NBA point shaving scandal

How will Tim Donaghy alleged betting on games affect the NBA? In my opinion This could be a major disaster since fan opinion is at an all time low and this confirms many fans suspicions that games have been fixed for quite some time. How many think Mark Cuban will have a field day with this and do you think that Stern should resign for this since he has always made the refs out to be infallible and fined and suspended players for questioning them?

Here is a story link

sports.espn.go.com...

I believe that we should do a few things to bring credibility back to the league. First off the coaches should be able to challenge referee calls. I can not tell you how many games i have watched were one bad call decided a game. We need video review

Also we should end giving all the calls to some superstars. An example would be D Wade's 20+ free throws a game in the 2006 finals. Not to sound biased but i think almost all the refs are on a personal vendetta against Kobe Bryant. He almost never gets calls when he attacks the basket while if someone touches Lebron's arm he gets a call. Equal calls for all players regardless of Endorsements.

Next we need more transparency from the refs. If Stern is going to go on about how awesome his officials are( glad he can't do that anymore) then he should have no problem if some people scrutinize his officials.

Finally if we do not see enough change and if he does not restore credibility he should step down.

I refuse to see this league become the joke of Major League sports and I wish for so we can stop the "All NBA players are thugs" garbage that we hear from the news.

Return this proud game to its glory days where it didn't matter how much you got paid and the only things that mattered were heart and skill.

[edit on 21-7-2007 by spinstopshere]

This is a huge HUGE story. Definitely the biggest professional sports story in recent memory. It calls into question the integrity of an entire professional sports league.

NBA officiating has always been suspect. You get those behemoths crashing around, how can you possibly determine what's really a foul and what isn't? A ref could blow a whistle on virtually any play and who's to say it's a "correct" call?

I can honestly say if I didn't live in a city with an NBA team, I probably wouldn't follow the NBA at all. I haven't been an avid pro b'ball fan since the ABA.

Well now we all know that he was guilty. I think he will probably get five years or so for his crime.

I wonder if more info on which games he fixed will come out.

Originally posted by yeahright
This is a huge HUGE story. Definitely the biggest professional sports story in recent memory. It calls into question the integrity of an entire professional sports league.

That's what I've been thinking since the story broke. But don't you think it has been severely underplayed in the media? I expected a major ongoing hullabaloo over this, and it barely gets a mention.

This leads me to conclude that, somehow, everyone is on the same page (media, sportswriters, talking heads, tv executives) to give it as little exposure as possible. I think everyone in sports is afraid of how damaging this could be.

To make matters worse, Michael Vick is in deep. The dogs are bad, but the fact that he was probably betting (illegal gambling is a major no-no for a player) makes the whole thing worse.

I wonder how long it will take for the FBI to conclude their investigation? If they discover additional refs or mafia connections to this, I don't see how they can keep the lid on.

Originally posted by yuefo
But don't you think it has been severely underplayed in the media?

Maybe. I don't think it's a big conspiracy, though. I think it's more a "who cares?" in terms of Big Media in general. I'm not sure the final outcomes of games were affected as much as the final winning margins, which only the gamblers care about. It still sucks, no doubt, since it calls the integrity of the league into question. Or even more into question. NBA refereeing has always looked like professional wrestling officiating to me.

And to your other point, I do find it a little strange that Vick's dog fighting issues have drawn much more press than the gambling suspicions. But I think it's because the dog fighting is more lurid, so more "newsworthy" in terms of what draws eyeballs. Sensationalism sells.

Now this just got interesting. Donaghy will be naming names of 20 other people involved. So much for the isolated event defense.