Over a decade ago, the NBA was embroiled in a scandal precipitated by the actions of a ‘dirty’ referee. Today, it’s baseball staff cheating to win. Tomorrow?
Tim Donaghy was an NBA referee, rated as one of the league’s best. Donaghy started out like most refs start out. He refed high school basketball and, eventually, worked his way up to the NBA. How does a ref make it to the NBA? It’s a talent pool just like for players. They are scouted.
But, there’s a dark side to Tim Donaghy.
Jimmy Battista, nickname “The Sheep,” is a professional gambler. He started a gambling group called “The Animals.” Place fifty thousand dollar bets and get a massive return…if you won. It wasn’t long before people wanted in on the action.
Battista knew Donaghy in high school, and he played football with Donaghy’s brother, Jimmy. The Sheep knew that Tim was an NBA referee, and contacted him, sweet-talking him into placing a bet on one of the games he would referee. The deal? Five grand every win. Nothing if he lost.
Courtesy: MSN.com
Battista and Donaghy won a lot. At one point, Battista nicknamed his partner, “Elvis” because of how he was helping him win. To do that, Donaghy would call fouls on certain players early in the game, making sure which players were going to do well in the game. It was to the gamblers’ advantage.
How did Donaghy get caught? It wasn’t through the NBA protocol. It was through the FBI. In 2007, the FBI was investigating a crime family, and Donaghy became a side character in that investigation, picked up on tape in a conversation with a mobster. FBI agents showed up at Battista’s house and asked him if he’s working with any officials in professional sports? Battista told them to contact his attorney.
But the FBI kept at it. Word spread fast across the league. When players heard the news, they figured what’s why all those fouls were called. On July 29th, 2008, Donaghy was sentenced to 15 months for participating in gambling associated with sports events. Battista was also sentenced to 15 months for interstate gambling.
Wrongdoing in sports–called ‘fixing’–never works in the long run. Cheating of any kind doesn’t work either. That’s why the Donaghy case is so important.
I’m reminded of the case with all the news these days in MLB about using technology to steal signs.
Integrity calls for playing games straight-up, without interference.
