Tim Donaghy's Latest Allegations
David Stern's dream match-up between Los Angeles and Boston in the NBA Finals is quickly turning into a nightmare for the National Basketball Association. At a time when the league is fighting to maintain its credibility, former referee Tim Donaghy's latest accusations could not have come at a worse time.
Donaghy basically claimed that other officials have acted in a manner that led to favorable results for the NBA in terms of getting additional playoff games to generate more revenue and higher television ratings. In a letter filed with a federal judge on Tuesday, as part of a plea in the hopes of a reduced sentence, Donaghy states, "Referees A, F and G were officiating a playoff series between Teams 5 and 6 in May of 2002. It was the sixth game of a seven-game series, and a Team 5 victory that night would have ended the series. However, Tim learned from Referee A that Referees A and F wanted to extend the series to seven games. Tim knew referees A and F to be 'company men,' always acting in the interest of the NBA, and that night, it was in the NBA's interest to add another game to the series. Referees A and F heavily favored Team 6. Personal fouls [resulting in obviously injured players] were ignored even when they occurred in full view of the referees. Conversely, the referees called made-up fouls on Team 5 in order to give additional free throw opportunities for Team 6. Their foul-calling also led to the ejection of two Team 5 players. The referees' favoring of Team 6 led to that team's victory that night, and Team 6 came back from behind to win that series."
Stern didn't help the situation any on Tuesday in his meeting with reporters. As expected, Stern dismissed all of Donaghy's claims, but came across as an arrogant, egotistical human being, who actually managed to win a bit of sympathy for Donaghy, rather than discredit the man. Stern may know something about a running a professional sports league, but has plenty to learn about about public relations in a non-fabricated setting.
At the heart of the matter is Game 6 of the 2002 Western Conference Finals between the Los Angeles Lakers and the Sacramento Kings. The Kings, up 3-2 in the series, were victims of what many people view as the worst-officiated game of all-time, and the Lakers managed to pull out a 106-102 victory. The officiating was viewed as so bad, that longtime presidential hopeful Ralph Nader sent a letter to Stern stating that very fact afterwards. (The entire letter is found on page two of this article.)
In his meeting with reporters, Stern constantly referred to Donaghy as a convicted felon, which is true. But what does that say for Stern's credibility when polls show that upwards of 75-percent of the public tends to believe Donaghy? A poll on Fox Sports shows that out of nearly 150,000 respondents that 79-percent of them believe the 2002 Western Conference Finals were fixed.
One of the unique aspects of Donaghy's latest claims is that the alleged fixing of a basketball game wasn't done primarily from a gambling standpoint, but from a league standpoint. That still hasn't stopped sports bettors from weighing in on the matter.
On the RX Forum, one of the best and most popular forms for sports bettors, the poll results are quite similar, although on a much smaller scale. Still, it's interesting to see the thoughts of a group of people who see the game from a different perspective than the average fan, especially when the outcome is close to the point spread, even though the actual winner of the game may not be in doubt.
In two separate polls on the RX, forum members were asked if the NBA is rigged? Currently (as of noon on Thursday) 32 members have answered yes and nobody has answered no. The second poll question was "Donaghy telling the truth?" Thirty people answered yes, compared to seven who answered no. That's slightly more than 81-percent of the people inclined to believe a "convicted felon" over the commissioner of the NBA.
If Stern wants to be believed he needs to do more than summarily dismiss all of Donaghy's claims and he owes the fans of the league some explanations, such as does he send out memos to the officials and what exactly do they say? Do referees get instructed to watch for illegal screens by certain players and not others? Is it implied that "star" players, such as Kobe and LeBron, get special treatment from officials or is that something the officials do on their own?
But what Stern really needs to do is have ABC televise the sixth game of the 2002 Western Conference Finals and then answer questions about the officiating afterwards. Show the game right before one of the Finals games, and you be assured that it will get ratings almost as high, if not higher, than the Celtics and the Lakers.
Donaghy's allegations aren't going to go away quietly, despite Stern's wishes, and a number of fans have already weighed in with their opinions. The next move will be up to Stern. There are a lot of questions that should be answered. If they ever are is another matter entirely, but until they are there will be people who lump the NBA with professional boxing, which is just a small step above the WWE in terms of credibility.
