Why didn't the Spurs-Lakers go seven in 2003? It could have been a four-peat potential for LA. Think of the advertising money!

The NBA's the toughest game to officiate. And there are poor officials. That's sometimes a bad combo. Doesn't make it a conspiracy headed by the diabolical David Stern.

But yes, let's believe Tim Donaghy. His life up to this point has shown he's a trustworthy, honorable person. He's proven that he should be believed over David Stern - who, although he's apparently the epitome of evil, has yet to serve prison time - and Bob Delaney, a decorated former cop who spent part of his life helping to bust up the mob. Donaghy has much more credibility.

 

Great point -- Stern is probably in the process of burning literally every piece of footage remaining from it. And since ESPN suck's him and every other league off at the drop of a hat, we'll have to rely on some good old fashioned Internet pirates. The way it should be!

 

Spot on.

Hate Stern and his arrogance if you'd like, but assuming he is corrupt based on the claims of a nobody is absurd. Sort of the same line of thinking that some loser golf pro in Hawaii had the goods to bring down an NFL dynasty. Donaghy's goose is already cooked and he's doing what he can to deflect blame from himself to the NBA.

 

Remember when McNamee had no credibility, when people said he must have been crazy to hang on to needles and syringes and such? Remember when Clemens put him on blast, saying no one would believe all the crazy things McNamee said?

And then, eventually, Pettitte, Clemens' wife and everyone but Roger Clemens himself verified that what McNamee said was true? I can't help but think about how that played out when thinking about Donaghy, who has nothing to gain but a longer prison sentence if he's lying to the feds.

 

That's just it, though. McNamee has provided evidence as well as information that has since been verified, unless I am omitting some presentation of evidence or substantiated claims by Donaghy, he has done neither.

 

Yeah, but where are they in the investigation? Is he still in the process of giving info so that feds might track down leads to verify? Because if he is, then there might be plenty more to come.

 

Eric Gregg's game was a matter of incompetence. I believe he got disciplined (or fired, I forget which) for that ridiculous strike zone. Baseball also cracked down on umpires who were inventing 'their own' strikezone after that because Gregg was so embarrassing.

The other examples you cited are all examples of individual plays which affected the outcome of games. The NBA series being cited by Donaghy isn't just one play (like Jordan's pushoff in 1998). It's a pattern of calls by officials.

 

That's very true, but until that point comes, should we not give at least the benefit of the doubt to the NBA? It seems a great majority here are ready to blow everything up and start pro basketball anew.

 

I would say give the benefit of the doubt to both sides. One has nothing to hide and faces a longer prison sentence if he spews lies, the other says it's addressed the issue and is convinced it's one guy, that's it.

At this point, I don't know who to believe. But the more that comes out, we'll know who deserves the benefit of the doubt soon enough.

 

The NBA will survive this just fine. Just because I wish it woudl bring down the entire operation doesn't mean I believe it will.

Nobody does PR better than the NBA. And Stern knows there's plenty of mileage to mine out of killing Donaghy's character. A few weeks from now, only us conspiracy theorists will still be thinking about this.

 

Gregg's game was a question of simply being too f'n fat to properly position himself behind the plate.

 

If that's the case, it will tell you how effective the Stern PR machine, which includes ESPN and ABC, is.

This should be a Black Sox sized scandal. Given how people went apeshit over Spygate, this should be 1,000,000X bigger.

This should be treated as one of the biggest sports stories of our lifetime. A professional team sports event was fixed? You've got to be fucking kidding me? The commissioner might have been involved? You've got to be fucking kidding me?

I don't know if the story is being ignored, but it is definitely not getting 1/1,000,000th of the attention it deserves.