NBA officials

The latest allegations unveiled by Tim "Lord, I was born a gamblin' man" Donaghy come at a very peculiar time. First, the NBA finals are in full swing and second, the officiating in the first two games has been under a great deal of scrutiny by the media, the fans, and even Phil Jackson. Donaghy's recent statements alleged that the NBA "played favorites" in hiring officials, favored star players in order to please fans and boost TV ratings, and most importantly, that NBA officials were encouraged by the league to favor particular teams on given nights in order to extend playoff series to seven games. Granted Donaghy is not the most credible of sources but there seems to be some evidence to support his accusations; most notably the disparity in free throw attempts from the Lakers-Kings series in 2002. Just think to yourself for a second, what if this is true? Would you be surprised?

I've never been a big supporter of the NBA because I've always been skeptical about the purity of the game. I've had to take a bunch of crap from my friends and colleagues over the years because of my conspiracy theorist ways but I've stuck to my guns. I've always had this feeling that something was up with the way that some of these games were officiated. As you can imagine I was delighted when I saw the "breaking news" flash across my television screen. As the report unfolded I was shocked initially but then I thought to myself, "finally." My only wish now is that these allegations can be supported with some evidence and more importantly by someone with an ounce of credibility left.

To take a detour for a second, I have always been a Sonics 'fan.' And by fan I mean someone who sometimes watches their games on TV and sometimes in person. Although I mainly go in person because I'm more interested in the team the Sonics are playing. Lately us Sonics folk have had to put up with a lot of BS from David Stern. Now there's a guy that I've never liked, trusted, or understood why he has the job he does. My observations of this douche in general and in the current Sonics situation leads me to believe he cares about four things: money, television ratings, the image of the players, and $$$. (I have this conspiracy theory that Stern is going to secretly profit from the Sonics relocation. Why else would he not seem to give a sh*t that a franchise is in the process of being stolen from a city? But that's another looming post pending the upcoming court hearing.) Here's my point, Donaghy's allegations state a couple of things, that games were altered by officials in order to please fans in the form of ratings and ticket sales, and that playoff games were fixed to extend series to seven games. Both of these things lead to what? see below....



lots and lots of $$$, dough, cash, mula, whatever you want to call it. dollar dollar bill y'all (thanks Wu-Tang)

I wasn't pleased when I saw Stern's response either. He (obviously) denied everything with the arrogant, sh*t-eating, smirk he usually has on his face. He preceeded to call Donaghy's allegations "baseless." I whole-heartedly disagree. How can they be "baseless" when the Lakers shot 27 foul shots in the FOURTH QUARTER alone and both Vlade Divac and Scot Pollard fouled out while Shaq did not? hmmmm....does someone want to see a game seven? This is one example of many that involve a huge discrepency in fouls between teams. How does one explain it when it happens in the playoffs? I'm not saying Donaghy's correct because he's had "honesty and credibility issues from the get-go." But there may be a at least a spark in these new statements. An investigation conducted by an outside party to determine where or noth there's any fire to go along with this smoke everyone thinks he's blowing need to happen. I hope to God there is some truth to this and it's uncovered by a reliable source. I can't wait for the moment when I get to see the look on Stern's face change. When he realizes his 'public image' has crumbled right before his very eyes. Where does one go at this point? Whom does one turn to when something like this happens? I'm sure he'll always be welcome at Roger Clemens' home.