Links: Wanna Bet?
Blowing the whistle…
So there’s an NBA referee who was betting on basketball. Allegedly, of course.
And I know who it is. Or at least I know the name of who it is rumored to be among NBA circles. Am I going to put the name out there? Not on your life. (Or my life.) Because if I’m wrong about this one I’m throwing a guy’s integrity under the bus, and I don’t want to do that.
But here’s what I can tell you: It’s a guy who’s name probably won’t ring any bells unless you’re a hardcore NBA fan, and even then you still might not know the guy. When I heard the name it took me a few seconds to remember what he looks like, and I know all of the NBA refs. (By the way, it’s not Bob Delaney.) There is also a photo of a current NBA superstar I could run which would be a huge tipoff to this ref’s identity. But I’m not going to do that.
The NBA is taking this seriously — apparently David Stern himself just sent out an email reminding team execs and front office types that the FBI has asked the NBA not to comment at all on this. Go dark, Stern is saying.
Can’t wait to hear what Mark Cuban has to say about all this…
50 Responses to “Links: Wanna Bet?”
Jul.20 at 11:32 am
zibala says:
first
Jul.20 at 11:40 am
Silky Slim says:
So there IS some truth to the rumors about referees tanking games!
Jul.20 at 11:47 am
Lang Whitaker says:
Well, remember that, at least according to the NY Post story, it’s not tanking games so much as it is affecting point spreads, which could mean allowing or disallowing shots at the end of games, etc.
Jul.20 at 11:53 am
mutoni says:
you can’t tease us like that, lang. besides, the guy’s being revealed next week according to some reports.
Jul.20 at 11:54 am
white hot eboy says:
Lang, that pretty much cuts out all the well known refs, because they’ve been around for years. Benett S., Jack Nies, Joey Crawford, Bob Delaney, Dickie B, Eddie Rush all these names are as recognizable as the players, so it can’t be these guys.
Jul.20 at 11:59 am
Gerard Himself says:
Marcel: if Lang knows it you know it, right? I assume you guys at SLAM are one happy family?
Jul.20 at 12:00 pm
Lang Whitaker says:
I’m not saying a word. Besides, I could always be wrong (but I doubt it). I bet (pun intended) the name is out there by the end of the day, through a blog or something or other. Let’s see if the Worldwide Leader and their 1,000 NBA reporters can figure it out.
Jul.20 at 12:05 pm
Miguel says:
I kind of want it to be Violet, not because I don’t like her, but it would kind of add to the weirdness of this summer.
Jul.20 at 12:13 pm
SD_Mike says:
http://www.covers.com/pageLoader/pageLoader.aspx?page=/data/nba/referees/referees.html&t=0
Jul.20 at 12:25 pm
Gerard Himself says:
By the way, talking about the Worldwide leader, do you guys still have contact with Scoop? Just wondering. And completely off-topic.
Jul.20 at 12:35 pm
Ryan Jones says:
Scoop is SLAM family for life.
Jul.20 at 12:36 pm
Ron says:
Is it fair to rule out V. Palmer? My guess (just a guess with no real proof or insight) is Wunderlich. He’s relatively unknown, and I just don’t like that name because I don’t like the Wonderlic test. My logic makes totally no sense.
Jul.20 at 12:38 pm
Reggie Evans says:
You can find a list of refs here http://www.probasketballrefs.com/
Jul.20 at 12:39 pm
Reggie Evans says:
This will be interesting to look at once we know who the accused ref is.
http://www.covers.com/pageLoader/pageLoader.aspx?page=/data/nba/referees/referees.html&t=0
Jul.20 at 12:41 pm
Nadav says:
What NBA superstar would be the tipoff? Tim Duncan…Joey Crawford. That’s the real reason he got suspended by Stern last season. Too easy…
Jul.20 at 12:54 pm
Reggie Evans says:
This could be a red herring, but the site Lang links to - The Big Lead - shows a photo of Steve Nash arguing with a ref, number 49. Number 49 is Tom Washington. The photo could have nothing to do with the case, but it is interesting why they would run that photo with the article. Is it simply because Nash is complaining in the picture? Or did they deliberately choose that photo? I am not confident at all in my reasoning. Thank you.
Jul.20 at 12:58 pm
Lang Whitaker says:
Vick’s Dog Man, you’re one more post away from getting banned.
Jul.20 at 12:58 pm
H to the izzo says:
WITCH HUNT!!!This is going to be fun
Jul.20 at 1:00 pm
white hot eboy says:
Lang, that’s greatly appreciated. Thank you.
Jul.20 at 1:06 pm
RV says:
interesting…whos the youngest ref in the league?…i keep thinking of this one ref, full set of black hair, clean shaven, young for a ref, he always looked shady to me in games..
Jul.20 at 1:11 pm
white hot eboy says:
RV, that’s the same one I was thinking of too. I can’t think of his name either.
Jul.20 at 1:11 pm
A-Money says:
Mark Cuban has been praying for this. Now he can blame all games they lost over the years on the L.
Jul.20 at 1:16 pm
RV says:
Lang, can you tell us if whatever happened between this superstar and ref happened this year?
Jul.20 at 1:17 pm
H to the izzo says:
RV and Eboy:I think your describing Christopher Multisante
You have to think that Sheed is smiling over this,does this mean he will appeal every tech he has gotten from this perticular ref?Can he even do that?
Jul.20 at 1:17 pm
Mike C. says:
Somebody ask Omar how many gangstas this rates.
Jul.20 at 1:23 pm
FLUXLAND says:
Lang, you said you know the name of who it is rumored to be among NBA circles. Is that to say you have known about this for a while?
Jul.20 at 1:24 pm
white hot eboy says:
Chrissy? Does anyone know if there’s a ref who loves Pink Floyd? And writes mob scripts on the side.
Jul.20 at 1:33 pm
RV says:
it may not be as bad for the NBA (but still very bad) if its only point spreads, this could mean games that could have gone either way were not affected, more than likely it was games with almost sure outcome, is the spurs-cavs final too recent? Eastern conference games?
Jul.20 at 1:39 pm
Greased Up Deaf Guy aka Clay Davis says:
cant be joey crawford, right?
Jul.20 at 1:51 pm
RV says:
if Lang had to think about what he looked like, i’d say that rules out : both crawfords, fryer, nunez, salvatore, garreston, javie, bavetta, delaney, nies, palmer, rush, kersey, wood
Jul.20 at 1:56 pm
Russ Bengtson says:
So does this mean Dee Kantner actually got whacked?
Jul.20 at 2:01 pm
SLAM ONLINE | » Disgraced Ref Might Surrender Next Week says:
[…] (I feel like we should be running some kind of contest to determine who the ref is…Or we could just beg Lang to spill the beans.) […]
Jul.20 at 2:07 pm
Steve O says:
I know it won’t be him, but I wish it was Tim Higgins. He does all the Big East games and he is absolutely the worst ref of all time.
Jul.20 at 2:10 pm
Egypt says:
This shoulld help move this discussion along! http://www.covers.com/pageLoader/pageLoader.aspx?page=/data/nba/statistics/2006-2007/referee_ats.html Can I call my bookie and get a refund on games this ref was involved in?
Jul.20 at 2:14 pm
Egypt says:
I think we should be focusing on the over/under because that would be much easier for a ref to have control over. He can call many fouls to mess up the flow of the game. He can also call fouls at times when both teams are getting hot to get them out of flow. Just my 2 cents!
Jul.20 at 2:27 pm
Egypt says:
How come my comments are awaiting moderation and Vick’s dog man goes right through?
Jul.20 at 2:39 pm
Joe says:
Hope ESPN didn’t mess this up…Tim Donaghy….Yep, can honestly say didn’t know him (which is how it should be for refs/umpires etc).
BTW, do people really take the time to make silly posts like VDM has done? Wow.
Jul.20 at 2:39 pm
will says:
ESPN says Tim Donaghy http://sports.espn.go.com/nba/news/story?id=2943095 I don’t recognize him. Is he related to Jack Donaghy from 30 Rock?
Jul.20 at 2:39 pm
Matt says:
Tim Donaghy
Jul.20 at 2:42 pm
bike says:
Here is the website that lists the names of all current NBA refs: http://www.probasketballrefs.com/Referees/tabid/59/Default.aspx Let the games begin
Jul.20 at 2:43 pm
SLAM ONLINE | » Links: Betting Ref named says:
[…] This is the same name I heard earlier this morning. As I wrote earlier… It’s a guy who’s name probably won’t ring any bells unless you’re a hardcore NBA fan, and even then you still might not know the guy. When I heard the name it took me a few seconds to remember what he looks like, and I know all of the NBA refs. (By the way, it’s not Bob Delaney.) There is also a photo of a current NBA superstar I could run which would be a huge tipoff to this ref’s identity. But I’m not going to do that. […]
Jul.20 at 2:44 pm
bike says:
Hmmm. There is a ref named Joe Forte….could that be the mystery man????
Jul.20 at 2:50 pm
RV says:
Eboy, i think we were right unless theres another guy who looks like tim donaghy
Jul.20 at 2:53 pm
Egypt says:
Lang is this the picture you were talking about? http://www.viewimages.com/Search.aspx?mid=57489829&epmid=2&partner=Google You should run a contest and best caption win’s a prize!
Jul.20 at 2:59 pm
white hot eboy says:
RV, no that’s him. He always looked really pissed each game if I remember correctly. Guess we know why now.
Jul.20 at 2:59 pm
Who Is Mike Jones? says:
As bad as it is for the NBA…they kind of lucked out that it wasn’t a guy like javie, salvatorre, bavetta, crawford, etc. Because its not a well known guy the story might go away quicker, but its still a HUGE blow
Jul.20 at 3:02 pm
The Bronx Knick says:
The Refs name is Tim Donahue, they just said the name on espn news.
Jul.20 at 4:47 pm
RV says:
i dont believe there is a ref named Donahue, everyone is reporting Donaghy, maybe it was a poor pronounciation?
Jul.21 at 4:00 am
Payne-o says:
Think how stressful it must have been for this guy to do his job?! Knowing the shady types were watching his every move, and I’m not talking about Stern or Cuban. I’d bet he’s glad to have been caught, coz at least now the game is over.
Jul.23 at 1:29 pm
SLAM ONLINE | » Links: How To Fix The NBA says:
[…] Five days ago, most NBA fans wouldn’t have been able to pick Tim Donaghy out of a lineup. In the post I did on Friday morning, I wrote, “It’s a guy whose name probably won’t ring any bells unless you’re a hardcore NBA fan, and even then you still might not know the guy. When I heard the name it took me a few seconds to remember what he looks like, and I know all of the NBA refs.” Before Donaghy had been publicly fingered as the suspect, I started working on a post about him being the guy, because I knew once his name dropped there would be a rush of information dropping. So I did a google image search for his name and didn’t turn up much of anything until I added “referee” after it. […]