NBA Officials Fixing Games - Do You Believe It?

[Steely Dan]

BTW, the search function window needs to be fixed again please.

 

Linkage

 

...The allegations about the 2002 series were contained in a letter filed by a lawyer for Donaghy, who pleaded guilty last year to felony charges alleging he took cash payoffs from gamblers and bet on games himself. Donaghy, 41, faces up to 33 months in prison at sentencing on July 14.

 

Without identifying anyone or naming teams, Donaghy also claimed the NBA routinely encouraged refs to ring up bogus fouls to manipulate results but discouraged them from calling technical fouls on star players to keep them in games and protect ticket sales and television ratings...

 

...Donaghy's lawyer has sought to convince a federal judge in Brooklyn that Donaghy, of Bradenton, Fla., deserves more credit for coming forward before he was charged to disclose behind-the-scenes misconduct within the NBA. The letter, filed Monday, suggests prosecutors have hurt Donaghy's chances for a lesser prison term by downplaying the extent of his cooperation....

 

Another Article:

 

Speaking to the media at an NBA finals that has been increasingly overshadowed by the Donaghy scandal, the commissioner said Game 6 of the 2002 Western Conference finals might have been officiated poorly, but honestly and not illegally.

 

"On behalf of my officials, I'd like to tell you that they don't engage in the criminal conduct of which Mr. Donaghy has accused them of," Stern said.

 

...Stern acknowledged the FBI investigation into Donaghy's claims did include questions about Dick Bavetta, one of the officials who worked the '02 Game 6, but reiterated the message he has repeated for a year, saying, "the only person now being sentenced for a crime is Mr. Donaghy."...

 

...The 41-year-old Donaghy has admitted to betting on games he officiated, taking cash payments from associates and providing them information to win their bets.

 

Scheduled to be sentenced next month, Donaghy's making the league very uncomfortable in the meantime...

Besides the 2002 game, Donaghy raised allegations of a 2005 series between Dallas and Houston, when then-Rockets coach Jeff Van Gundy said he heard referees were instructed to closely watch his center, Yao Ming, after the Rockets had won the first two games. The Mavericks rebounded to win the series.

 

...This postseason has included its own share of controversial moments. The league acknowledged a foul should have been called on the final play of Game 4 of the West finals, which would have given San Antonio two free throws and a chance to tie the game, and perhaps the series, with the Lakers....

 

This is a hard thing to figure out. On the one hand we have a guy who's getting close to his sentencing and could be making up in order to get a lighter sentence.

 

On the other hand it seems it's well known that star players get away with a lot of crap that lesser players would be called on. So even though he's trying to get a lighter sentence some of the stuff he's saying makes sense.

[Steely Dan]

I noticed someone voted football and I think that's the hardest to fix. It's the game with most number of officials on the field. They huddle together on controversial calls and more than one ref is consulted on these and they have instant replay. If too many instant replay calls are made wrong the official will probably be fired.

[Mantis Toboggan M.D]

Basketball and Hockey must be the two sports with the most wishy washy refs. At any time a hockey ref or baseball ref can call a foul/penalty. But basketball fouls are the most crucial because it can 1) put a good player in foul trouble and 2)put a player at the free throw line.

stuff like that can result in a player/coach getting frustrated, getting T'ed up and possibly getting ejected.

[agilen]

I noticed someone voted football and I think that's the hardest to fix. It's the game with most number of officials on the field. They huddle together on controversial calls and more than one ref is consulted on these and they have instant replay. If too many instant replay calls are made wrong the official will probably be fired.

 

Its also the only sport of the big 4 that does not have full-time, professional referees. One holding call is 10 yards, which can effectively kill a drive....and holding can be called on most any play. A few well-timed holding flags would easily drop a few TDs from an otherwise productive offense.

 

Hockey is too hard to fix because even if penalties are called unfairly, the favored team needs to execute on their powerplay. There is not really anything else the refs have influence over. Baseball could have fishy balls and strikes called, but I think for the most part you don't see a bias for one team or the other. I didn't know racecars had referees. So, that leaves football and basketball...while I think a ref probably could fix a basketball game, I think its do-able in football too (and worth a lot more $$).

[Steely Dan]

Its also the only sport of the big 4 that does not have full-time, professional referees. One holding call is 10 yards, which can effectively kill a drive....and holding can be called on most any play. A few well-timed holding flags would easily drop a few TDs from an otherwise productive offense.

 

Hockey is too hard to fix because even if penalties are called unfairly, the favored team needs to execute on their powerplay. There is not really anything else the refs have influence over. Baseball could have fishy balls and strikes called, but I think for the most part you don't see a bias for one team or the other. I didn't know racecars had referees. So, that leaves football and basketball...while I think a ref probably could fix a basketball game, I think its do-able in football too (and worth a lot more $$).

 

My point is still valid. The number of refs, instant replay and more than one ref often making the call make it very hard to fix a football game. The argument can also be made that by not being a full time job they have a lot more to lose by being dishonest.

 

I just think it would be very difficult to get an entire reffing group to agree to fix games and the cost of doing so is a lot more than any other sport.

[The Rev.Mattb74 ESQ.]

My point is still valid. The number of refs, instant replay and more than one ref often making the call make it very hard to fix a football game. The argument can also be made that by not being a full time job they have a lot more to lose by being dishonest.

 

I just think it would be very difficult to get an entire reffing group to agree to fix games and the cost of doing so is a lot more than any other sport.

While I agree with your rational, In football a game usually 3 plays can make the difference in a game. Also as mentioned above a holding can be called on most any play. While I like the NFL for actually grading their refs the amount of money bet on big NFL games like the SB means a culprit only has to strike once. Of course everyone here remembers the "Just give it to-em" game. That was one play. Football above any other sport is a team game, Basketball and hockey is more about individual athletes doing extrodinary things, while football although plenty of starpower can be won with less talent and better strategy. This is why the Cheatriots* have made an uneven playing field giving them an unfair advantage. Sure they have some stars like Brady, Moss, and Seymour but the majority of their players are pretty good and not great. To sum up cheating in football creates a higher degree of advantage then in any other sport that is why I feel a more sense of danger of fixing football games then basketball games.

[KD in CA]

Penalties in hockey don't guarantee the other team will score so it makes it pretty hard to ensure the outcome of any single game unless you are obviously favoring one team.

 

Basketball is much easier because you only need a few fouls on a particular guy to force him out of the game and change the balance of the game (see the 2002 example: they fouled out the guy guarding Shaq and the game is over). Plus, since there is a foul on almost every play in basketball, it's easy to cover their tracks with the 'they are calling a tight game' line.

 

The next easiest is baseball, right Eric Gregg?

[Bmwolf21]

The next easiest is baseball, right Eric Gregg?

The "strike zone" he employed during the NLCS was as bad a job of officiating as I've seen in any sport. MLB should have pulled him from the game in the 3rd inning. I would have been checking his bank accounts for money transfers from Livan Hernandez's people...

[Steely Dan]

While I agree with your rational, In football a game usually 3 plays can make the difference in a game. Also as mentioned above a holding can be called on most any play. While I like the NFL for actually grading their refs the amount of money bet on big NFL games like the SB means a culprit only has to strike once. Of course everyone here remembers the "Just give it to-em" game. That was one play. Football above any other sport is a team game, Basketball and hockey is more about individual athletes doing extrodinary things, while football although plenty of starpower can be won with less talent and better strategy. This is why the Cheatriots* have made an uneven playing field giving them an unfair advantage. Sure they have some stars like Brady, Moss, and Seymour but the majority of their players are pretty good and not great. To sum up cheating in football creates a higher degree of advantage then in any other sport that is why I feel a more sense of danger of fixing football games then basketball games.

 

As KD pointed out a ref in basketball can have a much bigger impact by getting a guy out of the game without looking really bad and an NFL ref can't do that. I disagree with your assertion that three plays can make or break a game. A truly good team can't be stopped by one or two bad calls.