http://blackathlete.net/artman2/publish/Commentary_1/Is_Image_Everything.shtml
<<But without a doubt the most heinous affront to the sporting fan and public was the busting of NBA referee Tim Donaghy. Donaghy, who earned $260,000 a year, was found to have passed on information on basketball games and adversely influenced outcomes of games.
This opened the door for organized crime and, in the mind of a league source, destroyed the image of the league for good. "From my view at courtside, you can't tell what is going on now," suggests the source, who was a former beat writer.
"Every nuance and gesture will be questioned -- when a call is missed or when a lead official is called upon for clarification on a judgment call, fans won't just boo -- they will scream 'fix' or worse."
My source further revealed Donaghy's actions also put in question games where he may not have been involved. "Over the years, I've seen games where the officiating has been a little funky, but nothing where I would've thought there was out-and-out cheating -- except for one game."
"The Western Conference finals between the Sacramento Kings and Los Angeles Lakers a couple years back where Sacramento was a dozen points or so ahead going into the fourth quarter of the final game in the series."
In less than nine minutes, all three of Sacramento's centers fouled out against Shaq -- it was ridiculous the stuff they (refs) were calling."
"Everyone knew that it didn't matter who came out as the Eastern Conference representative, (Commissioner) Stern and the television people wanted the glamour team (Lakers) coming out of the West for those (TV) ratings."
Some would call David Stern a marketing genius -- some would say he saved basketball from going down the tubes. But there are those that see him for what he is -- a stone cold, control freak.
Because image is everything to Stern, his initial response to the Donaghy scandal was that he had things in place that insured such things wouldn't happen. Well, if that were true, then they would've caught Donaghy's *** long before it became a full-blown mess and public relations nightmare!
\ Michael-Louis Ingram is the sports editor for Suavv Magazine in Philadelphia. He is currently working on a upcoming book entitled, "The Best We Never Saw." He can be reached via email at mingram@suavvmagazine.com >>
<<But without a doubt the most heinous affront to the sporting fan and public was the busting of NBA referee Tim Donaghy. Donaghy, who earned $260,000 a year, was found to have passed on information on basketball games and adversely influenced outcomes of games.
This opened the door for organized crime and, in the mind of a league source, destroyed the image of the league for good. "From my view at courtside, you can't tell what is going on now," suggests the source, who was a former beat writer.
"Every nuance and gesture will be questioned -- when a call is missed or when a lead official is called upon for clarification on a judgment call, fans won't just boo -- they will scream 'fix' or worse."
My source further revealed Donaghy's actions also put in question games where he may not have been involved. "Over the years, I've seen games where the officiating has been a little funky, but nothing where I would've thought there was out-and-out cheating -- except for one game."
"The Western Conference finals between the Sacramento Kings and Los Angeles Lakers a couple years back where Sacramento was a dozen points or so ahead going into the fourth quarter of the final game in the series."
In less than nine minutes, all three of Sacramento's centers fouled out against Shaq -- it was ridiculous the stuff they (refs) were calling."
"Everyone knew that it didn't matter who came out as the Eastern Conference representative, (Commissioner) Stern and the television people wanted the glamour team (Lakers) coming out of the West for those (TV) ratings."
Some would call David Stern a marketing genius -- some would say he saved basketball from going down the tubes. But there are those that see him for what he is -- a stone cold, control freak.
Because image is everything to Stern, his initial response to the Donaghy scandal was that he had things in place that insured such things wouldn't happen. Well, if that were true, then they would've caught Donaghy's *** long before it became a full-blown mess and public relations nightmare!
\ Michael-Louis Ingram is the sports editor for Suavv Magazine in Philadelphia. He is currently working on a upcoming book entitled, "The Best We Never Saw." He can be reached via email at mingram@suavvmagazine.com >>
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