NBA referee Tim Donaghy in SERIOUS trouble.
In recent years, numerous incidents have shocked the world of sports.
For example, in 2004, a huge fight erupted in the Palace of Auburn Hills during a Pacers-Pistons game which involved fans, and led to not only suspensions and lifetime bans from the arena, but also a few criminal charges.
Or, for instance, in the past few months, rookie NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell has been cracking down on player misconduct off-the-field, starting with Bengals wide receiver Chris Henry, and more notably Titans cornerback Adam "Pacman" Jones.
Even Terrell Owens manages to grab the headlines for things such as sleeping during team meetings, accidental overdoses, locker room disputes with the Eagles, comments about Bill Parcells, etc.
Of course, everybody knows about the whole steroids scandal that's been going on in baseball for years.
All of this, even the Pacers/Pistons brawl and the Vick dog fighting indictment, is a walk in the park compared to the latest scandal in the sports world.
This past Friday, just days after the news broke about Michael Vick's dog fighting indictment, the news broke again that the Federal Government is after a sports figure. This time, it's not a Grand Jury. It's the Federal Bureau of Investigation. And this time, it's a much more serious crime to sports than dog fighting (since this one, unlike dog fighting, jeopardizes the very integrity of sports).
The FBI is investigating NBA referee Tim Donaghy, in particular, whether or not he bet on NBA games, including ones in which he officiated, over the last two seasons. That's not all; he also allegedly has ties to the Mafia.
I often wondered why it was any big deal if an athlete or other sports figure was gambling. After hearing the news on SportsCenter on Friday, now I realize why; this guy was apparently making calls to affect the point spread in games in which he officiated in and bet on.
After the news broke, NBA Commissioner David Stern issued a statement regarding the whole thing.
NBA players, coaches, GMs, and officials, both referees and league office officials (including the Commissioner's right-hand man, Stu Jackson), have apparently been instructed by Stern, himself, not to comment on the on-going investigation, but players have commented that the whole thing comes as a complete and utter shock.
According to the information we already know, Donaghy was the only official involved in this scandal, but I would not be surprised if it is found that more notable officials, such as Steve Javie, Violet Palmer, Dan Crawford, Eddie F. Rush, Bennett Salvatore, Dick Bavetta, and the recently reinstated Joey Crawford, or worse, NBA players and coaches, were involved in the alleged game-fixing.
Before this, the NBA has never really had any point-shaving or game-fixing scandals. The closest that league has ever come to a large-scale gambling scandal came in 1993, when the league's then-biggest star, Michael Jordan, was being investigated for gambling. The would-be scandal was forgotten within months, as Jordan's father, James, was shot months later, and Jordan later retired, only to play baseball with the Chicago White Sox organization, and later return to the NBA. Conspiracy theories state that Jordan's father was shot over Michael's gambling debts, and also that Jordan's real reason for retiring was to avoid a major suspension from the league for gambling. Conspiracy theorists also claim that Jordan's first "retirement" was, in reality, an 18-month suspension from the NBA for gambling, and that the suspension was done in a secret deal between the Bulls, the White Sox, the NBA, and Jordan.
