Everyone knows how David Stern takes care to choose his words very carefully. As a lawyer, he knows exactly how to say things to keep himself out of trouble, or how to convey his stance on issues without revealing too much.
If you watched the press-conference today or read a summary of his statements, you heard how he described the situation involving referee Tim Donaghy. Analyzing these statements carefully brought me to some conclusions as to how this investigation will be heading. Stern's take was that Donaghy is believed to have bet on games, perhaps ones that
he himself officiated. And they also believe that he provided information to people
about the games. That is what Stern said.
Think about that. "Provided information". I take this to mean that the ref knew
beforehand whether he was going to call the games tightly or loosely, lots of fouls or fewer fouls, etc. If you are familiar with sports wagering and the fixing of games, you will know that it can be hard to help a particular team win without it looking too obvious. That is why when the fix is in, it is more common for the over/under lines to be bet. Both teams seem to be treated equally, but the game is just called in a different way. Sometimes you'll hear the announcers say, "Looks like they're letting 'em play tonight". That means you'll see tough defense, with lots of missed shots and few fouls called.
Taking this into account, I believe that we will come to find out that Donaghy tipped people off as to whether they should bet the over or the under on certain games. And then he called the games in a way that would either cause more points or less points to be scored. Maybe in a way this made it seem OK for him to do. Maybe it put his conscience at peace by thinking that he was just causing a high-scoring game, and not influencing who the winner would be. Who knows?
Maybe we all will, months down the road when we get to hear his testimony.
Hey jay sorry i borrowed your crying baby clip from the other blog and used it on this one. It was way too funny.
http://community.foxsports.com/blog s/kyleistheman101/2007/07/24/The_Sp urs_dont_deserve_a_title?page_no=1& reload=8
Unfortunately, we probably won't know the full extent of everything. I'm apt to believe they're going to keep as much of this covered up and unreleased as possible.
Jay Sisko
Stern's intransigence only goes to show how wrong he's been about the integrity of his officials. It was self evident to see throughout most of the regular season and their inconsistency. And then during the postseason it all came to an abrupt situation that changed the season upside down for a particular franchise. Deliberate or not there's now cause for concern with many of these officials. His take of this being an isolated incident just goes to show how out of touch he may well be with regard to the actions of his officials.
There'll be more to come out of this altogether and if a player should be involved in any of this. Then he'll have more than enough to deal with.
I'm talking about the controversy surrounding the playoff game between the Spurs and Suns. Many will no doubt feel that ejection of Stoudemire mightn't have altered the overall result of the series. But I do believe the momentum shifted and from thereon in the inevitable happened. Do you see it any differently ? I've a new post up titled 265 Days And Counting And It'll Be Here ! Let me know what you think as to the subject matter ?
Yes, Stern certainly did choose his words carefully. Like a kid in confession. Not saying he was privy to it, but his tone seems to have lost the condescending, arrogant manner that endeared so many of us.
And you are to be commended, Jay. You made it through four whole paragraphs without saying how VASTLY superior the Spurs were to the Suns. What's the matter, cat got your tongue???
"But I do believe the momentum shifted and from thereon in the inevitable happened. Do you see it any differently ?"
Yeah I do. First, I agreed with the suspensions. I'd certainly be unhappy if it was my team that lost two big players, but I wouldn't have blamed Stern for that one. His hands were tied because he had to be consistent with the rule. The blame fell squarely on the Suns players, in my opinion.
And I think the Suns actually had the momentum, especially when they were kicking butt during game 5. The Spurs seemed intimidated by the outrage the Phoenix crowd was displaying with their incessant booing. San Antonio got outplayed for so long that game, and it seemed that the Suns were playing with unbridled passion. Then they just lost their will to win, and the game went down the tubes. They had all the momentum in the world, even without 2 players.
And for ricko, I think that if the suspensions hadn't happened, the Spurs still would have won. As a team, yes they are far superior. As individual talents, the Suns have better players. Offensively, Phoenix is a lot of fun to watch, but if they were my team I'd be embarrassed by their lack of effort on defense. I'd be calling for Steve Nash to be traded because he costs the team as many points on defense as he helps them get on offense. There you go ricko, didn't want to disappoint you so there was my Spurs > Suns rant.
Jay Sisko
There are only two competent players on that Suns' team that can actually play defense. Diaw and Marion as for the rest they aren't even sericeable on that score.
The inherent problem with the officiating throughout the regular season and in the playoffs was the level of inconsistency. But beyond that Stern has to be more proactive rather than still standing steadfastly behind by these officials. He can't continue to do this after this debacle. I've a new post up under this guise titled 365 Days And Counting And It'll Be Here !(tophatal) There's also written under the guise of rampantfanatic Shake Your Moneymaker Like What God Gave Ya ! Not By Luda. In both cases let me know what you think as to merits of both pieces ?
Good read, this nightmare, the tanking the NBA is taking in the TV ratings, his inconsistancies in disciplinary actions against players, his seemingly loss of control of the league hopefully will bring an end to the Stern era. He was handed a gift in Magic/Bird/Jordan and has spent the last 20 years trying to pump up average players as his next superstars. Hopefully, his clock is ticking.
jay...nice post here. I agree, the fact that he (Donaghy) prolly just affected the score differences and not the actual winner of the game justified, in his mind, that he wasnt really affecting the outcome of the game.
He's still a schmuck, and unfortunately, I think a lot of players were involved...that scares me. It could really tarnish the NBA's already eroding image.
For that reason, and that reason only, I fear we may never know the scope of all of the involvement.
Last edited by lisa4usc on August 10th at 12:30 PM.
Magic53-You echo some of the feeling I had about Stern in my post from a couple weeks ago. You may want to check it out if you get a chance. It's time for him to go. And hopefully he'll take Bud Selig with him.
This blogger is a New Yorker, born and raised. I'm a huge sports fan, following pretty much every major sport out there. Sadly, this does not include hockey, NASCAR, or boxing. Hockey lost my affection during the lockout, NASCAR is not a sport, and boxing has become incredibly boring since the dawn of MMA. If you want to talk football, baseball, basketball, or MMA, then I'm your man. I could also debate NASCAR with anyone, but we would probably end up just going around in circles...
