Speaking of the NBA officials and integrity (cough, cough)

[ShackO]

AAAaaahh just a stroll down memory lane for those that may be unaware of some NBA history or may have just forgotten...

For some of us the integrity of the game means more than dressing like david stern and having the correct pant length..

you all recall when NBA Commissioner David Stern fined Van Gundy $100,000 for bringing into question the integrity of the NBA and its officials.

What Van Gundy needed then was cold beer and a good attorney.......... What a fuxing joke.......

remember this: Mathis (head of the NBA officials' union) battles for job because A federal grand jury indicted Mathis in February on five counts of tax fraud

Mathis battles for job

Mike Bass, Post staff reporter

On June 23, Mike Mathis will enter U.S. District Court in his hometown of Cincinnati knowing that his future as an NBA official, if not his freedom from jail, are on the line.

Mathis is one of four NBA officials who have been indicted for tax fraud. They are accused of failing to report income earned by downgrading NBA-provided first-class airline tickets to coach, pocketing the difference, then using frequent-flier miles to upgrade again - or using frequent-flyer miles to fully cover the replacement tickets.

A federal grand jury indicted Mathis in February on five counts of tax fraud, alleging he failed to report about $69,000 in taxable income from 1989 to 1992. Mathis, a 21-year NBA official, has been suspended with pay since the indictment, as have the other three officials.

Mathis, who is pleading innocent, also is the head of the NBA officials' union. He contends there is nothing wrong with using frequent-flyer miles to cover the difference in airline tickets and keeping the cash refunds.

''We do nothing different than 90 percent of businessmen across the country do,'' Mathis said. ''And in our contract, we're allowed to do it.''

The 1995 collective bargaining agreement does allow NBA officials to exchange airline tickets and keep the money. But the grand-jury indictment contends this is taxable income and should be reported, and failure to do so cons utes a felony.

Worse yet, the collective bargaining agreement says any felony conviction means dismissal from the NBA. So a guilty plea by Mathis, even if it reduced his sentence, would take away his livelihood.

Mathis' attorney, Terry Grady, saidlegal constraints limit his ability to comment now, but the former Justice Department attorney did say the main goal of his client is ''to maintain his employment.''

So Mathis will go to court over what he says amounts to about $4,000 a year for four years of supposedly unpaid income tax and revolves around tax-law changes made in 1989. The indictment says Mathis failed to report the needed do entation to his employer, the NBA, of his actual ticket use.

The NBA office declined comment, but the indictment said the NBA ''took steps to ensure that the referees knew and understood the various travel reimbursement policies and the referees' obligation to accurately report their travel expenses.'' Sports Illustrated recently cited league sources saying NBA attorneys repeatedly advised officials about reporting extra income.

''That,'' said Mathis, ''will probably be an area of dispute.'Mathis contends this is not just a matter of a few officials, that about 20-25 more officials' cases also are being investigated. He said this indicates problems with the league's administration.

Long regarded as one of the league's best officials, Mathis worked the last eight NBA Finals, but that streak will end. He says he gets phone calls nightly from players and coaches.

''Charles Barkley called the other night,'' said Mathis. ''We haven't always gotten along on the court, but he said he respects me and what I do in the union and wanted to see if there was anything he can do.''

All Mathis can do is prepare for the trial and focus on his other ventures - his foundation and agency to find homes and assistance for foster and adopted children, his business that puts up backboards in people's yards.

The outside interests help distract him. Somewhat.

''Your mind's never off of it,'' Mathis said. ''June 23 is just a couple months away.''

Publication date: 04-18-97

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The man of integrity Mathis wants to return to job as NBA official

BY TOM GROESCHEN
The Cincinnati Enquirer

Mike Mathis wants his job back, and he just might get it.

Just when, it is unclear. But the NBA at least has opened a window for Mathis - who lives in Anderson Township - and several other former referees who resigned after being indicted for tax evasion.

NBA Vice President Rod Thorn said this week that some of the officials might be rehired, with the league trying to cram a revised 50-game schedule into about 90 days.

"I'm certainly interested and willing to go," Mathis said Friday. "The NBA has said they would (deal with reinstatement) in due time. That's their own timetable. ... Maybe now is due time."

Mathis, 55, was sentenced by Cincinnati's U.S. District Court last May to 120 days of home confinement for filing false income tax returns resulting from the downgrading of airline tickets. He also received three years of probation, a $2,000 fine, and was ordered to perform 200 hours of community service.

Terrence Grady, Mathis' lawyer, said Friday that Mathis has completed his service work. All that remains are two years and four months of probation.

Mathis has kept busy as head of Mathis Care Inc., which finds foster homes for needy children.

"I've developed a great respect for the word patience," Mathis said. "I've been very busy with my foundation. You find the thrills and chills in other arenas."

Geoff Hobson contributed to this report.

Latest NBA updates from Associated Press

[ShackO]

So whatever happened to this convicted man of impeccable integrity and love for money.... I mean the game??? He gets his old job back............



NBA ref Mathis retires

By Bill Koch
Enquirer contributor

After 26 years, two knee surgeries and about 2,340 games, Cincinnati's Mike Mathis has taken disability retirement from his job as an NBA official.

The 59-year-old's last game was Dec.16 in Seattle. Early in the fourth quarter, Sonics officials shined a spotlight on Mathis as the fans gave him a standing ovation.

After the game, Mathis called the league to make his retirement official, and a career that began in 1976 in Kalamazoo, Mich., was over. Over that span, Mathis saw the final days of Julius Erving, watched Larry Bird and Magic Johnson transform the league into a financial success and witnessed the exploits of Michael Jordan.

He officiated 12 NBA Finals and three All-Star Games, but there were down times, too.
In 1997, Mathis resigned after being indicted for filing a false federal income tax return. He failed to pay taxes on money he pocketed after downgrading his first-class airline tickets.

In 1998, after pleading guilty, he was fined $2,000, sentenced to 120 days of home confinement and 200 hours of community service and placed on three years' probation.

"We were allowed to downgrade tickets," said Mathis, who was head of the referees' union from 1987-97. "Then, all of a sudden, it came out that all this was taxable. It was a farce that it turned into a criminal case."

Mathis, who now calls the experience "a bump in the road," was out of the league almost two years before being reinstated in 1999.

Now, he's leaving on his own terms.

"After 26 years, when you look at what we do and the pain you go through and then also look at what's going on in the world today, being on a plane 12, 13 times a week, that part of it is not as much fun anymore," he said. "The timing was right for me."

Mathis' first game was an exhibition between Chicago and Milwaukee at Western Michigan University. His partner and mentor, veteran official Joe Gushue, warned Mathis they could be in for a rough night.

He was right. A player threw the ball at Gushue after being called for a foul, a fight broke out, and before the game was over, the two officials had called 15 technical fouls and ejected five players.

"I go into the locker room after the game," Mathis said, "put my head down in my hands and (Gushue) says, "Well, kid, welcome to the NBA.' I said, "Is it always this bad?' He said, "No, a lot of times it's worse than that.'"

Mathis has known for some time his officiating career was ending. He has a meniscus tear in one knee and arthritis in both. Doctors have warned him for several years that soon he wouldn't be able to keep enduring the rigors of the job.

"It got to the point where I just couldn't go," he said.

Mathis is prepared for retirement. He and his family run Mathis Care, a foster care and adoption agency. And his business, Prohoop Courts, Inc., installs NBA backboards and baskets nationwide.

"I don't think that anyone who retires from anything after 26 years doesn't miss it somewhat," Mathis said. "I miss it, but when you think of what I would have to do to continue to do it, I did the right thing."

And no, the games weren't all as bad as that night in Kalamazoo.