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As a basketball junkie and a card carrying David Stern hater, I find all of the hoopla (sorry, I couldn’t resist the pun!) about refs fixing games interesting. ESPECIALLY since it happened on Stern’s watch! But the fact remains, that most fans feel that refs have their favorites and that certain teams “get calls” and other teams don’t. And I do indeed believe that referees have made bets with players during games regardless of how big or small. I’m sure those people reading this blog are either clicking away or shaking their heads wondering if I have lost my mind. But I will show you video proof of this at the bottom of this post!!!!!!
I was a Laker’s fan until BLOBE fucked everything up with his selfishness. Don’t give a damn about him. He a punk BITCH and a RAPIST, who has been able to rehabilitate his reputation like nothing happened. He’s also a SNITCH! But that isn’t my point. The Lakers, Celtics, and recently the Bulls have always gotten calls. Certain players, Jordan, Bird, Magic, and Barkley to a lesser extent, have benefited from getting protected by the refs. And other players, Rasheed Wallace, Ron Artest, and Dennis Rodman, seemed to get calls that only the ref saw. Remember Rasheed getting a technical during the playoffs against the Lakers because he “stared at the ref!” Or what about Tim Duncan getting tossed from a game during the playoffs by Joey Crawford because “Timmy” was laughing! While sitting on the BENCH!!!!! From reports when this event occurred, everyone has said that Joey seemed (s) to have a problem with Tim Duncan.” HUH! How can anyone have a problem with Tim Duncan? He brings it every night and rarely complains. He is the Bjorn Borg of basketball! Crawford was fired for his actions and his refusal to control himself. He was brought back when Donaghy was indicted. That in itself speaks volumes!
Oh yeah, you thought I forgot about the proof huh? Naw, just waiting to the right time. I use to buy the Blooper and Dunk VHS tapes back in the day and watch them all the time. In the Sports Illustrated Dazzling Dunks and Basketball Bloopers tape from 1989, a ref makes this statement to Laker Norm Nixon with Magic Johnson looking on. He says to “Stormin Normin” something about a “steak dinner.” You can infer WHATEVER YOU WANT from this. But the truth remains, this sounds like some kind of BET TO ME! And this was caught on tape! There is no telling what goes on behind closed doors or when the camera isn’t rolling!
You can make you own conclusions as to what this means. But it sure sounds like a bet to me!
We sports fans may never know what the real truth is. Is Donaghy a “rogue referee” and a “liar” as NBA officials have stated. But for anyone to think that all refs are fair or don’t or haven’t bet on sports games that they have reffed is hiding their head in the sand! And this video proves that it happened. And Donaghy makes at least two refs that WE KNOW OF, who have placed bets on or during games!!!!!
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As I wrote in my post on July 1, 2009, “How old are you, anyways“, I spoke about the NBA requirement that players be at least 19 years old and a year out of high school before entering the league. Since most players entering the league are African American, I positioned that the rule was racist and prevents MEN who are old enough to die for their country, from being able to support their families. Recent events have given further proof that racism is alive and well in the NBA!
The next “great white hope” to enter the NBA in a few years is a kid named Ricky Rubio. He is from Spain and is supposed to be Magic, Nash, and Pete Maravich, all rolled into one. At 17, he played for the Spanish National Team and is said to have held his own against the United States team. At 18, just a few months ago, Rubio was drafted by the Minnesota Timberwolves. And needless to say, he isn’t very happy about it. The wolves have been AWFUL since the “Big Ticket“, Kevin Garnett left a few years ago. And the Wolves are pulling out all of the stops to get Ricky to come to Minnesota. But isn’t he only 18 years old? Wouldn’t that be against the NBA rules?
Continue reading “How old are you again?” »
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For a few years now, the NBA has had a rule that says you have to be at least 19 years old to play in the league. That you can go to Iraq or Afghanistan and lose body parts and your LIFE, but not be allowed to run around in some shorts with some other guys in shorts has escaped a lot of people. That the rule is playing games with people’s lives also seems to be forgotten. As yet, there hasn’t been a case of someone losing their life waiting to become old enough to play in the league. But would possibly losing a parent suffice?
Anyone who knows me knows that I am a basketball junkie. I will watch, play, and talk about basketball all day long. While some people watch basketball for the dunks, I’m at home calling out the defensive and offensive sets. And this goes back to the seventies. I can name every championship team, beginning in 1977 to the present. I can tell the difference between a 1-2-1 trap and a 2-3 zone. So the age limit rule kinda pissed me off. Because as a fan, I want to see the best players available. If they are over 18, they should be able to play. And to hear CLUCKS like Charles Barkley, who I like, and Shane BITCHIER who is overrated, agree with it was even more appalling. Because while Bitchier’s family might have been able to pay for his college education, people like Charles wouldn’t have been able to go to college if it weren’t for basketball. I guess Charles forgot about the money he has ADMITTED to receiving while playing at Auburn. And Shane is probably worried about some “young gun” taking his job for half the salary!
Continue reading “How old are you anyways?” »
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My first real “job” was at 16 years old. I was a softball umpire in the league that I once played in. And I remember realizing very early, that for sports officials, you NEVER HAVE A HOME GAME! And I also found out at an early age, remember, this was the early 80’s, that adults can be real assholes! Especially when it comes to sports. I was verbally abused, in front of their children, by people who should have known better. But I never let my “position of power” go to my head. I kept a cool head when chaos reigned supreme! And the fact that I was a large size person didn’t hurt any either!
I have always given officials the benefit of the doubt when I watch sports. I guess that is part of the “officiating fraternity” that I belong to. I know that most good officials don’t want to be the deciding factor of any sports event. And when we make a bad call, and I made a few myself, we feel almost as bad as the team that received the bad call. But we are people too. And we make mistakes. But as a fan, I have watched officials let that power go to their heads. And it seems like professional Basketball officials seem to be the worse culprits!
I was watching the Boston Celtic/Chicago Bulls game on Wednesday March 18, 2009, and thought the officiating was awful. Boston was getting served an “old fashion” case of “home cooking.” It seemed like every call went against them. And some calls weren’t even close. Boston coach Doc Rivers got one technical arguing a call. As a former official, and a former basketball and softball player, I know that sometimes coaches get “techs” to try and fire up their teams. But there are also times when they get techs because they feel their guys are getting screwed over by the refs. The first tech was definitely one of those “screwed over” techs. But the second tech, the one that got Doc thrown out of the game was chincy to say the least. Doc says that the ref goaded him into the tech by staring at him. The Doc walked away from the ref, Bill Kennedy, who continued to stare at him. When Doc responded to the stare by saying “what”, he was promptly “t’d up” and thrown out of the game. As I said before, I was watching the game and it seemed like the ref did indeed try and goad Doc into saying or doing something to get tossed from the game.
Continue reading “He stared at me!” »