Several months ago I was asked to look over the manuscript of Tim Donaghy's confessional. Donaghy is the former NBA referee who was imprisoned for feeding information to gamblers. The larger part of the book was Donaghy's memoir, which was predictably venal and depressing.
HOUSTON -- Over the last 16 months NBA referee Scott Foster has been poked and prodded by government and independent agencies to determine the nature of his relationship with Tim Donaghy, the disgraced former official who is serving 15 months in a Florida prison after pleading guilty to wire fraud and transmitting wagering information across state lines.
When the league announced it was putting a retired Army general in charge of training its referees, jokes started flying. But the challenges facing Ronald Johnson are nothing to laugh about
The problem for the NBA in trying to deal with its referee scandal is that the league won't be credited for its efforts. The more David Stern tries to create solutions, the more the public will be reminded of the problem.
At every major international tournament, the competition finds one chink in the Americans' armor and tries to exploit it.
As he rode down the elevator in Brooklyn's federal courthouse, John Lauro, lead attorney for disgraced former NBA referee Tim Donaghy, had an ominous message for the handful of reporters who had stuffed themselves in with him.
A federal judge Tuesday sentenced disgraced former NBA referee Tim Donaghy to more than a year in prison for wagering on professional basketball games -- conduct that Donaghy claims stemmed from his gambling addiction.
SI.com legal analyst Michael McCann answers the key questions following Tuesday's sentencing of disgraced former NBA referee Tim Donaghy to 15 months in prison.
A federal judge in Brooklyn has sentenced former NBA referee Tim Donaghy to 15 months in prison for taking payoffs from a professional gambler for inside tips on games
SI.com legal analyst Michael McCann answers the key questions from the recent report that disgraced former NBA referee Tim Donaghy called fellow official Scott Foster 134 times between October 2006 and April 2007, the same period Donaghy was providing information to gamblers.
Several months ago I was asked to look over the manuscript of Tim Donaghy's confessional. Donaghy is the former NBA referee who was imprisoned for feeding information to gamblers. The larger part of the book was Donaghy's memoir, which was predictably venal and depressing.
HOUSTON -- Over the last 16 months NBA referee Scott Foster has been poked and prodded by government and independent agencies to determine the nature of his relationship with Tim Donaghy, the disgraced former official who is serving 15 months in a Florida prison after pleading guilty to wire fraud and transmitting wagering information across state lines.
When the league announced it was putting a retired Army general in charge of training its referees, jokes started flying. But the challenges facing Ronald Johnson are nothing to laugh about
The problem for the NBA in trying to deal with its referee scandal is that the league won't be credited for its efforts. The more David Stern tries to create solutions, the more the public will be reminded of the problem.
At every major international tournament, the competition finds one chink in the Americans' armor and tries to exploit it.
As he rode down the elevator in Brooklyn's federal courthouse, John Lauro, lead attorney for disgraced former NBA referee Tim Donaghy, had an ominous message for the handful of reporters who had stuffed themselves in with him.
A federal judge Tuesday sentenced disgraced former NBA referee Tim Donaghy to more than a year in prison for wagering on professional basketball games -- conduct that Donaghy claims stemmed from his gambling addiction.
SI.com legal analyst Michael McCann answers the key questions following Tuesday's sentencing of disgraced former NBA referee Tim Donaghy to 15 months in prison.
A federal judge in Brooklyn has sentenced former NBA referee Tim Donaghy to 15 months in prison for taking payoffs from a professional gambler for inside tips on games
SI.com legal analyst Michael McCann answers the key questions from the recent report that disgraced former NBA referee Tim Donaghy called fellow official Scott Foster 134 times between October 2006 and April 2007, the same period Donaghy was providing information to gamblers.
Contrary to what NBA referee Scott Foster might feel right about now, there were several ways in which the news Monday about shamed ref Tim Donaghy's cell-phone records could have been worse for all involved.
If the headlines after Game 6 of the 2002 Western Conference finals were any indication, no one should really be surprised by Tim Donaghy's claim that the Lakers' 106-102 win over the Kings was fixed.
Tim Donaghy wants a piece of Dick Bavetta. The NBA is determined not to let him have it.
It's a lot harder to laugh at the NBA conspiracy theorists today, isn't it?
LOS ANGELES -- The afterlife of Tim Donaghy flowers. It takes bloom in the spring of pro basketball's revival, even as Kobe Bryant is scoring a Greco-Roman 36 points to create hope of an extended NBA Finals.
NBA commissioner David Stern dismissed allegations from a former referee at the center of a gambling scandal that the 2002 playoff series was rigged by league referees and officials, calling the claims baseless
We could try to avoid the truth, as so many sports figures did in 2007. We could follow Roger Clemens' lead and issue a statement categorically denying that '07 was a lousy year in sports, full of misdeeds and disgrace, despite all the evidence to the contrary. We could take a page from Don Imus' apologists and say that the ugliness of the year was taken out of context or blown out of proportion.
The NBA season is at the quarter pole, a place far enough along on the track to get an idea of where the race is heading but still far too early to draw any conclusions. Right now, the Spurs and Celtics are neck and neck in the lead, a length ahead of the Suns and Mavs. Behind them, a crowd of contenders is bunched up, including the Pistons, Rockets, Jazz, Magic and Hornets.
All this striped-shirt news is rather confusing, isn't it?
Though it doesn't come out in his somber pronouncements about fines and suspensions, the free-market imperative to grow the sport, and, of course, the hellfire reserved for officials who conspire with gamblers, David Stern does possess an excellent feel for the rhythm and tempo of his game. When he watches the NBA at home or in hotel rooms, Stern confessed in a recent interview, he sometimes finds himself leaping from his seat and hollering at the TV. "How can you make that call! Are you blind?" And as a fan, not to mention a commissioner, he's well aware of the unpleasantness in the NBA ether this season. Forget the lowest TV ratings ever for the Finals last spring and the embarrassing dirty laundry aired by the Knicks in federal court before training camps opened; one calamity trumps them all. On Jan. 28, Tim Donaghy is scheduled to be sentenced in federal court for conspiracy to commit wire fraud and conspiracy to transmit gambling information across state lines. The sentencing
Memo to Gary Bettman: You'd better remember to send holiday cards to Tim Donaghy, Barry Bonds and Michael Vick. With help from a renegade referee, a supposed cheat and a dog-killer, the NHL has been given a huge opportunity to again become relevant in the sports world.
NBA training camps open in less than a month, but there is still one burning question left in this offseason: What will Kobe do?
In a significant step forward in embracing readily available technology as a tool in the officiating of its games, the NBA Board of Governors this week approved the use of instant replay by referees in two specific circumstances.
All of us who love sports should drop to our knees and thank the sporting gods for Appalachian State. Not only did the Mountaineers beat Michigan in front of 108,000 hostile fans. Not only did they become first Division I-AA school to beat a top-five program since the invention of the forward pass. They also reminded us exactly how enchanted and how vivacious sports can be. All of us who love sports needed this game, even the good people of Ann Arbor.
Don Nelson is up to his old tricks again. The Warriors' coach reportedly wants a raise from his current $3.1 million salary to $5.1 million (guaranteed) for each of the remaining two seasons on the three-year contract he signed just last year. He is threatening to retire before training camp if he doesn't get it.
The NBA on Tuesday named former federal prosecutor Lawrence Pedowitz to head up an internal review of its gambling policies and referee hiring procedures. Here's one question Pedowitz might want to put at the top of his list:
The news that former NBA referee Tim Donaghy will provide federal prosecutors with names of other NBA officials involved with gambling is not entirely surprising. What would be surprising is if any of the allegations raise further questions about the way certain games were officiated.
My friend Al is a big conspiracy theorist. He thinks everybody's scamming.
It could have been worse. For David Stern, that has to be the prevailing sentiment after disgraced former referee Tim Donaghy's guilty plea Wednesday to two felony counts related to betting on NBA games.
Former NBA referee Tim Donaghy was released on $250,000 bail after pleading guilty Wednesday to two felonies related to wagering on games he officiated and supplying inside information on games to others.
Former NBA referee Tim Donaghy surrendered Wednesday for his anticipated plea to gambling-related offenses, a person familiar with the probe told The Associated Press
As former NBA referee Tim Donaghy prepared to �surrender to federal authorities, who are investigating whether he supplied inside information about NBA games to gamblers and whether he manipulated point totals, his onetime colleagues have been bolstering one another's spirits while �expressing unending vitriol toward Donaghy.
The NBA has steered clear of major scandal for the better part of David Stern's 23-year tenure as commissioner. On a warm summer morning here Tuesday, however, Stern faced the cold reality that his league is in crisis.
On Tuesday, commissioner David Stern laid out the extensive efforts he has made to supervise his game officials. He made it sound as if there was nothing more he could have done to prevent the alleged betting scandal involving referee Tim Donaghy.
Smug. Imperious. Self-satisfied. Prideful.
Sports Illustrated senior writer Jack McCallum attended commissioner David Stern's news conference in New York on Tuesday. SI.com caught up with McCallum afterward to discuss Stern's first public comments about the betting allegations involving former referee Tim Donaghy.
Thanks to the federal investigation into former NBA referee Tim Donaghy, every ref will be more closely scrutinized -- by league executives, players, coaches, fans and even other refs. But officials in all sports have �always been monitored and evaluated, perhaps none more so than the NBA's. Which raises the question: If Donaghy did want to use his position to manipulate scores, how could he go about it and not be detected? SI asked that of NBA scouts and coaches, all of whom initially struggled to answer a question they never thought they'd have to ponder.
As bad as this scandal appears for the NBA, it's still just one referee -- one man -- who is being investigated for betting on games he worked and making calls to affect the point spread in games over the past two seasons.
Sports fans have considerable forbearance. Year after year they endure escalating ticket prices, the abomination known as seat licensing and the implied mandate that taxpayers should foot the bill for the new stadium or arena that will absolutely revive downtown. They watch their favorite players come and go through free agency and trades, and see their managers and coaches get shuffled like playing cards. They cringe as the news crawl on their screen reports a heinous transgression committed by their son's hero, whose replica jersey just lightened their wallet considerably. But they come back, because the games matter to them, and because sports fosters a sense of hope.
Note: Additional reporting by Ian Thomsen, Steve Aschburner and Chris Mannix
Shock. Anger. Disgust.
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