Woe The NBA!
Yes that line from the 1970's Disney production of A.A. Milne's classic “Winnie The Pooh” is what the NBA is hoping to hear from disgraced referee Tim Donaghy in reference to the betting/fixing scandal that has just emerged this summer. It didn't emerge from anything the NBA did of course, but from an investigation into mob activities by the FBI.
The scandal surrounds one referee (Donaghy) who owed an alleged mobster money from gambling. He supposedly made some calls to influence the “Over/Under” on games he was reffing in so that the mob could clean up on bets. The “Over/Under” refers to the total points scored by both teams in a game and is a popular bet both legally and illegally. He was able to keep some players form scoring by calling fouls on them (and maybe even get them out of the game either by having too many fouls early in the game, or having that particular player fouling out) to decrease the overall score, or if he needed to increase the score, allow for a team to get to the foul line more during the game to get more points on the board.
The commissioner of the NBA, David Stern, came out and gave a very measured press conference in which he kept referring to Donaghy as a “rogue referee” who was acting alone, and he was certain there was no others involved. The trouble with that statement was that one of the other charges was that Donaghy was supplying his mob contact with “info on other games”, what ever that was to mean. How could he possibly have “information” about other games he wasn't refereeing in if he didn't have accomplices? Let's face it, injury reports are public knowledge, so that can't be it. Personal problems of players? Well that pretty much is reported in the news as well so that's not it either. So what information could he possibly be passing on? No one is saying just yet and the investigation continues.
The NBA has a definite image problem that seems to not want to go away. First of all is the conception (or misconception depending upon your point of view) that the league has turned into a “Thug” league. The conception has emerged because as the players get younger and miss the development that college ball has to offer, the game has evolved into more of one-on-one street type of game. Some people like this sort of thing others are bored by it (like me if I want to see a street game, I'd go down to the local YMCA). Also the players on the bench (injured, inactive etc.) were dressing in clothes that were deemed “too casual”, and resembled “gang wear”. Stern took this in consideration and put a decree out that players not in uniform should wear suits and ties. This is of course response to the so called “concerned citizens” who think that by doing this gangs will disappear because they won't have their haberdashery models (yea like this made a difference).
The other image problem is that for years people have been saying that the games (especially the playoffs) are bing fixed to maximize the TV audiences, or to eliminate Stern's least liked owners. One of whom is the Dallas Maverick's owner Mark Cuban. Cuban tends to be a bit outspoken about the stodginess of the league and is trying to improve the game in other ways. Stern doesn't appreciate any criticism in the way he markets the league to younger audiences, even when it comes from someone who made billions through marketing to young audiences.
I have this same image of the league based upon watching on TV. I have never been a huge basketball fan. I watch during the post season as the regular season games seemed a bit boring and pointless to me. Of course growing up in Chicago we had the Bulls, and the Jordan years were exciting, but then again only when the intensity was ramped up for the playoffs. It was during theses games that I would see uneven refereeing. Calls made against one team were not called against the other. Also it seemed like certain teams were given advantages at the end of close games that allowed them to pull off miracle wins. One particular game was a Bulls-Knicks contest during the first Jordan “retirement” era when the bulls looked like they were going to pull off an upset and real ticky-tack foul was called on Scottie Pippen that allowed the Knicks to win the game and advance...hmm. But the game that soured me for good was a Laker-Trailblazer game where it looked like, again, Portland would advance t the finals and the Shaq led Lakers were going down in defeat, when all of a sudden the Portland center was being called for phantom ticky-tack fouls while Shaq was allowed to just barrel through, and take as many steps (called traveling or walking in the NBA rule book) as he wanted. Again the league really needed the Lakers in the finals to pull ratings, and guess what, they did! Imagine that, what a coincidence.
There are so many no-calls and ticky-tack fouls being called that how can the NBA be sure more refs are not on the take? The explanation is that these are “judgment calls” made on the fly. What is the use of a rule book if everything is subjective depending upon how the referees are feeling that day? What is the point of a rule book if a call is made one game, but not in another? Why have referees if they are not enforcing the rules? Just let the teams suit up and let it the players go if you are not going to enforce the rules properly.
The main problem is that the league office seems to tie themselves into marketing players not the game. They want to sell merchandise and shoes endorsed by these players. I guess they realize that marketing the game itself (like Football and Baseball) doesn't work as the public seems to think that basketball played by the rule book is boring and something we do in elementary school gym class.
The NBA is slowly going the way of the WWE as more and more people are recognizing the bad calls and obvious way the championship is being decided (by the league office once playoffs are under way). I mean they went out of their way to try and rein in the “Star Player” treatment and enforce the “Team”concept by having San Antonio win it this year, but it was so blatant that only a brain-dead moron couldn't see through the facade.
Yes there is a big problem in the NBA and I fear (for their sakes) that Tim Donaghy is only the tip of the old iceberg and when this trial starts, more dark secrets will be revealed and David Stern will be wincing once again in front of press row as he squirms for answers.
Woe the NBA, a great concept, but the hubris got them in the end.
Mahalo.
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