FBI investigating ref (Donaghy) who may have fixed games...

[tibor75]

NBA IN A 'FIX' | By MURRAY WEISS | Columnists | Steve Dunleavy | Andrea Peyser

July 20, 2007 -- THE FBI is investigating an NBA referee who allegedly was betting on basketball games - including ones he was officiating during the past two seasons - as part of an organized-crime probe in the Big Apple, The Post has learned.

The investigation, which began more than a year ago, is zeroing in on blockbuster allegations that the referee was making calls that affected the point spread to guarantee that he - and the hoods who had their hooks in him - cashed in on large bets.

 

[BB73]

How long will it take before this name gets leaked?

 

[Taosman]

Most "refs" don't get much pay, so it's only natural that some would see an opportunity to make some big money.
And it's only natural that the mob would get involved.

Wonder about college football refs?
Like the infamous Oklahoma at Oregon game last. Just a coincidence?

 

[Taosman]

The Oklahoma - Oregon Football Officiating Debacle



In football, the judges are the officials. How big is their impact? What truly decides football games - the players, the coaches, or the officials?

As Bob's Blog writes (we use Bob since he is avowedly not an Oklahoma Sooner fan):

"The refs missed a tipped pass that resulted in an interference penalty against Oklahoma, and both the refs and the replay officials somehow missed the onside kick that was touched by Oregon before the ball traveled the mandatory 10 yards.
SportPundit: The Oklahoma - Oregon Football Officiating Debacle

 

[Mike80]

The Oklahoma - Oregon Football Officiating Debacle



In football, the judges are the officials. How big is their impact? What truly decides football games - the players, the coaches, or the officials?

As Bob's Blog writes (we use Bob since he is avowedly not an Oklahoma Sooner fan):

"The refs missed a tipped pass that resulted in an interference penalty against Oklahoma, and both the refs and the replay officials somehow missed the onside kick that was touched by Oregon before the ball traveled the mandatory 10 yards.
SportPundit: The Oklahoma - Oregon Football Officiating Debacle

That is probably a bit too obvious. I think that was more incompetence.

As for this NBA ref, I think the chances of an NBA franchise landing in Vegas just died.

 

[holybuckeye33]

Wonder if I can get a refund from my bookie?

 

[OHSportsFan]

How long will it take before this name gets leaked?

Not even a full day I believe.

Tim Donaghy.

 

[jimotis4heisman]

The Oklahoma - Oregon Football Officiating Debacle



In football, the judges are the officials. How big is their impact? What truly decides football games - the players, the coaches, or the officials?

As Bob's Blog writes (we use Bob since he is avowedly not an Oklahoma Sooner fan):

"The refs missed a tipped pass that resulted in an interference penalty against Oklahoma, and both the refs and the replay officials somehow missed the onside kick that was touched by Oregon before the ball traveled the mandatory 10 yards.
SportPundit: The Oklahoma - Oregon Football Officiating Debacle

starting salary is 90k plus expenses... i dunno what you called not being paid well. i know one who is paid 200k plus expenses. top end 230kish plus expenses


fyi
mlb 100 to 280k plus expenses
nhl 115, 15 year vet makes 220k plus expenses
nfl 25 to 70k (i dont know who covers the expenses)

 

[jimotis4heisman]

Most "refs" don't get much pay, so it's only natural that some would see an opportunity to make some big money.
And it's only natural that the mob would get involved.

Wonder about college football refs?
Like the infamous Oklahoma at Oregon game last. Just a coincidence?

meant to quote this one of taos, oppsie

 

[Taosman]

College football
The game fee varies from conference to conference and Division to division (i.i Pac-10 $980 /game + travel & perdiem; Mountain West $600/game + perdiem, Big Sky D-1AA $425/game + per diem; Great West Conf. D-1AA varied from school to school based upon a contract for officials some are paid the same as the Big Sky others pay $325/game while others pay $200/game + travel; Div II & Div III are paid less - Range from $105 - $375 per game + travel and per diem).

 

[Oh8ch]

The refs missed a tipped pass that resulted in an interference penalty against Oklahoma, and both the refs and the replay officials somehow missed the onside kick that was touched by Oregon before the ball traveled the mandatory 10 yards

I often see cases such as this pointed to as possible fixes. IMO this is the last game where I would expect to find a fix. The article suggests that multiple officials, both on the field and in the booth, were in on the fix.

If you want to fix a game you go to one official. That is the only way to keep it quiet and one is all you need. A couple of holding calls - one made and one ignored - are plenty to turn a close game.

But keep in mind that fixes are based on the spread. You don't want the official to have to make calls that decide the game. There are too many folks looking at those plays. You want them calling back the TD that covered a 13 point spread - the sort of play that doesn't get replayed on ESPN or bitched about too loudly by the coaches.

That is why I always chuckle when someone suggests there was something fishy about the Terry Porter call in the Fiesta Bowl. OSU had the spread beat as soon as the game went to OT. If Porter had been taking money it would have been to make high rollers happy - not boosters.

 

[billmac91]

working off your thoughts Oh8ch, if we were able to go back and see the games this guy fixed, I bet he influenced the game in the first quarter rtaher than game-changing calls down the stretch of a game where everyone is paying attention.....call a couple ticky tack fouls in the first on a star and get him out rather than swing a game late

 

[scooter1369]

working off your thoughts Oh8ch, if we were able to go back and see the games this guy fixed, I bet he influenced the game in the first quarter rtaher than game-changing calls down the stretch of a game where everyone is paying attention.....call a couple ticky tack fouls in the first on a star and get him out rather than swing a game late

Seemed to be what happened to Oden a few times this year too.

 

[Mike80]

working off your thoughts Oh8ch, if we were able to go back and see the games this guy fixed, I bet he influenced the game in the first quarter rtaher than game-changing calls down the stretch of a game where everyone is paying attention.....call a couple ticky tack fouls in the first on a star and get him out rather than swing a game late

well some clips are starting to show up on YOUTube. I wonder how long they'll be up as the NBA might request that Youtube take them down, but here ya go....

the playoff game this past season that was easily the worst officiated game many have ever seen between San Antonio and Phoenix. Donaghy was the ref here. While he doesn't make every horrible call, most of the ones selected were pretty bad....

[YOUTUBE]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fvkKdXLwt0U[/YOUTUBE]

Here is another one where Dwayne Wade drives into the lane and doesn't get touched but a foul is called (by Donaghy) and on the ensuing possession by Charlotte, Gerald Williams gets hit in the head but nothing is called.

[YOUTUBE]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=83IQlYGMDZY[/YOUTUBE]

 

[tibor75]

ESPN Page 2 - The Sports Guy: The Donaghy scandal

If the allegations are true, Tim Donaghy didn't just violate the integrity of the league and rig some games. There's a good chance he altered the course of the 2007 championship. Only three teams had a chance last year: Dallas, Phoenix and San Antonio. When Dallas choked against Golden State in the opening round, the NBA's refusal to fix a broken playoff system came back to haunt it in Round 2, thanks to a Spurs-Suns matchup that suddenly doubled as the NBA Finals. In Game 1, San Antonio stole home-court advantage with a convincing win that everyone remembers because Steve Nash busted his nose open. The Suns rallied back with a blowout win in Game 2. Here's what I wrote after the third game -- the Spurs were favored by four, with an over/under of 200.5 -- after San Antonio prevailed, 108-101, thanks to Amare Stoudemire playing just 21 minutes because of foul trouble:

Congratulations to Greg Willard, Tim Donaghy and Eddie F. Rush for giving us the most atrociously officiated game of the playoffs so far: Game 3 of the Suns-Spurs series. Bennett Salvatore, Tom Washington and Violet Palmer must have been outraged that they weren't involved in this mess. Good golly. Most of the calls favored the Spurs, but I don't even think the refs were biased -- they were so incompetent that there was no rhyme or reason to anything that was happening. Other than the latest call in NBA history (a shooting foul for Manu Ginobili whistled three seconds after the play, when everyone was already running in the other direction), my favorite moment happened near the end, when the game was already over and they called a cheap bump on Bruce Bowen against Nash, so the cameras caught Mike D'Antoni (the most entertaining coach in the league if he's not getting calls) screaming sarcastically, "Why start now? Why bother?" What a travesty. Not since the cocaine era from 1978-1986 has the league faced a bigger ongoing issue than crappy officiating.