In discussing the NBA, the word thug is actually a sort of short hand. It refers to players (mostly, or entirely) African-American who don't exactly spend their off days signing autographs at the local children's hospital. Ask people what the league's problem is and they will drop the "t" word.
But a thug, in the more traditional sense, is someone who bullies other people in order to have their way. Who steps outside the bounds of propriety with intimidation and threats.
Like the thugs in the NBA front office.
Today we find the NBA demanding $1.4 million from Tim Donaghy, the ref who traded inside information to gamblers. This comes shortly after Donaghy filed papers alleging widespread misconduct by league officials and executives.
The NBA doesn't need $1.4 million. This is a sport where Kwame Brown makes $3.9 million a year for single digit mediocrity.
I seriously doubt the NBA ever spent a fraction of $1.4 million they claim to have sunk into investigating Donaghy's charges and corruption in the ranks of officials. The league has pretty much turned a blind eye to most anything referees have done over the years.
Joey Crawford challenges Tim Duncan to a fight one season, and is back calling crucial playoff games the next. No problem. The Sacramento-LA playoff game in 2005 that smelled worse than a fixed prize fight? Never looked into. A college study that found patterns of point spread manipulation late in games? Denied as faulty methodology.
If the league didn't conduct a serious inquiry, what's the $1.4 million request for? As thugs do, Daniel Stern's goons in suits are trying to shut up someone who knows too much. In this case Donaghy. And send a message to any of the league's other officials to keep quiet or risk financial ruination.
Actually, it's $1,400,750. The NBA issued a separate demand for $750 to pay for the shoes the league provided Donaghy. See, that's another thing about thugs. They tend to be petty and try to rub people's noses into the ground to make a point.
Then there is Seattle.
Daniel Stern's personal touch of thuggery was his direct involvement in trying to extort a free arena from the taxpayers of Seattle. "Hand over the money or we take your team." So, the Sonics are a big part of the league's history with some of the most loyal fans in the sport?
It means nothing.
Stern believed he could bully and threaten Seattle into handing over the keys to a new arena to the Sonics new ownership, with minimal financial exposure by the new owners. New owners who just so happened to be from Oklahoma.
Now what were the odds? The league approved as the new owners of the Sonics a business leader in Oklahoma City who was active in trying to get the NBA to locate a franchise there.
Coincidence? No, a message. The message being the league was going to be given a free building or would move to Oklahoma, lease or not. The NBA is now in court trying, in a heavy handed, thuggish way to rip the Sonics away from Seattle before the arena contract says it's time to go.
There is a line I like in an old Woody Guthrie song called "Pretty Boy Floyd the Outlaw". It says, simply, "Some will rob you with a six gun, and some with a fountain pen."
The Stern gang won't shower money on strippers, or get stopped at 3 a.m. with residue in the ash tray and automatic weapons under the front seat. But make no mistake about it, the real thugs in the NBA are on Fifth Avenue in New York.
And it's time for the NBA owners to do something about them.
i'm glad that the general public is becoming aware of stern single handedly ruining the NBA.
the recent NBA finals being the ultimate proof that daniel stern is pulling all the strings. if his work in Celtic Pride isn't proof of this I don't know what is?
the man is often times over zealous and unable to control his emotions as evident in very bad things. it was his fault the hooker died.
and if you are looking for proof that the man is a very, very poor at planning just check out home alone. or home alone 2.
donaghy should just give the NBA all of it's shoes back and tell them to go #### themselves.
I simply love your correlation of the actions of the NBA suits to thuggery. I would agree that while the NBA is in a feeble attempt to recoup wages from compromised games Donaghy worked, he did actually “work” the games. This is more like asking a fired employee from job to give back a year’s worth of salary because of the fact that he was terminated. I’m not a lawyer, but I cant see how the NBA can win this one. However, I think this sets up a smoke screen for what the NBA really doesn’t want discussed. Why, in a terrible economy where people are losing their jobs, the NBA suits are trying to strong arm a cash strapped city into funding a keeping up with the joneses basketball arena. While Oklahoma City may be the beneficiary of a basketball team, it wont be long before the ownership demands that the state ponies up funds for a new facility. Arenas used to house sports teams for 30, 40 years. But today, after only 15 years, teams argue for new digs by giving us the building is antique, and we cant compete unless we get a new building gibberish. People in power always toss out an irrelevant story , such as the recovery of wages and shoe money item, for the talking heads and blog nation to chew on. Meanwhile the aforementioned bait and switch effectively covers up the dirt they really are doing. I believe this is not called thuggery, as there is a more sanitized term is used for this action: White Collar Crime.
Last edited by natedognphx on June 22nd at 1:17 PM.
The NBA finals TV ratings went up for the first time in years, so Boston-LA really worked for the league. It sounds paranoid, but I do believe the league will do what it takes to help marquee teams.
Natedog-I agree 100%. It's a problem that goes on in more areas than sports, but this shakedown routine is painful to watch. With all the problems cities have, building arenas for teams is irresponsible.
Dudski - You nailed it, as usual. The NBA Office, as personified by Mr. Stern, is an abomination, at best. If we can't trust the Refs, we can't trust anything. I have spent about a decade not following the NBA. I followed these finals because of my feeling towards Paul Pierce, whom I watched play in college, and I sympathized with in the attack on him a few years ago. Also, when he left Kansas after his Junior year, he had to sit out a year because of the strike, as I recall. While I believe that the Celtics were the better team this time around, I will always have doubts because of the corruption that appears to infest the league office, and therefore, the league itself.
