NBA Referee Scandal
| 6
|
by Smittylite
I've held off long enough, i was bound to write about it at some point...
In what is sure to be a blow to all leagues, but the NBA in specific, it was announced last week that the FBI is investigating NBA referee Tim Donaghy for his role in a gambling ring that placed bets on NBA games, in particular games in which Donaghy himself was officiating. While there are many details yet to come, it appears Donaghy got mixed up in gambling debts, and as a result agreed to help ‘fix’ games in which he was working. The good news is that it appears he acted alone. The bad news is that this happened in the first place.
(Sigh). What a disaster. There is no other way to put it, for NBA fans, for basketball fans, for sports fans. And in particular for Suns fans, though I will get to that a bit later. The shoe has finally dropped, a scandal so big it pushes all the other ‘scandals’ off the front page (Mike Vick, Barry Bonds, Tour de France anyone?). This is worst-case scenario, defcon level 5, red-alert type news. If you need evidence of this, look no further than commissioner David Stern’s news conference about the scandal. Stern has always been able to stand up and face criticism, controversy, and scandal while still remaining the appearance of strength and control. In his news conference on Tuesday, however, Stern for the first time in his tenure looked, acted, and sounded defeated (Read the transcript and watch the video here).
You can take your Mike Vick dog-fighting ring (which admittedly is horrific, especially some of the things he allegedly did to the dogs), your Barry Bonds steroid induced run to the home run record, and your Tour de France’s on-going doping problems, which led yesterday to this year’s leader being kicked out for failing a test, and bury them on the back page. This NBA Ref scandal is bigger. It’s much, much bigger. All the other things are about individuals. And while those individuals may taint themselves, and in turn taint the game they play, in the end it is that individual that takes the fall and comes out worse for the wear. The game itself has always prevailed. Until now.
This taints the very game that, up to this point, has been almost un-taintable (I don’t think that’s a word. No matter.) It destroys the credibility of a league, one that has admitted it suffers from a somewhat lack of credibility due to its already questionable officiating. And it betrays any confidence the fans had of watching a ‘fair’ game being played out, one that is not influenced by TV ratings, a desire to see certain players do well, or the want of big market teams to be in the finals.
All these things have been questioned, time and time again, but fans of the NBA. Especially the last two years, when questionable officiating has become the norm in the playoffs. Take the 2006 Finals between Dallas and Miami. After dropping the first two games to the Mavericks, the Heat looked to be on their last leg heading home. Then came the Dwayne Wade Free Throw Barrage. Wade was put on the line so many times in the finals, it had conspiracy theorists all over the world screaming something wasn’t right.
Follow that up with this years Suns-Spurs series (here it comes Suns fans), in which the officiating throughout was patently low-grade, Y-league level. Most Suns fans have been pointing out two instances in which the officiating of that game hurt the Suns. One, the end of game 1 when Nash missed the last two minutes of the game because he had his nose split open and a foul called on him. The second was at the end of game four when Cheap Shot Rob Horry hip checked Steve Nash into the scorer’s table, eventually resulting in Boris Diaw and Amare Stoudemire being suspended for game 5. Well Suns fans, now we have another instance to gripe about, and this one appears legit.
Tim Donaghy was working game 3 of this series, in which Suns fans may remember there were plenty of, *ahem*, questionable calls. The worst ones can be seen here – pay special attention to the quote used from Bill Simmons, the announcers of the game, and the fact that on the first ‘highlight’ shown Donaghy called the foul, late, from 40 feet away, while the ref 5 feet away did not call anything. Suns fans may also remember this game as the one in which Amare played only 21 minutes because of foul trouble. Donaghy called Amare’s first two fouls, as well as the Tech on D’Antoni late in the game. I’m not saying, I’m just, uh, saying. That’s not to say Donaghy was the only one botching calls in that game (or the series for that matter), because the entire crew looked completely incompetent most of the game.
Regardless, the NBA is in trouble, worse trouble than it was following the Pistons-Pacers brawl from a few years ago. How can the league, and David Stern, and in particular the referees, regain the confidence and trust of sports fans? And more importantly, doesn’t this call into question other sports referees as well? I would imagine it would be hard to fix a baseball game as an ump, but then again one could shrink or expand the strike zone. Close calls at the plate can easily go one way or the other.
Football is all about judgment calls. Holding calls go uncalled all the time. How do you judge if a ball was catchable or not for interference? What about simple plays such as late hits on the quarterback? How many times have you seen that called and not agreed with it?
What about soccer? A renegade ref could easily card a player for a perceived rough tackle, or even for taking a dive. You don’t think kicking a player out of the game, forcing a team to play with 10 players vs. a team with 11 could be unfair?
I can go on and on. The point isn’t that it’s happening, or even that it could be happening. The point isn’t that we now need even more scrutiny on our officials and referees. The point is that now, whenever a questionable call comes up in any sport, there will be sports fans wondering if the fix is in. And that is the bigger issue this referee scandal will ultimately unveil. Fans no longer trust the integrity of the game.
Is it enough to cause people to stop watching and stop caring? No. Sports are too ingrained in our culture to give it up entirely. But some of the innocence of sports has been lost forever, and that will never be gained back. There will always be people wondering if the game is fixed. Which, ultimately and unfortunately, will kill a bit of the competitive and entertainment value of sports. That is where sports fans will lose.
As originally posted on http://valleysports.blogspot.com
