Donaghy’s Allegations Threaten Stern, the NBA and Beyond
June 12, 2008
Tim Donaghy’s initial allegations of game-fixing have finally come to light. Interestingly, what was known months ago is being divulged just weeks before his July 14 sentencing date.
The timing of the release of allegations cannot have been accidental as it has allowed the conversation surrounding Donaghy’s claims to be framed in a way that casts the deposed official and his compelling story appear in as bad a light as possible.
It allowed David Stern to impugn Donaghy’s character as only a lawyer could:
“The reality is that … he’s a singing, cooperating witness who is trying to get as light a sentence as he can. “We said it in July and we’ll say it again on the first anniversary: There’s one criminal here.”
And Stern, no matter their decrying the commissioner’s actions, is backed by basketball writers and columnists in the mainstream press. Take, for instance, this passage from ESPN’s Marc Stein’s recent article on the Donaghy affair:
The claim was so aggressive that even [Dallas Mavericks owner, Mark] Cuban was prompted to throw some support behind his longtime nemesis, telling ESPN.com via e-mail: “There’s no way on God’s green Earth that David Stern has ever done anything to influence the outcome of a game.”
I believe it, too. Stern is too smart and too fair and has way too much to lose to even think of orchestrating anything.
But, again, perceptions are hugely powerful. Stern has no choice but to manufacture a way to start convincing the NBA’s ever-growing legion of skeptics that these Donaghy allegations, as well as his previous charges (that relationships between referees, coaches and players have “prevented games from being played on a level playing field”), are untrue.
Stern maintains that the details forthcoming from the FBI’s investigation and the NBA’s own internal review, presumably to be released after Donaghy’s mid-July sentencing, will fill in several blanks, start easing concerns and lead to a clearer picture of what the league intends to do better, ref-wise. Let’s hope.
Let’s hope, because the mountains of evidence in recent hoop history that completely undermine the very notion of conspiracies — such as small-market San Antonio’s winning four championships and two draft lotteries, and the Knicks’ sliding all the way to laughingstock territory just a few miles from the NBA’s offices — don’t stop ESPN.com readers from flooding my mailbag with countless cries that NBA outcomes are being orchestrated.
Stein might actually believe that “small-market San Antonio” equals no conspiracies, but it is narrow statements like this that act to confuse fans from understanding anything about the business side of professional sports and in this case, the NBA.
A team like the Spurs fits the thought of a “manipulated champion” perfectly for many reasons.
Stern’s aim is to make his league a global game in the truest sense of the term. His forays into Europe and China have been well-chronicled. With its large Hispanic population and proximity and active ties to Mexico, any Texas team that wins an NBA Championship grows the sport and is a boon to Stern’s global vision. Because of his gold medal and multiple NBA crowns, Emmanuel “Manu” Ginobili, the Argentinean whirling dervish and main cog in the spurs recent titles, is an iconic figure in a global Hispanic community that reaches deep into urban South America.
In America, San Antonio plays equally well, despite cries to the contrary by the press. Tim Duncan, the star of the team, is as non-threatening a black basketball star as there has ever been in the league. Duncan is relatively unassuming. Off the court he shuns, rather than seeks the limelight. His name is never heard in conjunction with a mug shot or crime blotter. And he is so sound a player that his nickname, given to him by none other than Shaquille O’Neal, is “The Big Fundamental.”
Duncan and his teammates are known for playing basketball “the right way.” They beat you because they are the most fundamentally-sound team in the league; they execute you to death. It might be boring to Internet babies, but not to the NBA’s corporate sponsors.
The San Antonio Spurs play the “whitest” basketball possible in an NBA filled with “playground, “And 1,” run and jump and dunk players.
And they win.
What could be better for David Stern’s NBA?
Similar sentiments are being roundly expressed by other NBA writers. Some, like ESPN the Magazine’s Ric Bucher, out-and out assailed Donaghy. On Sportscenter, ESPN’s flagship nightly news show, Bucher discussed the referees who officiated the 2002 Western Conference game between the Sacramento Kings and the Los Angeles Lakers. It is this game that is the heart of the press’ contention that either Donaghy maliciously picked out this game because it has gone down in NBA lore as a game that “looked wrong” from an officiating standpoint. In the 4th quarter of that game the Lakers attempted 27 free throws which allowed them to stave off elimination in that series and go back to Sacramento for a final contest.
In assessing whether or not the referees in that game could have manipulated the outcome, Bucher examined their interpersonal relationship and used those relationships to term Donaghy’s allegations, “Laughable.” Bucher said Ted Bernhardt was a “lone wolf” and, on the surface, would seem to be the most likely suspect in a case like this. But since Donaghy claimed that two of the three officials were in on the fix, he dismissed Bernhardt because he was “not a company man.” Bucher also used former Kings power forward Scott Pollard’s thoughts on the series to substantiate his own perceptions of Donaghy.
When first told of the convicted referee’s claims Pollard felt his and many of his teammates’ feelings about the game had been vindicated. But given further consideration Pollard told Bucher that the Kings lost Game 4 of that series on a fluke tap-out of a rebound to the Lakers Robert Horry who sunk a last-moment 3-pointer top win that game for Los Angeles. And Pollard said that Sacramento lost Game 7 due to a lack of poise after the Game 6, 4th quarter free throw debacle. So, in retrospect, bad luck and immaturity, not referees cost the Kings.
And for Bucher, that is enough to dismiss Donaghy as a liar.
Ric Bucher is a solid and excellent basketball writer, and intentional obfuscation is not part of his modus operandi. Yet he too appears to be caught up in protecting the image of the game rather than investigating and assessing the possible veracity of Donaghy’s statements.
And as writers such as Stein and Bucher forge a general opinion for the public to follow, they miss signs that perhaps, just perhaps that, for those officiating the games that fixing a game or manipulating the outcome of a game in the NBA is as easy as it is in the NFL or Major League Baseball.
First, the NFL has a much worse gambling problem than the NBA ever had. Even the title contest called “The Greatest Game Ever Played,” the 1958 Baltimore Colts-New York Giants championship matchup was said to have a betting angle to it. When the Colts were inside the Giants five yard line, rather than kick what amounted to an extra point, it was said that Colts head coach Weeb Ewbank ordered the Colts to go for a touchdown. When Alan Amaechi crossed the goal line, Baltimore had won, 23-17. Had Ewbank allowed the field goal to be kicked, the final score would have been 23-20.
Baltimore was favored by four points.
Multiple playoff and Super Bowl games have been questioned back to Super Bowl III with the New York Jets versus the Baltimore Colts.
Crime reporter Dan Moldea, in his book, Interference, revealed that during the 1967 season, a business owned by Colts quarterback Earl Morrall was in financial disarray. He owed money on his home - a second mortgage - and was close to bankruptcy. Some time after that game Morrall mysteriously received a $50,000 donation to his bank account that bailed him out of his financial straits.
In Super Bowl II there was one play, a sure touchdown if run correctly, that Morrall had to purposely blow in order for it not to work. It was a flea-flicker play where running back Tom Moore took a hand off from Morrall, tossed the ball back to him and Morrall was to throw the ball to flanker Jimmy Orr. Tight end John Mackey ran a deep seam pattern that was designed to draw double coverage, leaving Orr wide open.
The Colts ran that play a few weeks previous to the Super bowl game and sprang it for a key touchdown on their way to a Western Division championship. They ran the exact same play in the second quarter of Super Bowl III.
Instead of throwing to Orr, who was standing in the end zone waving his arms with no one with 20 yards of him, Morrall underthrew his pass down the seam to a double-covered Mackey. The pass was easily picked off. The Colts never recovered and ultimately lost the game, 16-7.
That game legitimized the American Football League (AFL) in the eyes of the public and smoothed the path for the pending merger between the NFL and AFL that had already been consolidated. With another NFL blowout as happened in Super Bowls I and II, professional football would look very different today.
Baltimore was a 19-point favorite to win that game and, player for player, was easily as good if not better than the Green Bay Packers teams that won the first two Super Bowls. The Jets, on the other hand were a good AFL team but were not as talented as the Oakland Raiders or the Kansas City Chiefs teams that would come to dominate not only the AFL, but pro football shortly thereafter. New York had a magical season to be sure, but they could not be mentioned in the same breathe as Baltimore.
To be blunt, the game was fixed. And who was the New York Jets head coach?
Weeb Ewbank.
But that was a player. With Tim Donaghy’s claims we’re talking about a referee, or referees.
In the NFL the zebras often say there is a penalty to be called every play. And the adage for teams is, “You are what your record says you are.”
With that known it is easy to fix an NFL game. Ask the Oakland Raiders about their championship game against the New England Patriots amidst the post 9/11 American jingoism of the 2001-2002 season. Ask the Tampa Bay Buccaneers about the blatant missed calls late in their 1999-2000 season NFC championship game against the St. Louis Rams. Ask the Pittsburgh Steelers about their 2006 playoff game against the Indianapolis Colts, and to bring this phenomenon full circle, ask the New England Patriots about their Super Bowl game against the New York Giants in this most recent Super Bowl (XLII).
It is just as easy for a home plate umpire to fix a baseball game. All he has to do is establish a strike zone that is antithetical to a starting pitcher for that particular game. For our pitcher let’s take Greg Maddux. “Mad Dog” is the greatest control pitcher in the history of baseball. In his prime his calling card was his ability to “paint the black” - the outer portion of home plate - with his pitches; inner portion of the plate, outer portion, it didn’t matter.
Because of his command, Maddux would often get strike calls on pitches millimeters off the plate. However, to turn a vintage Maddux seven-inning shutout performance into a four-inning, seven hit, four earned runs outing is to call a literal strike zone. If an umpire gives the great Greg Maddux no pitches on the black, forcing him to come over the plate, he is in trouble - and batters will pound him.
In basketball fixing the point total for a game is by far the easiest way to manipulate a game. Should officials in a game call few fouls there will be fewer trips to the free throw line. This means fewer free points for each team without the clock moving. Fewer foul calls also allows the clock to continue to run. All of which conspires to turn a 105-100 game into a 93-88 game and one that comes in under the “over-under spread.
Conversely, if officials call, say 70 fouls rather than the 2008 playoff average of 52 total fouls, that gives teams 18 more chances to score without the clock moving. The added fouls equals, on average about 12 extra points for a game. That can turn a 93-88 game into a 99-94 game that comes in above the betting point total over-under.
In every sport, for the men and women who ultimately control the game’s flow, manipulating a game’s outcome is that easy.
———————–
If you believe David Stern , Tim Donaghy is a rogue referee who is a convicted felon and is now doing everything he can to drag other referees and the league down with him in exchange for a lighter sentence. The press mostly agrees with Stern but adds that the NBA and basketball unlike the NFL, has often been embroiled in betting scandals.
But Stern cannot hide for long behind the fact that just 10 years ago 45 of his referees were caught in a tax-evasion scam when they traded their first-class airline tickets for coach seating without reporting the money made from the sales. He must address how Joe Crawford, who was convicted in that scam and sentenced to 90 days house arrest never accepted blame for his actions, is not only still officiating in the League, but refereed Game 2 of this season’s NBA Finals. He must answer how it is that Ken Mauer, who was convicted of three counts of tax evasion and one count of obstruction of justice and was banished from the league as a result of the ticket scam was reinstated; he must answer why.
And the press must answer how it is that the referees involved are somehow heroes:
He [Mauer], like all the referees, would take their first class airline tickets, downgrade them to economy class, and take the difference as additional income. That they didn’t claim the difference on their income tax was questionable, to be sure, but when the practice began decades ago, it was part of the referee’s collective bargaining agreement between the officials and the NBA.
All the officials will admit their mistakes, but when you take into account the amount of money that was being made, it is negligible by most standards. Over a three-year period, Mauer was taxed $26,500 on the additional income he made, an average of $8,800 a year.
I’ll say it again: $8,800 a year.
Perhaps the real story here is why is the IRS spending so much money to prosecute a guy who did not pay them $8,800 a year?
Perhaps it is because what the officials and the NBA collectively bargain does not trump their obligation to report their earnings from the ticket trading. Perhaps it is because $8,800 X 45 equals $396,000. Perhaps it is because these men were unrepentant when faced with their transgressions.
The fact is, David Stern is treating Tim Donaghy’s allegations just as he did the whispers of game-fixing with members of the Phoenix Suns, just as he did the drug problems his league faced, just as he did the ticket scams - he claimed the NBA had investigated or was investigated and comprehensively dealt with all of the issues and promptly swept them under the league rug.
However, this time there is more to the Donaghy story that might not allow it to be flushed down the memory hole.
There is a name in the prosecutors’ notes (shown at the end of this article) that, if religious watchers of NFL Films or older members of the sporting media turned their attention to, opens a can of worms that might expose something very rotten.
Tim Donaghy began betting, making somewhere between $10,000 and $30,000 for the season. This dollar amount includes losses in betting on other sports. The person he bet with and provided “inside information” to from 2003-2007 was Jack Concannon III, son of Jack Concannon, Jr, former NFL quarterback for the Philadelphia Eagles and Chicago Bears, Dallas Cowboys, Green Bay Packers, and Detroit Lions from 1964-1975.
The younger Concannon was a Philadelphia prep basketball star and coach for a Philly area basketball team. It is unknown as to whether Concannon had any ties to the NFL or NCAA football or basketball. However, with a father who was a former NFLer and with sure connections to other athletes it sure is worth checking into.
It is also important to note that Donaghy, through his lawyer, contacted federal investigators before the government contacted him. According to the notes:
“…the government had not approached Donaghy, nor had the government disclosed that it was investigating Donaghy….”
Donaghy’s cooperation was significant in both its timing and scope. Although it is likely that Donaghy would have eventually been charged, the fact of the matter is that it was Donaghy who approached the government - and not the other way around - and that he did so prior to the filing of any complaint or indictment. Moreover, at the time that Donaghy’s counsel called the government, no government agent had made contact with Donaghy. As such, this is not a case where the defendant agreed to cooperate only after being told by the government that he was a target.
Donaghy’s cooperation was also important because it provided the government with direct evidence of the details of the conspiracy - how it began, how the scheme was carried out, and who played what role….
The government also debriefed Donaghy concerning improper conduct on the part of other NBA referees who had engaged in gambling that violated NBA rules.…
As discussed above, the defendant has provided substantial assistance. For these reasons, the government respectfully requests that the court take his cooperation into account in imposing sentence.
The notes-letter was submitted and signed by U.S. Attorney Benton J. Campbell for him and on the behalf of U.S. Attorneys Jeffrey A. Goldberg and Alexander A. Solomon.
When this letter is taken into consideration, David Stern’s claims of a desperate man seeking to bring down the NBA with him in exchange for a lighter sentence do not fly.
Further, in Donaghy’s letter to prosecutors he says explicitly of NBA games:
“Referees A, F and G were officiating a playoff series between Teams 5 and 6 in May of 2002. It was the sixth game of a seven-game series, and a Team 5 victory that night would have ended the series. However, Tim learned from Referee A that Referees A and F wanted to extend the series to seven games. Tim knew referees A and F to be ‘company men,’ always acting in the interest of the NBA, and that night, it was in the NBA’s interest to add another game to the series. Referees A and F heavily favored Team 6. Personal fouls [resulting in obviously injured players] were ignored even when they occurred in full view of the referees. Conversely, the referees called made-up fouls on Team 5 in order to give additional free throw opportunities for Team 6. Their foul-calling also led to the ejection of two Team 5 players. The referees’ favoring of Team 6 led to that team’s victory that night, and Team 6 came back from behind to win that series.”
The letter also alleges that during a 2005 playoff series, “Team 3 lost the first two games in the series and Team 3’s Owner complained to NBA officials. Team 3’s Owner alleged that referees were letting a Team 4 player get away with illegal screens. NBA Executive Y told Referee Supervisor Z that the referees for that game were to enforce the screening rules strictly against that Team 4 player. Referee Supervisor Z informed the referees about his instructions. As an alternate referee for that game, Tim also received these instructions.”
The 2002 mention deals with the Kings-Lakers playoff series, while the 2005 mention deals with the Dallas Mavericks-Houston Rockets series. In that Mavs-Rockets series Dallas owner Mark Cuban complained bitterly about the nature of the officiating after his team lost the first tow games to the Rockets. It was after this that Houston head coach Jeff Van Gundy divulged that an NBA official told him about the league’s plan to pat special attention to moving screens by Rockets center, Yao Ming.
Van Gundy was fined $100,000 for his remarks and, at the time, backed off his comments. Just days ago Van Gundy reiterated that the conversation did take place and apologized for taking the manner in which he handled what he was told. But he did not back down from his statements.
Though most of the press in some was backs Stern and the NBA, some columnists have broken ranks with their peers. Bill Plaschke of the Los Angeles Times admitted in televised comments that he was in attendance at the 2002 Lakers-Kings Game 6 4th quarter free throw shooting debacle and said that many of the reporters at that game including him said that they knew “something was wrong with the game.” Michael Wilbon of the Washington Post said Wednesday on television that “it would be foolish” to totally discount Donaghy’s statements.
Hopefully more mainstream columnists and NBA writers will realize that it is David Stern, not Tim Donaghy who has made the desperate statements regarding potential game-fixing. Hopefully it will be understood that Donaghy made these allegations almost one year previous to now and that, for whatever reason, the same people defending the NBA are the same people who chose to turn a blind eye to the former referee’s claims. Hopefully we can begin to understand the true impact of gambling on the games we watch and love so.
Hopefully then we can watch these games with some measure of joy and knowledge that we are either viewing the equivalent of professional wrestling or that gambling does not impact professional sports.
But first, we must face the fact that today money talks. No matter its origin, money talks.
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Relevant portions of prosecutor’s letter concerning Tim Donaghy:
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12 Responses to “Donaghy’s Allegations Threaten Stern, the NBA and Beyond”
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[…] Allegations Threaten Stern, the NBA and Beyond Posted in June 12th, 2008 by in Uncategorized Donaghy’s Allegations Threaten Stern, the NBA and Beyond But given further consideration Pollard told Bucher that the Kings lost Game 4 of that series on a […]
Dwil - On one hand, I can understand why players would not want to believe this to be true. The average athlete works a lot harder at his sport than people give them credit for. The thought that the outcome was rigged would have to be extremely difficult to accept.
But, I don’t understand the journalists. I could understand skepticism, but so many are flat out rejecting this. That just doesn’t make sense. The basic premise seems to be that he’s a liar.
Do these guys have any idea how many criminal operations have been broken up by other criminals? It literally happens all the time. The thought that that fact in and of itself completely undermines his credibility is pretty ridiculous.
Maybe too late to drop the restitution demand for Stern to save his butt. Too many folks watching now. As pointed out, it is not so much playoff games per se but the overall gambling issue. A few points here or there and someone can make a lot jack or save themselves a broken arm.
dwil, it is obvious that many ESPN writers are purposely turning a blind eye and more interested in “protecting the image” of the game they love. I saw Stephen A. on TV categorically dismssing the allegations which was his way of saying: “I amd going to lie my ass off so that the NBA doesn’t suffer”….
Q: You say that Donaghy made these allegations a year ago? Did the media know? Or just the Feds and stern?
Dwil-
The most convenient of excuses to damage one’s character is to say he or she is a felon, as if not being a convicted felon leaves the rest of society uninflected with a “f” to the be the epitome of piousness
I’m not one for conspiracy theories(the term NBA conspiracy theory is everywhere), even though that terminology has been used for easy reachable slander for sometimes relevant situations, but I really can’t believe anything ESPN says on this issue, they have to much at stake with there business deals. I almost wonder if it’s a good thing for those with more candor that would be involved, that TNT is done covering the NBA for the year.
“A team like the Spurs fits the thought of a “manipulated champion” perfectly for many reasons.”
Very true and whats crazy is, up until this year, one which new excitement was felt mainly due to various free agent moves and trades, the NBA promoting of teams like the Spurs and it’s the god awful television presentations provided by ESPN and ESPECIALY ABC (Why are country music stars introducing NBA games?) had help create the “ratings” decline we’ve all heard so much about.
“Duncan and his teammates are known for playing basketball “the right way.” They beat you because they are the most fundamentally-sound team in the league; they execute you to death. It might be boring to Internet babies, but not to the NBA’s corporate sponsors.
The San Antonio Spurs play the “whitest” basketball possible in an NBA filled with “playground, “And 1,” run and jump and dunk players.
And they win.
What could be better for David Stern’s NBA?”
True…very true….
Very interesting, and troubling information about Super Bowl III, gonna haft to think on it.. It’s far more compelling and tangible then the belief held by my grandfather that Neil O’Donnell threw Super Bowl 30
Shon-
I agree with your point on criminal investigations, and would just pose that many of the careers of the pundits and columnist that “flat out” refute the tarnished referees charges and intertwined and dependent on the NBA in some form or fashion.
shon -
One reason I can think of for journalists not covering this more is access. If they speak out about thinking games to be fixed, all of a sudden, a team could say, we don’t want this person covering us anymore. What do you think your paper owned by a huge conglomerate is going to do, particularly if the team is buying advertising space from them.
MODI -
I saw Stern tonight addressing the allegations. You can tell that he is not liking this one bit. His tone was nowhere near as defiant as it had been. My guess is that he’s afraid that someone might start to dig deeper and find something that he won’t be able to spin.
ILLAIM -
The ironic thing about saying someone is a felon, is if you started digging into personnel files, you could probably find some respected folks in the NBA offices are felons. By Stern’s logic, they shouldn’t have anything to do with the league. Remember, George Steinbrenner was convicted, but I believe has been pardoned.
I have friends from Pittsburgh that say that their last Super Bowl vs. Dallas was fixed. It did look pretty bad the way that O’Donnell just threw the ball to Larry Brown, TWICE and earned both of them pretty big contracts in the process. Most Steeler fans were real glad to see O’Donnell go and would like to forget that he was even associated with the team.
On one hand, my friends and I have had many conversations/arguments/jokes about the NBA being fixed over the years. And we’ve also had moments where we’ve been like “yeah, the NBA wanted (insert name of team) to win that game.” Us Detroiters have been pimping “the NBA is fixed” angle for a very long time too. But on the other hand, the thought of the NBA really, truly being fixed is a hard pill to swallow.
However, something I think is the main problem here, beyond “access” and the lack of reporting about the scandal, beyond Stern’s refusal to elaborate or defend his position better, is the fact that, ultimately, none of us care. Really, none of us care about whether or not the NBA is fixed. Here we have serious accusations leveled by a former referee who we know bet on games, saying the NBA conspired to alter playoff games. And not one person on this blog or anywhere else has said “that’s it, I’m done with the NBA, I’m done with pro basketball.” I haven’t said that either. We all watched these finals, we’ll all watch the draft, and we’ll all watch next season. The fact is, until we, the real fans, stop spending money on tickets and merchandise, stop watching the games, it won’t matter whether we find out that the NBA is fixed, that its run by al-Qaeda, or that Stern is the reincarnation of Hitler. The comparison was made by DWil to WWF…..now, everyone has known for at least 50-70 years that wrestling is fake. And, uh, how many people still drop that $60 each month for the WWF PPV?
I remember when the Donaghy situation broke a year ago (or two?). I made a comment on this blog that I think David Stern is in some way involved in this whole ordeal…..and I still believe it.
motown:
You bring up a very good point. Sure, the true, die-hard NBA fans won’t stop watching. I sure as hell won’t. But the other side of that idea brings me to what irritates me the most out of this situation.
I don’t mind objective discussion from fans of the NBA. What kills me is that this brings people that don’t follow the NBA out of the wood work. They come out saying, “see! This is why I don’t watch basketball!”
And then you’ve got the fans, loyal to their team to a fault, come out and say, “I knew it!” They’re not so much concerned with the truth but rather with a chance to vindicate their biased logic. It’s absurd.
[…] week D-Wil covered much of ESPN writers initial reaction to Tim Donaghy’s recently exposed allegations of referees influencing games. Although there […]
[…] week D-Wil covered much of ESPN writers initial reaction to Tim Donaghy’s recently exposed allegations of referees influencing games. Although […]
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