Guy You Don’t Know Apologizes

Hey, remember when Louis DeNaples said that he couldn’t recognize John Street because all black people look the same to him? No? Come on, he’s the casino guy who allegedly lied about his mob ties, and we want corporations to make a ton of money on gambling, not mobsters.

Well, anyway, he apologized.

I want to apologize for the insensitivity of this remark. It was wrong, I shouldn’t have said it, and I am very sorry that I did. It came during the course of an exhaustive day of testimony, and it occurred as I was being shown a number of black and white photographs and being asked whether I recognized any of the individuals in the photos.

When I answered, I was referring to my inability to distinguish the people in those photos, and I just didn’t do a very good job of making that point. My remark really was in reference to the difficulty I was having identifying anyone in the photos.

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Ref’s Help Unnecessary Against 76ers

In the ongoing saga of the Most Interesting Sports Scandal Going On Right Now™, the NBA held a press conference to address the Tim Donaghy scandal. NBA commish David Stern said Donaghy, who went to Villanova and Cardinal O’Hara (of course), is the only referee the league believes bet on games, but that won’t stop every single basketball ref at every level from being accused of being the new Tim Donaghy for the next 10 years or so.

(It will never get old. The rollouts for next year’s St. Joe’s-Nova game are going to be awesome.)

Meanwhile, in a recent STEPHEN A. SMITH column in the Inquirer, the master of the written word quoted an NBA source on Donaghy: “He’s disliked by a whole lot of people. He’s viewed as a loner by other referees, separate from the pack. Still, absolutely no one assumed he would be involved with something like this. The entire NBA community has to be shocked.” A loner! Did Tim Donaghy murder someone or something?

Also, a January 76ers-Raptors game reffed by Donaghy could be one of the games the FBI is looking at. Heavy betting on the Raptors shifted the 76ers from a one-point favorite to a one-point ‘dog. Donaghy’s help was apparently not needed, as the Raptors won by 18. Samuel Dalembert probably did more to help the bookies than Donaghy ever could.

Stern: Bet probe ‘worst situation that I have ever experienced’ [ESPN.com]
Stephen A. Smith | Gambling probe is worst blow for NBA [Inquirer]
Sixers-Raptors game in January likely to interest investigators [Daily News]

Things Keep Getting Worse For Tim Donaghy

Last week, reports revealed the FBI was investigating whether Villanova grad and NBA official Tim Donaghy made calls to influence games in order to ease gambling debts. The mob might also be involved.

Uhh, yeah. My reaction was, plainly, “Guh, wha?” Yeah, Tim Donaghy made some questionable calls. He made some bad calls. But every referee makes bad calls. That’s because every single basketball referee on the planet is a terrible ref. Especially that one in my intramural league senior year of college, the one where I fouled out in pretty much every game. And that one in that three-on-three tournament my freshman year. And that ref who managed to trample me while backpedaling when I was like nine.

Okay, you get the point. Well, anyway, now the police have apparently been called to Donaghy’s Florida home after he received threatening phone calls. Most certainly the call came from an irate, moronic Suns fan.

One thing we know, the threatening phone calls weren’t from a St. Joe’s grad. I think they’re happier than ever, pretty much.

Police Called To Home Of NBA Ref Donaghy [NBC 10]
Friday: ‘Nova Grad, NBA Ref Investigated For, Uh, Pointshaving?

‘Nova Grad, NBA Ref Investigated For, Uh, Pointshaving?

Cardinal O’Hara and Villanova grad Tim Donaghy is being investigated for allegedly helping to fix games for the mob. Wait, what?

Betting scandals in professional sports are kind of a thing of the past, since almost all the players are millionaires nowadays; what are you going to do, give Donovan McNabb his own country? The only player I could think of who could possibly throw a game would be a kicker in the NFL, but the likelihood of a game coming down to a field goal isn’t perfect, etc., etc. (Maybe a goaltender, too, I guess.) Oh, and that kid in Finding Forrester threw the game, too, but that was high school.

Anyway: Yeah, pro athletes make too much money nowadays to throw games. But a referee? Yeah, I guess. I had a friend in college who insisted college refs had to bet on games, it made too much sense. And allegedly Donaghy may have made calls that affected the outcomes of games in order to ease gambling debts.

The Inquirer’s David Aldridge also reported this:

Donaghy sold his West Chester home in 2005 and moved to Bradenton, Fla. The sale occurred after Donaghy was sued for harassment and invasion of privacy by a neighboring couple who claimed that Donaghy had stalked them and vandalized their property.

And the obligatory: Another fine Villanova graduate.

FBI investigating area NBA referee [Inquirer]