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• Robert Redford has signed on to portray Dodgers GM Branch Rickey in ESPN’s upcoming Jackie Robinson flick.
• Annoying analyst Billy Packer is finally sent packing by CBS.
• LeBron James’ little “Vogue” cover controversy with Giselle Bundchen didn’t translate into many newsstand sales.
• Nude climbers really know how to get their rocks off.
• A-Rod’s marriage quickly crumbling? Scott Boras to the rescue!
Tim Donaghy reached out and touched someone a whole lot of times during his alleged gambling days. And it wasn’t just his bookie getting all the calls - it was another NBA ref.
(Scott Foster [L] was apparently in Tim Donaghy’s five)
FOX NEWS reports that Donaghy had phoned fellow ref Scott Foster 134 times during the 2006-07 season, or about 8 more times than he rang up bookie James Battista: Read more…
Tim Donaghy got a lucky break on Tuesday, as a federal attorney said that the gambling goof doesn’t have to pay the NBA the $1.4 million the league is trying to rustle from its former referee.
Will Brinson of AOL FANHOUSE bounces along a report from NEW YORK NEWSDAY that the Association was asking for the million-dollar amount from their former employee. The figure was based on Donaghy’s league salary from 2003 to 2006 plus the costs of investigating the ref’s alleged game-fixing.
However, the Feds decided that $1.4 mil was a bit too much: Read more…
We hope we never bring David Stern’s coffee with one too many sugars or collate his Q3 report out of order or, you know, accuse him and his league of game-tampering. If we do, we can pretty much count on spending the rest of our lives earning money to pay back The Commish for our temerity.
We knew the NBA had upped the ante in their civil suit against disgraced former referee Tim Donaghy on Thursday, but the details of the latest cut into Donaghy’s flesh with Stern’s legal knife have just been revealed and they couldn’t be more petty without the Heartbreakers.
To wit, David Stern wants Tim Donaghy to pay the NBA back for all of his meals, complimentary tickets, airfare expenses, and… oh, all the shoes the league gave him over the last three years. Tim, you may want to open your mail for the rest of your life with a flamethrower. Just in case.
Professional gambler Haralabos Voulgaris, one of the few people in the world that makes a living betting on the NBA. He also moonlights as a professional poker player, with almost $2,000,000 in career tournament earnings.
So when Voulgaris said all the recent game-fixing allegations had him spooked about continuing to ply his trade toward the NBA, it might have been the greatest testimonial that the legitimacy of the NBA has been severely shaken. Read more…
Tim Donaghy, who fired shots across the bow of the NBA Tuesday to possibly remind a punitive David Stern that he’s still got some leverage, has affected more than Tuesday’s Game 3. Game 4’s rare Finals comeback by the Celtics only held center stage as long as the cameras were pointed at the players (or the playa); the rest of the day was spent with Dick Bavetta.
Not literally; Bavetta has only worked Game 1 of these Finals so far. However, Bavetta’s work in the 2002 Western Conference Finals (specifically, Game 6) has come under scrutiny from federal investigators while the other officials from that game appear to have little interest to them. Stern’s pre-game press conference yesterday did not assuage concerns immediately.
• ESPN anchors Josh Elliott & Stan Verrett really enjoyed the amusing moniker we bestowed upon new free agent Gilbert Arenas:
Mucho gracias to AWFUL ANNOUNCING for the video.
• Darren Rovell of CNBC reads up on mortal enemies Buzz Bissinger & Will Leitch giving back-cover kudos on the same book.
• WITH LEATHER punches up video of the groin hit to end all groin hits.
• DEADSPIN trades word that Jonathan Papelbon & the Red Sox will give you autographed baseballs in return for nude pics of your ex-wife.
Tim Donaghy, the former NBA referee accused of betting on games he worked, came out with some accusations of his own, saying that the whole NBA officiating system is crooked.
The NEW YORK DAILY NEWS uncovers a court document filed by Donaghy’s lawyer claiming that league officials would “manipulate” refs to change the outcomes of of games. According to the document:
“League officials would tell referees that they should withhold calling technical fouls on certain star players because doing so hurt ticket sales and television ratings.”
Donaghy also claims that two refs working the 2002 playoffs were acting as “company men” in trying to extend a series to seven games. Could the fix have involved a certain big-name tenant of Staples Center? Read more…
Remember Tim Donaghy? Of course you do, he’s the creep who admitted to fixing and betting on NBA games. C’mon, you know who he is. This chump:
(Donaghy prepares for prison)
With all the Sonics moving, playoff starting, and award awarding going on, this newest news might have slipped through the cracks. One of Donaghy’s friends, Thomas Martino, has “admitted to paying Donaghy in exchange for betting tips on N.B.A. games, including those that Donaghy officiated.” Not good, Tim. Read more…
Brett Edwards of AOL FANHOUSE dribbles over the story of an NBA fan who was kicked out of a game for making gambling comments to the refs.
As the Clippers hosted the Warriors back on March 19, a courtside fan at Staples Center directed some Vegas-style suggestions to ref Joe Forte, telling him to “make sure the game’s over 218 points.”
It may have been a humorous swipe at former fellow ref Tim Donaghy, but Forte wasn’t laughing.
