I'm not a huge NBA fan. Part of the reason, I've always believed in some way, that the games were fixed. I have no proof of that, just my reaction to the fact that the superstars get all the calls. A traveling call is rare and officials sometimes blew their whistle or swallowed their whistle for no appearent reason.
Deep down, I always wondered if the NBA referees were fixing games, and was it on their own, or did it come as a directive from Commissioner David Stern and the league office?
So now, everything that entered my thought process, is all of a sudden surfacing.
Former league referee Tim Donaghy faces sentencing next month for pleading guilty last year to charges he took cash payoffs from gamblers and bet on games himself.
In a letter filed by his lawyer, Donaghy said NBA referees, influenced by cozy relationships with league officials, rigged a 2002 playoff series to force it to a revenue-boosting seven games.
Without identifying anyone or naming teams, Donaghy also claimed the NBA routinely encouraged refs to ring up bogus fouls to manipulate results but discouraged them from calling technical fouls on star players to keep them in games.
NBA commissioner David Stern called the allegations baseless. But are they?
It's easy to dismiss a man who is facing charges as unreliable. But many of the accusations Tim Donaghy is making, are interestingly consistent with my thoughts on NBA basketball.
Stay tuned! I think there's more to come on this. And if what Donaghy says is true, the NBA could be in for some tough times.