The Tim Donaghy Book

[TheMatrix31]

http://www.realgm.com/boards/viewtop...fa9b1738683658

Mother**** this guy.

[BlueNGold]

What a dirty ****ing prick. I hope no one buys this book.

[jsg]

the excerpts on deadspin blew my mind. i hope nothing in it is true

Quote:

Studying under Dick Bavetta for 13 years was like pursuing a graduate degree in advanced game manipulation. He knew how to marshal the tempo and tone of a game better than any referee in the league, by far. He also knew how to take subtle-and not so subtle-cues from the NBA front office and extend a playoff series or, worse yet, change the complexion of that series. The 2002 Western Conference Finals between the Los Angeles Lakers and the Sacramento Kings presents a stunning example of game and series manipulation at its ugliest. As the teams prepared for Game 6 at the Staples Center, Sacramento had a 3–2 lead in the series. The referees assigned to work Game 6 were Dick Bavetta, Bob Delaney, and Ted Bernhardt. As soon as the referees for the game were chosen, the rest of us knew immediately that there would be a Game 7. A prolonged series was good for the league, good for the networks, and good for the game. Oh, and one more thing: it was great for the big-market, star-studded Los Angeles Lakers. In the pregame meeting prior to Game 6, the league office sent down word that certain calls-calls that would have benefitted the Lakers — were being missed by the referees. This was the type of not-so-subtle information that I and other referees were left to interpret. After receiving the dispatch, Bavetta openly talked about the fact that the league wanted a Game 7. "If we give the benefit of the calls to the team that's down in the series, nobody's going to complain. The series will be even at three apiece, and then the better team can win Game 7," Bavetta stated. As history shows, Sacramento lost Game 6 in a wild come-from-behind thriller that saw the Lakers repeatedly sent to the foul line by the referees. For other NBA referees watching the game on television, it was a shameful performance by Bavetta's crew, one of the most poorly officiated games of all time.

http://deadspin.com/5392067/excerpts...nt-you-to-read

[jetercanoturn2]

**** that guy

[BlueNGold]

I don't care if basketball is just a game, I seriously wish every possible bad thing happens to this guy. For him and all of those other refs to just disrespect the game like that really pisses me off.

Quote:

To have a little fun at the expense of the worst troublemakers, the referees working the game would sometimes make a modest friendly wager amongst themselves: first ref to give one of the bad boys a technical foul wouldn't have to tip the ball boy that night. In the NBA, ball boys set up the referees' locker room and keep it stocked with food and beer for the postgame meal. We usually ran the kid ragged with a variety of personal requests and then slipped him a $20 bill. Technically, the winner of the bet won twice-he didn't have to pay the kid and he got to call a T on Mr. Foul-Mouthed Big-Shot Du Jour. After the opening tip, it was hilarious as the three of us immediately focused our full attention on the intended victim, waiting for something, anything, to justify a technical foul. If the guy so much as looked at one of us and mumbled, we rang him up. Later in the referees' locker room, we would down a couple of brews, eat some chicken wings, and laugh like hell. We had another variation of this gag simply referred to as the "first foul of the game" bet. While still in the locker room before tip-off, we would make a wager on which of us would call the game's first foul. That referee would either have to pay the ball boy or pick up the dinner tab for the other two referees. Sometimes, the ante would be $50 a guy. Like the technical foul bet, it was hilarious-only this time we were testing each other's nerves to see who had the guts to hold out the longest before calling a personal foul. There were occasions when we would hold back for two or three minutes-an eternity in an NBA game-before blowing the whistle. It didn't matter if bodies were flying all over the place; no fouls were called because no one wanted to lose the bet. I became so good at this game that if an obvious foul was committed right in front of me, I would call a travel or a three-second violation instead. Those violations are not personal fouls, so I was still in the running to win the bet. The players would look at me with disbelief on their faces as if to say, "What the hell was that?"

[TheMatrix31]

Quote: Originally Posted by jsg

the excerpts on deadspin blew my mind. i hope nothing in it is true http://deadspin.com/5392067/excerpts...nt-you-to-read

ugh ugh ugh ugh ugh!!!!

[jetercanoturn2]

Quote: Originally Posted by BlueNGold

I don't care if basketball is just a game, I seriously wish every possible bad thing happens to this guy. For him and all of those other refs to just disrespect the game like that really pisses me off.

This already makes me want to puke.

[ex carrabba fan]

outside of the Lakers/Kings excerpt, the games they played sound hilarious whether true or not

[jetercanoturn2]

Charles Barkley likes Bavetta

[The Chef]

While some of it sounds believable, I have a hard time believing that the Suns got screwed in that series with San Antonio based on the owner's disrespect for referees as well as some ridiculous notion that the ref in question wanted San Antonio to win because they had a large hispanic community and he liked to travel. Im guessing some of the things Donaghy says in the book are completely legit but things like this sound like a lame *** attempt to sell a book. Calm down Matrix, Im sure youve just been waiting for something like this to come out but even you cant possibly believe that entire story about the Phoenix/Spurs series in question.