NBA - Black Eye for Sports
In August of last year it was revealed that NBA referee Tim Donaghy was involved in the fixing of numerous NBA games in order to make money for the mob, his friends, and also himself. Once Donaghy was found out a full on investigation was launched by the FBI to look deeper into the matter. During the course of the investigation Donaghy has had no problem in ratting out his fellow referees claiming that many others had knowledge of his business dealings and that some were even involved.
After the NBA got over the shocking incident they thought that they would be rid of Donaghy for good, but unfortunately for the NBA and Commissioner David Stern that just isn’t the case. It was reported yesterday that Donaghy admitted to fixing NBA Playoff games on two separate occasions. This is not the biggest revelation however as Donaghy claims that the knowledge of this act was known not just amongst the officials but as far up as league executives. Donaghy also claimed that if a star player got ejected from a game then the league would reprimand them privately.
Many of Donaghy’s claims are being tossed out as simply the last act of a desperate man but when you really look at it could they not be true?
In game 6 of the 2002 Western Conference Finals the Los Angeles Lakers shot a ridiculous 27 free throws in the fourth quarter alone and lets not forget the infamous elbow from Kobe Bryant on Mike Bibby. Or how about in 2006 when the Miami Heat came back from a 2-0 series lead against the Dallas Mavericks as soon as Dwayne Wade started getting every call to go his way. Or even looking at this year when Brent Barry was clearly fouled by Derrick Fisher and there was no call made. Donaghy’s claims seem to have some validity to them as looking back at the bulk of evidence there are situations where clearly the refs looked the other way for the sake of the game.
It’s a sad day when one of the most successful run businesses in the world has to face accusations of cheating and improprieties. Fans watch the game of basketball, and sports in general, to see the genuine competition between two teams. When you take out the competition you rob the fans of the trust that they give to you on a nightly basis. This trust is something very precious to fans as many believe sports is the one pure aspect of life left. When there are scams in business, lying in politics, and backstabbing at the workplace sports is supposed to be an escape from all that. Sports should represent what is good and pure about the human race, a drive for success and testing personal limits against others who are looking to test their own limits. This is what makes this case such a big deal. Its not simply that someone cheated and someone lost due to cheating. It’s the fact that some people felt that they were above the game and decided to ruin that pureness for everyone. Tim Donaghy and the NBA should be ashamed of themselves and owe every single basketball, and sports fan in general, a very sincere apology.
