Two Well-Known Couples

I’m watching the NBA All-Star Game right now. It’s free of Sixers this year, unfortunately; it’s the All-Star Game, however, so it’s been enjoyable so far. They’re not wearing uniforms as good (i.e., hideous) as the jerseys from the last time the game was in Phoenix; nor are they as good (i.e., hideous) as the ones worn in the Rookie-Sophomore game Friday night.

Anyway, the game just came back from commercial. Here is what Marv Albert said, and I swear this is true:

“John McCain and his wife, Cindy… and there’s another well-known couple, Jay-Z and Beyonce!”

I will continue to watch the NBA All-Star Game for more amazing comments such as this. I suggest you tune in as well.

76ers Sign Actual Big Man

“Sixers Reach Verbal Agreement With Elton Brand.” Uh, Philly.com? You have the Daily News headlines to choose from. Use them.

So, yes, despite that oh-so-exciting headline, this is a pretty fantastic move: The 76ers went out and reached a verbal agreement with Elton Brand for a 5-year, $82 million deal. John Hollinger writes this move makes the 76ers instant contenders in the East.

Brand appeared headed back to the Clippers to team with ex-Warriors guard Baron Davis; the 76ers, though, cleared cap room by trading Rodney Carney and Calvin Booth — ha ha, somebody traded for Calvin Booth — plus a future first-round pick to the Timberwolves for a $2.8 million trade exemption. (What an exciting transaction!) Marc Stein writes that Brand also wanted to go East, where the centers are not as tall and the teams are not as good.

Shockingly, Brand’s surgeon says Brand’s injury — he missed almost all of last season while recovering from surgery to repair a ruptured Achilles’ tendon — is nothing to worry about. Reminiscent of the Phillies’ trade for a closer who came to his first press conference on crutches, the 76ers have signed a player coming off an injury. On the plus side, the Brad Lidge deal has worked out pretty well so far.

Donaghy: NBA Games Rigged

Yesterday, ‘Nova grad and ex-NBA referee Tim Donaghy made a filing in federal court claiming the NBA influenced referees to make certain calls during at least 2 playoff series.

The one game in question is the famed Lakers-Kings Game 6 of 2002, where the Lakers got 27 free throws in the fourth quarter. The Lakers, down 3-2, rallied to win the series and the NBA title. David Stern said “there are this continuing flow of allegations from, don’t forget, an admitted felon. So they’re baseless.” Yes, an admitted felon, who committed the most heinous of crimes, murder gambling on basketball games.

Donaghy apparently wasn’t going to reveal any of this, until the NBA attempted to make him pay $1 million for its internal investigation related to him. Ha, ha, ha, the NBA deserves anything it gets. Now if you really want to find a rigged sport, how about the NFL? It’s the only major sport that uses radios!

2002 Lakers-Kings Game 6 at heart of Donaghy allegations [ESPN.com]

The New Great White Hope

Stephen A. Smith (who else?) writes in the current ESPN Magazine that the NBA is not racist, and only has European and white players because it helps the team get better, spreads the game around the world and makes more money for the owners.

Makes some sense to me. But in yesterday’s Daily News, boxing was shown openly advocating for a white American champion, writes Mark Kram:

Setting aside the question of whether or not Joey Abell can actually become what [promoter Don] Elbaum envisions, he does seem to bring something to the table other than a healthy appetite. In fact, he is a symbol of eternal longing: A heavyweight who is not just American but the color of driven snow. While it is politically incorrect to say so, even Abell understands that when it comes to forging a boxing career, the only thing he has missing at this point is a tattoo on his arm that says MOTHER. “Not to sound racist or anything, but a white heavyweight from America would be a big thing,” said Abell, who would indeed be a big thing for a sport that has slipped so far out of the public consciousness that some would say it could be packed up in a pine box. Because far larger than even the raw abilities of the still unproven Abell is what someone like him represents: The possibility of a new face that can coax the sport out of the crypt.

This is why sports journalists enjoy covering boxing: None of that PC crap; it’s all “yes, the sport would like a white American heavyweight champion.”

Up Front [ESPNMag]
Interest in boxing bruised, not broken [Daily News]

Aaron McKie Somehow Still In NBA

It’s funny to think that had there not been an amnesty clause in the NBA’s most recent collective bargaining agreement, Aaron McKie would still be a member of the 76ers. Instead, he was collecting $7 million for the final year of the contract he signed after the 76ers went to the 2001 Finals and working as a volunteer assistant with the Sixers. See, if you’re making $7 mil, you can afford to volunteer.

(Thought: Did Billy King really think Aaron McKie would be contributing to the 76ers still in the 2007-08 season? Really?)

McKie played last year in a limited role for the Los Angeles Lakers but was, essentially, retired. The Lakers, though, still held his rights (somehow) as some weird NBA rule. (According to this list, the 76ers still technically hold the rights to Rick Mahorn. And Rodney Rogers!) When the Lakers needed a player to make the cap space on a deal for Grizzlies forward Pau Gasol, they re-signed McKie for a reported $750,000 for the rest of the year and sent him to the Grizzlies.

And now he’s going to be a player/assistant coach to Marc “Knees” Iavaroni for the Grizzlies. Weird, huh?

Phew, the NBA is complicated.

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]

Penn: NBA’s 8 White Players Have Advantages

An assistant professor at Penn and a Cornell graduate student recently released a study that says — get this! — black players in the NBA are subject to racism from NBA officials. My God! When will Mark Cuban weigh in?!

The study was conducted over 13 seasons up to 2004 and found “black players receive around 0.12-0.20 more fouls per 48 minutes played (an increase of 2½-4½ percent) when the number of white referees officiating a game increases from zero to three.”

The NBA, of course, said the study was bollocks, especially since it used box scores, which don’t say which official made the call. And by that I mean, whether a black or white official made the call. Still, the study said the racist NBA refs call falls out black players “is large enough that the probability of a team winning is noticeably affected by the racial composition of the refereeing crew.”

Damn! No wonder the 76ers didn’t make the playoffs this year: Shavlik Randolph was hurt all season, and all they had was Kyle Korver and a bunch of guys getting 5 percent more fouls! This also explains why the Boston Celtics were always so good way back when.

Sports: U. of P. Study Indicates Race Bias in NBA Officiating [KYW 1060]
Related: Top 10 Dunks on Shawn Bradley

Keystone Cops: Foot Fetish Assaulter Moves South

Keystone Cops is a look at police, crime and public safety news.

• The foot fetish attacker has struck again, this time just before 5 a.m. in South Philly at 19th and Federal. Crazy sexual assaulter on the loose, be careful, etc. Be extra careful because police say he’s getting more bold and because, uh, hello, he has a foot fetish. [Daily News]

• Fifteen people — johns and hookers — were arrested in a prostitution sting in Camden and charged with either prostitution or loitering. Also recovered: A baby, who was in a car while a man and woman solicited an undercover cop posing as a prostitute. [Camden Courier-Post]

• An airman slated to go to Iraq stationed at McGwire Air Force Base was stabbed to death at a Northeast Philly bar early Sunday morning. A comment about his pregnant wife apparently started the melee, with a suspect still on the loose. Ahh, Northeast Philadelphians: Don’t know when to keep their mouths shut. [NBC 10]

• And, hey, the brawl ex-Temple player Mardy Collins started Saturday night in New York has landed him a seven-game suspension, among a ton of others handed out by the league today. NBA leading scorer Carmelo Anthony got 15 games for his part. [AP/CBS 3]