Claim: 13 Refs Involved in Betting Scandal

[closg00]

BOSTON -- A source tells 7Sports that the gambler at the center of the 2008 NBA betting scandal says 13 referees were involved.

Jimmy "The Sheep" Battista pleaded guilty to conspiracy to transmit wagering information in connection with disgraced NBA official Tim Donaghy and served 15 months in federal prison.

The source also tells 7Sports that Battista claims he has the phone records to prove his contact with these 13 referees.

http://www3.whdh.com/news/articles/sports/BO130486/


Could'nt find that thread on refs, feel-free to merge.

IBTL

[fishercob]

Disgusting if true. The ref scandal -- and his "handling" of it -- and Sonicsgate have really lowered my overall opinion of David Stern's tenure as commissioner.

[Brenice]

Wow, I didn't think anyone's opinion on the commish could get any lower.

[Chocolate City Jordanaire]

The way Donaghy was left out there by the NBA as the only gambling ref reminds me of how MLB folks tried to say Canseco was lying about widespread steroid abuse. Donaghy can't possibly be lying about everything he alleges, and he goes into pretty explicit detail--even naming names. There's gotta be a few crooked refs and it's only a matter of time one gets caught shaving points for bookmakers.

More than betting scandals, I want to see which refs can be shown to be partial or to have agendas when they ref games. That can get back to Stern's influence.

[fishercob]

Wow, I didn't think anyone's opinion on the commish could get any lower.

You have to give the man his due for what the league was when he took over versus what it is now.

[no D in Hibachi]

I know this is the Czabe in me talking, but perhaps Stern was overly aggressive in trying to persuade the public that the Donaghy incident was an isolated event to prevent further investigation since he was involved in it. The front Stern put up after Donaghy said other were involved was as intense as a title wave—it came crashing down hard and pretty much swept everything away. The controls in place to prevent referee gambling are pathetic. I hope they catch all those crooked bastards.

[closg00]

Apologies, link to the story.
http://www3.whdh.com/news/articles/sports/BO130486/

[MF23]

It's not shocking. Look at a Wiz vs Cavs game and you see preferential judgment.

[from_ro_to_dirk]

Look at the Mavs vs Heat Finals and tell me things aren't fixed in the NBA.

[JWizmentality]

Wow...crooked refs. No $h!t. The Wiz-Cav Christmas game was EPIC!

[closg00]

In his new book, Tim Donaghy claims that NBA referees influence the outcome of games with biased officiating for and against certain players.

Donaghy states that referees favor superstars, while whistling the lesser players for minor fouls.

"We would never call these types of fouls on superstars, just on the average players who didn't have star status," Donaghy wrote. "It was important to keep the stars on the floor."

CONFIRMED! What NBA watchers had always suspected, stars get the calls (except Gil now apparently)
Can't wait to see 60 minutes on Sunday.

[BigA]

The way Donaghy was left out there by the NBA as the only gambling ref reminds me of how MLB folks tried to say Canseco was lying about widespread steroid abuse. Donaghy can't possibly be lying about everything he alleges, and he goes into pretty explicit detail--even naming names. There's gotta be a few crooked refs and it's only a matter of time one gets caught shaving points for bookmakers.

More than betting scandals, I want to see which refs can be shown to be partial or to have agendas when they ref games. That can get back to Stern's influence.

Steroids in baseball is a good analogy for the NBA ref scandal in so many ways, including the media willfully ignoring it until forced to do otherwise.

[closg00]

I totally forgot to watch 60 minutes, did anyone see the Donaghy interview?

Donaghy alleges that the NBA issued a notice to referees indicating that certain fouls that were committed on Kobe Bryant had been incorrectly missed by referees in previous games. Donaghy reasoned that Bryant was therefore due for a round of favorable calls.

"I knew that Kobe Bryant was basically going to be given the opportunity to get to the foul line if somebody as much as breathed on him," said Donaghy, who placed winning bets on the Lakers based on this conclusion.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/12/0 ... 82083.html

[AceDegenerate]

You can watch it here:

http://raptorsplayer.com/tim-donaghy-on ... s-dec-6-09

[GhostsOfGil]

The way Donaghy was left out there by the NBA as the only gambling ref reminds me of how MLB folks tried to say Canseco was lying about widespread steroid abuse. Donaghy can't possibly be lying about everything he alleges, and he goes into pretty explicit detail--even naming names. There's gotta be a few crooked refs and it's only a matter of time one gets caught shaving points for bookmakers.

More than betting scandals, I want to see which refs can be shown to be partial or to have agendas when they ref games. That can get back to Stern's influence.

Steroids in baseball is a good analogy for the NBA ref scandal in so many ways, including the media willfully ignoring it until forced to do otherwise.

imo steriods are one of the most over rated controversies of all time. nba officiating is 10x worse then roid use.

[closg00]

The way Donaghy was left out there by the NBA as the only gambling ref reminds me of how MLB folks tried to say Canseco was lying about widespread steroid abuse. Donaghy can't possibly be lying about everything he alleges, and he goes into pretty explicit detail--even naming names. There's gotta be a few crooked refs and it's only a matter of time one gets caught shaving points for bookmakers.

More than betting scandals, I want to see which refs can be shown to be partial or to have agendas when they ref games. That can get back to Stern's influence.

Steroids in baseball is a good analogy for the NBA ref scandal in so many ways, including the media willfully ignoring it until forced to do otherwise.

imo steriods are one of the most over rated controversies of all time. nba officiating is 10x worse then roid use.

The reason this is not a big scandal is because it's basketball, can you imagine if these allegations were made about NFL refs? Donaghy's allegations have the "ring of truth" about them.

[GhostsOfGil]

^ so true

[doclinkin]

The reason this is not a big scandal is because it's basketball, can you imagine if these allegations were made about NFL refs? Donaghy's allegations have the "ring of truth" about them.

Seems to me it would be far tougher for a single ref to cheat or influence the action in football games. There are fewer plays per game, more refs involved, each with specialized duties and more restricted areas of judgment, they confer with each other on more calls, and with the stop-start nature of the game/slo-motion instant replay every play is dissected and second-guessed.

More importantly as far as fairness is concerned, Coaches have an opportunity to call the ref on the carpet by throwing the replay flag.

Granted there are fouls that happen on every play at the line of scrimmage, and there are judgment calls that are not reviewable, but it seems to me the level of scrutiny tends to incubate a culture of obsessive exactitude. Not saying it's impossible, or even that it never happened, just saying it's not as vulnerable to hijinks as the NBA. There's less fluidity and subjectivity. There's time to second-guess everything.

Hell, refs have to explain themselves to the crowd with every stop in action. Take the cheers or the boos. They even have the opportunity to reverse a call and explain why there is no foul on the play.

[closg00]

The reason this is not a big scandal is because it's basketball, can you imagine if these allegations were made about NFL refs? Donaghy's allegations have the "ring of truth" about them.

Seems to me it would be far tougher for a single ref to cheat or influence the action in football games. There are fewer plays per game, more refs involved, each with specialized duties and more restricted areas of judgment, they confer with each other on more calls, and with the stop-start nature of the game/slo-motion instant replay every play is dissected and second-guessed.

More importantly as far as fairness is concerned, Coaches have an opportunity to call the ref on the carpet by throwing the replay flag.

Granted there are fouls that happen on every play at the line of scrimmage, and there are judgment calls that are not reviewable, but it seems to me the level of scrutiny tends to incubate a culture of obsessive exactitude. Not saying it's impossible, or even that it never happened, just saying it's not as vulnerable to hijinks as the NBA. There's less fluidity and subjectivity. There's time to second-guess everything.

Hell, refs have to explain themselves to the crowd with every stop in action. Take the cheers or the boos. They even have the opportunity to reverse a call and explain why there is no foul on the play.

Absolutely Doc, it would certainly be harder for refs to influence football in the way that the NBA refs were alleged to have done. However, if anything remotely similar were to have been alleged involving America's beloved football, the story would have gotten HUGE media play.

[doclinkin]

Hell, refs have to explain themselves to the crowd with every stop in action. Take the cheers or the boos. They even have the opportunity to reverse a call and explain why there is no foul on the play.

That's a key point. Seems to me the game would be changed if NBA refs had to answer questions post game. I don't know that it would be better or worse, and as far as entertainment value, I sure don't want the stop-start instant-replay slow-down ruining the freeflow of the game.

It just sincerely disappoints me that now when our squad gets jobbed on a call I can't just bitch generally about how little respect the team gets, but instead have to wonder if the whole thing is dirty, and in that case, if we're forever screwed until Vince McMahan decides it's our turn to win the belt, to make the league cash. Or if some guy in a stripe shirt resents one of our guys and wants to bury him on a personal vendetta. Or if one of them is collecting a bonus in a duffle bag. Or if his family is under threat by the Gambino family, or whatever.