NBA Blog

I want to thank the good people at ArmChairGM.com for being the first to compile a complete list of games officiated by Tim Donaghy over the past two seasons.  Not only that, they linked each game to the box scores of the games that are posted at NBA.com.  They saved me a ton of time, and allowed me to get some work done that will actually pay some bills. 

Anyhow, I plan to spend some time over the next few weeks looking at this site (and probably some others because I’d rather look at this stuff than analyze more medical records).  Stay tuned…

So I was working all morning, scrambling to find a file that we needed ASAP and I missed the entire David Stern press conference.  I’m going to try to catch it later.  I doubt that it will be worth posting anything by that time, because I am certain that everyone else out there in the blog world will have beaten the issue to death. 

In other federal indictment news, Michael Vick will not even need to heed my advice and take a ‘voluntary’ leave of absence, because Roger Goodell just told him to avoid showing up for camp altogether while this whole affair is analyzed under the player conduct policy of the NFL.  For Tim Donaghy, what is the over-under on games Vick will be suspended?  (Was that in bad taste?) 

For now, get caught up on the Legend.  He even made the cover of the mysanantonio.com coverage for the Dallas Cowboys camp.

Fox Sports had an excellent posting discussing the amounts of calls that Tim Donaghy made in relation to other officials.  Sorry, I don’t have the link yet, but you can easily find it at their website.  It was worth noting that the other official at the top of all of the statistics was NBA henchman, Dick Bavetta!!  I’m joking of course, but Bavetta has always been the guy quickly accosted in the “NBA is fixed” rumors. 

I know that the NFL keeps very detailed statistics about the impact of calls during a game, and hopefully some of you out there will be able to let me know if the NBA keeps similar statistics about the timing of fouls called.  Most teams frequently get to the bonus during games, but it would be interesting to see if Donaghy’s few extra calls were able to speed that process up as a means to add points with the clock stopped.

Urban Watch: In some totally unrelated, and actually positive football news, my man the Legend is getting ready to start Dallas Cowboys camp this week.  I will be watching the depth chart intently for his hopeful ascension up the receiver depth chart.  He is also stealing a Rosey move by trying to become the holder.  A good holder is essential, as Cowboy fans well know by now.  (In order to feel good that there are still some great people in professional sports, take a look at an older article about the Legend when he was a Seahawk.

And I’m not referring to my lady friend’s bachelorette party in Chicago (or my makeshift bachelor party in Louisville this weekend which served as a precursor to the upcoming festivities in Las Vegas). 

I am actually referring to the Tim Donaghy fiasco that could potentially rip up the NBA.  If you do not know what I am referring to, you obviously live in a cave (or a van down by the river).  You should probably study up on the subject, because right now Mr. Donaghy is all over the ESPN.com front page.  The Sports Guy even had a fresh column ready to read this morning.  (Check it out here).

More importantly, several people have already started throwing stuff on YouTube regarding games that Donaghy officiated.  Some of you may remember one of these games fondly, Game 3 of the Spurs-Suns series, which we had been referring to as the “knee-to-groin” game.  If you need a refresher, check out the link.  I’m pretty sure that I mentioned how awful I thought the officiating was in that game as well, and I was a fan of the team that ALLEGEDLY got officiating assistance. 

This is terrible news for the NBA, which has always had those rumors floating around about potential fixing, no matter how outlandish those ideas were.  You know what I am referring to.

Now it has been released that Donaghy has retained an attorney who has developed the reputation for working with ’whistle blowers.’  Who will Donaghy talk about, his mob ties or other officials?  This will get a lot worse before it gets any better. 

For right now, I will wait to post anything else about this subject.  What I would like to do, is find out the list of games that Tim Donaghy officiated over the past two seasons and then get a report about the betting lines and outcomes of those games.  How many games did Donaghy actually alter?  Another question to ponder is how far back does this go?  Just go ahead and Google Tim Donaghy’s name and see what else you can find out.  This could get really ugly, and it will give those NBA haters plenty of material for the coming seasons.

In other criminal news, the NFL is set to open training camps, and Michael Vick may have some more indictments coming, this time from the State of Virginia.  Unfortunately for Vick and the Falcons, this is not his first legal battle since coming into the league.  Who can forget the story of Ron Mexico?  Mr. Vick and the Falcons are rumored to be working on the voluntary leave of absence that I mentioned at the beginning of last week.  I would highly recommend it.

At least Major League Baseball was able to stay out of the negative press over the weekend.  Thank goodness Barry Bonds only hit two homeruns last Thursday at Wrigley Field.  Although, with all the nastiness that is surrounding the other two big sports, maybe this is the perfect time for Barry to break the record.  It may be as under-the-radar as possible right now, and after all, steroids versus the slaughtering of animals, which one do you think is worse?