No Refs Were Harmed …
… During the Writing of This Post
Yesterday, the NY Daily News reported that the League suspended six refs for, um, let’s see here … look, it’s not very clear. From what I could gather, however, the six were reportedly disciplined for minor stuff like going to the casino.
Today, reps for the NBA and the refs’ union confirmed that some referees ran afoul of the League’s gambling policy, but they completely denied the report that disciplinary action had been taken. From USA Today:
“There is no truth to the report,” NBA spokesman Tim Frank said in an e-mail.
“To my knowledge no one has been disciplined,” referees’ union spokesman Lamell McMorris said
Time to throw on my Oliver Stone conspiracy fitted: This gambling thing is far greater reaching than the League is letting on; Donaghy wasn’t the only one in on the take. This is crisis-management at its finest.
17 Responses to “No Refs Were Harmed …”
Oct.22 at 12:33 pm
white hot eboy says:
Are we all naive to think this only has happened in the NBA? Enough already. Vegas controls lines. Lines are where the money’s at. Do the math. All sports are tainted, in one way or another.
Oct.22 at 12:35 pm
Mo Charlo says:
I blame the Maloof brothers.
Oct.22 at 12:53 pm
Steve O says:
I blame Chris Mihm
Oct.22 at 12:54 pm
namik says:
Come come, lets all blame the president and be done with it.
Oct.22 at 12:54 pm
namik says:
or the canadians. Damn you Mutoni!!!
Oct.22 at 12:58 pm
Ron says:
For true hoop heads, does the scandal taint the game in any way, shape, or form? For me, I don’t really care. The refs were partial, but it varied from team to team, night to night. So they would be on your teams side one game, and totally job them the next. Or they would totally blow a call on one end, then give a make up call on the other. So I don’t think it was as much of a big deal for the games at hand. What’s of more importance to me is the number of free throw attempts given to ‘Star’ players.
Oct.22 at 2:13 pm
Tarzan Cooper says:
Z
Oct.22 at 2:47 pm
BETCATS says:
i harmed them all
Oct.22 at 3:10 pm
Jukai says:
I’m going back to my girly crying mode and am throwing in “Yes Ron, if you were were a Suns fan, the scandal DOES taint the game”
Oct.22 at 3:29 pm
Ron says:
Jukai, since my team sucks and will loose many a game this season just as they did last, it had no bearing on me and the I root for. (Sixers btw!)
Oct.22 at 4:01 pm
Madtice says:
It all began when Kobe started the trade talks… Blame Kobe for crooked refs…
Oct.22 at 5:58 pm
Russ Bengtson says:
Instead of having spokespeople issue denials and scoldings, it would be nice if David Stern ACTUALLY TOLD PEOPLE WHAT WAS GOING ON. Worst NBA off-season ever.
Oct.22 at 6:04 pm
Kayce Online says:
^ agree that this has been a really troubled off-season in a ton of ways..
Oct.22 at 6:09 pm
Joel O's says:
Good point, Eboy. I don’t buy that NBA refs are any more or less human than NFL or baseball officials. I’m not old enough to remember any prior similar scandals in the NBA world, but football (soccer) has LONG been tampered with, and match fixing has LONG been a serious problem that is relevant even today (eg. Juventus). Gambling - in whatever form - is probably a part of many referees’ lives; is that wrong? But instead of going all moral or overly-damning on this issue, to put things into perspective, I think the only problem was that the NBA never had to deal with something so big yet, and therefore did not have the guidelines and internal control measures to prevent it. So, this may be a big deal now, but I’m sure our Dear Leader, Stern, will do what it takes to prevent it from happening again in the long run, and all will be well in NBA land once more.
Oct.22 at 6:12 pm
Joel O's says:
That said, I think the fans would like to know what exactly was going on. We’d all appreciate being able to have SOME input on stuff. Ultimately, we’re the ones watching games, buying tickets and jerseys.
Oct.23 at 4:09 am
black pinoy says:
blame stern… if he was paying the refs enuf money then they wouldnt be selling games out… and i think part of the blame should go to the laker management.. coz they suck at their job..if they didnt suck as much then uhhmmm i dont know its relevance to the ref scandal issue but the laker gm sucks pinoy dick…
Oct.24 at 12:20 am
chris prov says:
the most troubling thing about this whole off-season has been how weak (maybe human??) the stern-bot has appeared. his reign def seems to be in a decline