What The NBA Would Like You To Forget
This guy.
The Gamblin’ man Tim Donaghy. According to the Philadelphia Inquirer, two of Donaghy’s cronies are saying what the NBA does not want you to believe; namely that other officials were involved:
“I’m just not sure if the concept of ‘rogue referee’ is appropriate,” said Jack McMahon, the Philadelphia attorney representing James “Baba” Battista. “It seems odd that he [Donaghy] also was betting on games that he didn’t referee. That sounds to me like it ought to be a red flag.”
Also, despite NBA commissioner David Stern’s claim that the NBA has investigated the matter thoroughly; both men deny ever talking to investigators from the league:
Commissioner David Stern has insisted that Donaghy, 42, a Havertown native, is the only referee involved in the scandal.
If, however, the league has been investigating the matter more deeply behind the scenes, it has apparently done so without talking to either Martino or Battista.
The attorneys for the two defendants said they had not been in contact with anyone from the NBA.
“I’m sure they don’t want to hear anything further from us,” said Vicki Herr, Martino’s attorney.”
No shit the NBA doesn’t want to hear anything further. That’s why the whole NBA investigation lasted like five minutes. Long enough for Stern to pull all the refs together and tell them that if they’re doing anything to stop it or he’ll eat their firstborn children.
One rogue ref can be dealt with without too much of an incident, bad seeds can be found anywhere, right? But Stern knows that a wide-scale cheating scandal could destroy the NBA at a time when it’s just starting to build back some sort of a fan base.
Get the feeling that maybe this was the NBA pulling an MLB? Just hope the issue will go away and get on with the season. Looks similar to me.