NBA Game Fixing Swept Under the Rug?

NBA Game Fixing Swept Under the Rug?

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by Digger

Former NBA ref Tim Donaghy's admission of guilt for his role of NBA game fixing has been neatly and quietly swept under the rug. When this story 1st broke, many of us sports fans were in a mild state of disbelief. But, not too much.

Games being fixed by those in trouble with illegal gambling operations is nothing new to sporting communities large and small. The most notorious case involved baseball's Chicago White Sox throwing the 1919 World Series. Many notable players & colleges have been accused or proven guilty of illegal wagering.

NBA's Donaghy case makes it hard to believe only one referee determined games via questionable foul calls. To any fair thinking individual, Donaghy could not have acted alone. If this is so, and with the NBA already bloodied by this incident, why is Commissioner Stern emphatically turning a blind eye to a possible larger problem which will only come back to bite the league at a later date? No thorough league investigation into this matter has ever been made public (to my knowledge, if one ever existed).

NBA has also turned it's back, at least publicly, on the games Donaghy was supposed to have interfered with while calling fraudulent fouls. Everything was swept under the rug. Fans keep lining up at the turnstiles across NBA cities so what's so hard about getting to the bottom of something as serious as game fixing?

Sports survive scandals. Fans continue to fill stadiums and arena's nationwide even while scandals are fresh and happening. Take a look at baseball. How many scandals from illegals drugs, owner collusion, steroids, juiced baseballs, betting etc has baseball survived? Every single one!

I'm not one for conspiracy theories, however this appears to be a clunker of the highest magnitude. NBA officials work in groups. They often room together, travel together, socialize.. it isn't too far fetched to think Donaghy didn't act alone.

Furthermore, he's on record via testimony and with the FBI stating he did not act alone. Yet, NBA Commish Stern was way too quick brushing off Donaghy's story as a desparate indivual just looking for a better sentencing deal therefore his statements should not be taken at face value.
Stern is either a fool, coverup artist, or has not desire to dig deeper into what could be a very unpleasant truth. Dismissing allegations so serious without due scrutiny is as silly as our country blaming Bush for the state of our economy when the U.S. Congress is completely culpable due to their lack of oversight, and in some cases, conspired with banking executives or received illegal campaign contributions.

Since when did investigative journalism stop short of digging deeper into stories? I guess we live in an era of 24 hour news cycles often passed on as infomercials instead of news. Whether it's politics or sports, media types rarely go the extra mile except to substitute opinions for fact or slanted coverage of a topic to suit individual misguided ideologies.

What surprises me most in this NBA saga is the subtle quietness displayed by team owners and head coaches during this mini-scandal. Owners pay millions to their players. Coaches bust their butt's for victory with grueling practices. Why remain silenced? Players have remained quiet too which might be a good thing since NBA is quick to hand out fines to free thinking individuals.
The blog world went haywire over this subject when it was fresh. Time to wake up the dead... perhaps it's time to highlight Donaghy's officiating partners?

The NBA should not get a free pass on this one.