Scott Foster travelling call

[TJastal]

In that game 3 loss to the suns Scott Foster totally blew that call in the 1st quarter, replays showed Manu took the legal two steps, even though they were BIG steps they still only count as 1 per step. It was almost a travesty of officiating IMO. That was a vintage Manu drive to the basket that he's been doing all his career. Essentially, Scott Foster was basically saying "screw you Manu Ginobili" on that call.

Did anyone else get a little ticked off at this bull call? Meanwhile we watch Lebron James' crab dribbling punkass jumping all over the ing court and no travelling ever gets called.

I don't get nearly as upset when refs MISS calls, but when they MAKE imaginary calls up in their mind that didn't happen then I have a big problem. Refs should operate on the rule that if you didn't see it then you shouldn't call it. Never make a call based on something you "thought" you saw. So you and your ing bull call, Scott Foster.

Found some more "interesting" info on Scott Foster here:

http://www.faniq.com/blog/NBA-Ref-Sc...mes-Blog-10294

[TJastal]

Vegas' line on game 3 had the suns getting +6.5. I wonder how much Foster collected on that one, the suns didn't even need the points.

LOL @ Stern claiming Donague was a "rogue" referee.

[Pero]

Yeah it was a wrong call.

[SpursTillTheEnd]

If the spurs somehow manage to get this to game 7 which i hope they do, there is no way the refs would let the spurs win game 7.

[Pero]

If the spurs somehow manage to get this to game 7 which i hope they do,

Why? Spurs obviously aren't good enough to beat the Lakers now and going to 7 games will only make them more tired.

[Obstructed_View]

It just surprised me that they would suddenly call something a travel that they've never called a travel before, and the ref who called it was in no position to be able to see the play anyway. When you know that's a move that a player makes, and NBA refs do, there seems to be no reason to blow the whistle on it.

[EVAY]

The NBA has all the integrity of Professional Wrestling.

[TJastal]

It just surprised me that they would suddenly call something a travel that they've never called a travel before, and the ref who called it was in no position to be able to see the play anyway. When you know that's a move that a player makes, and NBA refs do, there seems to be no reason to blow the whistle on it.

From my link above...........

While the NBA is denying that Foster had anything to do with Donaghy, that seems to be wishful thinking on their part.

According to RJ Bell at Pregame.com, games Foster reffed caused some pretty big movement in the gambling world. During the 2006-07 period under investigation, seven games refereed by Scott Foster had lopsided enough betting on one team to move the point spread by at least 2 points; those seven teams were undefeated against Vegas – meaning that the big-money gamblers won a 7 of 7 times on Foster's games; the odds of that happening randomly are less than 1%.

[Bender]

during the replays, even both announcers said manu's drive was ok...

[ploto]

Yeah- because officials never make an "honest" mistake- like when the ball clearly went off Manu but they gave the ball to the Spurs.

[TJastal]

Yeah- because officials never make an "honest" mistake- like when the ball clearly went off Manu but they gave the ball to the Spurs.

100 to 1 odds it wasn't Scott Foster that made the call...

[Kermit]

Eh. He slid his foot. Looked like a travel to me.

[BadOdor]

Spur fan, have some freakin dignity. IF there's any series where the refs had absolutely nothing wit hthe outcome, it's this one. Your team lost because it's only 6-7 deep, while the suns are 10 deep.

[TimmehC]

Like Kermit said, he slid his foot.

Now when Amare goes up and down on every "drive" at the other end without a call, that's a different story.

[Kermit]

Like Kermit said, he slid his foot.

Now when Amare goes up and down on every "drive" at the other end without a call, that's a different story.

Lebron has the crab dribble, Amar'''''eeee has the labia dribble.

[Chomag]

Some shots go in and some shots don't. Some calls are made and some are be missed. some calls are good and sometimes they aren't. It's happens, life is not perfect. Let it go...

That travel call had nothing to do with the outcome of the game our the series.

[TJastal]

Spur fan, have some freakin dignity. IF there's any series where the refs had absolutely nothing wit hthe outcome, it's this one. Your team lost because it's only 6-7 deep, while the suns are 10 deep.

Um, dillweed, ing read my post again I didn't say the call was the difference in the game, it was a ty call by a shady ref that seemed su ious to me. My other point was that I'm sick of watching Le-pew James' crab dribbling hoppity ass traveling all over the court with nothing called.

Ironically as I sit watching game 4 here and writing up this post Leandro Barbosa just took a goddamn bus through the lane (3 steps obvious @ the 9:21 mark of the 2nd quarter) and none of the officials caught it... good lord these ers suckass.

[TJastal]

Some shots go in and some shots don't. Some calls are made and some are be missed. some calls are good and sometimes they aren't. It's happens, life is not perfect. Let it go...

That travel call had nothing to do with the outcome of the game our the series.

Once again, see above post. Learn to read.

[temujin]

James travelling NON-CALLS have gotten totally out of control.
In FIBA basketball, he would be called travelling 80% of the times.
I would say in Naismith's basketball.
Anybody can beat a defender if he is allowed to take a couple of steps BEFORE he even puts the ball on the floor.

We are ALL Witnesses.

PS. Of a different sport.

[FromWayDowntown]

What's interesting to me is that no matter TJastal's view of Foster, I've watched officials very closely for a very long time and think that Foster is actually a really good, technically sound official. He's become one of the league's best officials in the last couple of years -- in fact, he's among the 6 crew chiefs still working games and will work the Finals again this year -- and deservedly so. That doesn't mean that he doesn't miss calls; he is, after all, human. To that end, in Game 3 after the travelling call, Foster engaged Manu in a long conversation about the travel and heard him out on the dispute; at the end of it all, Foster seemed to say to Manu that he might have missed the call.

Additionally, I don't know that there's much evidence to really support an argument that Foster is corrupt. While I don't really buy much into referee stats, the picture they paint of Foster is one of remarkable consistency.

* In 2008-09 Foster worked exclusively as a crew chief in the regular season. In his 69 games as a crew chief, his crews called an average of 44 fouls per game, putting 51.7% on the road team and 48.3% on the home team.

* In 2009-10, Foster again worked exclusively as a crew chief in the regular season. In his 69 games as crew chief, his crews called an average of 43.8 fouls per game, putting 51.4% of those on the road team and 48.6 on the home team.

* In the 2009 Playoffs, Foster worked an additional 9 games as a crew chief and his crews called an average of 46.8 fouls per game while putting 52% on the road team and 48% on the home team.

* In the 2010 Playoffs, Foster has worked 7 games as a crew chief, with his crews calling 45.9 fouls per game, putting 51.4% on the road team and 48.6% on the home team.

Again, these numbers can be manipulated in any variety of ways, but at bottom, the utter consistency they betray would be virtually impossible to accomplish if one were trying to affect the outcomes of games.

Also, given the aspersions being cast towards Foster in this thread, I thought it would be worthwhile to bring out the Pedowitz Report's lengthy review and dismissal of any supposed connection between Foster and Donaghy's misdeeds -- just for the sake of providing both sides of the story:

(apologies for the length; I realize that those who are inclined to believe that Foster is corrupt will just skip over this part and claim it to be too long.)

http://hosted.ap.org/specials/intera...a_pedowitz.pdf

2. Scott Foster

On July 14, 2008, a press report stated that Tim Donaghy’s phone records showed that during the period when Donaghy was engaged in his criminal conspiracy with James Battista and Thomas Martino, Donaghy made frequent phone calls to fellow referee and friend Scott Foster. While the article contained no information about what was actually said during these calls, it highlighted certain facts that were deemed su ious:

• Donaghy placed 134 calls to Foster between October 2006 and April
2007;

• Many of these calls lasted no longer than two minutes;

• Many of these calls were placed in the hours before or after games; and

• On a few days, Donaghy’s calls to Foster were close in time to calls
Donaghy made to Martino.

Several factors lead us to conclude that Foster was not involved in Donaghy’s misconduct and that there are innocent explanations for the calls reflected in the phone records.

First, no information suggests that the government has ever believed that Foster engaged in any improper conduct with Donaghy. The government at no time has indicated through questions to the NBA or requests for do ents that Foster has been under any su ion whatsoever. The government contacted Foster only once during its investigation ― when the FBI interviewed him in August 2007. During this interview, which the FBI conducted by phone rather than in person, the FBI asked Foster about his relationship with Donaghy. Foster explained his long-term friendship with Donaghy and told the FBI that they spoke almost every day during the season. It appears that the purpose of this interview was simply to confirm that Donaghy had accurately described his relationship with his friend Foster.

Second, although Donaghy’s attorney submitted letters to the Court in June 2008 alleging misconduct by referees, those submissions contained no suggestion that Foster was involved in any improper conduct or that any referee other than Donaghy was involved in betting on NBA games. This point is worth emphasizing. Had Donaghy in fact consulted with Foster in connection with his criminal conduct, but failed to disclose this information to the government, Donaghy would have subjected himself to additional criminal penalties for making false statements to the government plus he would have forfeited his right to a 5K1 letter advising the Court of his cooperation, thereby subjecting himself to a risk of significant additional prison time.

Third, after the article was published, Martino’s attorney expressly and publicly stated that Foster was not a member of the conspiracy.

Fourth, there is a reasonable explanation for the frequency of calls between Donaghy and Foster: a close friendship of over fifteen years. Foster and Donaghy first met in 1991 after the NBA had invited both of them to officiate games in its summer league. After working together and becoming friends that summer, Foster returned to finish his degree at the University of Maryland while Donaghy became a referee in the Continental Basketball Association (“CBA”). The next summer, both participated again in the NBA’s summer league. Foster then joined Donaghy as a CBA referee. The NBA hired Foster and Donaghy, as well as Tony Brothers, to be NBA referees for the 1994-1995 season. While Foster and Donaghy did not officiate games together because they both were rookies, they stayed in close touch and spoke on the phone frequently. Their friendship revolved around a deep interest in basketball, other sports, including golf, and their shared profession. They occasionally played golf together but rarely met socially. Foster also asked Donaghy to be the godfather of his son.

Fifth, there is also an explanation for the fact that many of Donaghy’s calls to Foster were recorded as having lasted only one or two minutes. Calls between referees often go unanswered because the League mandates that referees silence or turn off their cell phones during referee meetings and in the referee locker room. Foster told us that he frequently calls other referees and either hangs up when the call goes to voicemail or leaves a short voicemail message, and that other referees do the same when calling Foster. Foster’s cell phone service agreement, which appears to be typical for cell phone carriers, provides that a call begins as soon as the phone being called rings, and a call as short as one second is recorded as a one-minute call. If the phone rings five or six times and the caller then leaves a message, it is likely that the call will last over one minute and will be recorded as a two-minute call. Therefore, it seems likely that many of Donaghy’s short calls to Foster were in fact instances in which Donaghy and
Foster did not speak to each other.

Sixth, Foster also explained why he called Donaghy (and other referees) so often in the hours before or after games by recounting his typical daily experiences on the road:

• When Foster arrives in a city to officiate a game, he waits at the airport for the shuttle van to the hotel. While he is waiting, he will typically call fellow referees to relieve his boredom. Because his fellow referees are also traveling, Foster often will not get an answer, so he will call another referee, and so on. When he does get an answer, the call may be very short: when the shuttle van arrives, he will hang up and call back after getting into the van. More generally, much of a referee’s life involves travel, and travel involves a great deal of waiting time, so Foster often makes calls to “kill time.”

• Foster is a creature of habit and a basketball and sports junkie. When he is on the road, he works out every morning at 10:00 a.m. He is also an early riser, which means that he has several hours to kill every morning. His typical morning involves leaving the television tuned to ESPN’s SportsCenter while he is on his laptop computer watching video clips of plays posted on the NBA’s intranet site for referees. He has frequent, short calls with fellow referees during this morning ritual to discuss plays that he sees on SportsCenter or on the website.

• At 11:00 a.m., Foster conducts a meeting with his two crewmates to prepare for that night’s game. His phone is silenced or turned off during the meeting but messages can be left. After the meeting, the crew usually has lunch together. During the meeting and lunch, the referees typically discuss notable plays they have recently seen, as well as referee gossip. Referees have more time on their hands in the afternoon before a night game. Foster described this time as often boring and lonely, because referees rarely spend it together. Therefore, Foster usually returns to his hotel room after lunch and makes more calls to fellow referees, with the morning meeting and lunch conversations serving as fodder for these calls.

• The excitement of officiating an NBA game in the evening typically leaves him “wired” and unable to sleep right away when he gets back to his hotel room after the game, often after midnight. Because it is often too late at night to call his family, Foster calls his fellow referees to discuss the games they have just officiated.

Seventh, we find nothing su ious about Donaghy’s phone records showing that, on a few days, Donaghy made calls to Foster and Martino that were close in time. Donaghy appears to have been cycling through his phone’s contact list, unsuccessfully looking for someone to talk to as nobody was answering his calls.

Finally, although the government and the reporter have declined to supply us copies of Donaghy’s phone records, Foster provided us with his own phone records for December 2006 through June 2008, and they appear to us to confirm fully that there was nothing out of the ordinary about the Foster-Donaghy calls:

• Frequency. During the period of Donaghy’s conspiracy with Battista and Martino (December 2006 to April 2007), Foster spoke frequently to Donaghy (170 calls). Foster had a similar number of calls with referee Matt Boland (153 calls), and spoke frequently to referee Mark Wunderlich (75 calls) and Danny Crawford (32 calls). During the same period the following year (December 2007 to April 2008), after he had stopped speaking to Donaghy, Foster continued to speak just as frequently with referees Boland (156 calls), Danny Crawford (55 calls) and Wunderlich (23 calls). Foster explained that he is a friend of Wunderlich; a friend and mentor of Boland; and a protégé of Crawford, a veteran referee. Foster confirmed that the phone records accurately reflect his practice of speaking frequently on the phone with these referees and other referees whom he considers to be friends. (Boland, Wunderlich and Crawford confirmed this.)

• Duration. While from December 2006 to April 2007, the majority of Foster’s calls with Donaghy were recorded as having lasted two minutes or less (93 of 170 calls), this was also true of Foster’s calls with Boland (78 of 153 calls) and with Wunderlich (40 of 75 calls). In fact, the majority of all calls between Foster and NBA-related phone numbers during this period were recorded as having lasted two minutes or less (400 of 680 calls).

• Timing. From December 2006 to April 2007, Foster spoke regularly in the hours before or after games not only with Donaghy, but also with Boland and Wunderlich. During the 2007-2008 season, after he had stopped speaking to Donaghy, Foster continued to speak frequently with Boland and Wunderlich in the hours before or after games. It is also noteworthy that many of the referees to whom we spoke indicated that they thought that their calling patterns with fellow referees were similar to Foster’s and that their phone records would also show hundreds of short calls to fellow referees both before and after games. The referees explained that they often talk about basketball, sports and personal matters, so their cell phone talks resemble office water cooler conversations. A number of referees also said that their closest friends on the referee staff tend to be those with whom they entered the League ― with some analogizing that group to their “pledge class.” At our request, Matt Boland and Mark Wunderlich, the referees to whom Scott Foster spoke most frequently, provided us
with their phone records for the 2007-2008 season. An analysis of their records reveals that their calling patterns were similar to Foster’s:

• Matt Boland. From December 2007 to April 2008, Boland spoke frequently to Zach Zarba (191 times), Scott Foster (156 times) as noted, and Jess Kersey (24 times). Boland’s calls were frequently before and after games. And almost half of his calls made to referees during this time period were only one- or two-minutes long.

• Mark Wunderlich. From December 2007 to April 2008, Wunderlich spoke frequently to Joey Crawford (191 times), Bob Delaney (123 times), Bennett Salvatore (86 times) and Scott Foster (23 times) as noted. Wunderlich’s calls were frequently before and after games. And approximately two-thirds of all his calls made to referees during this time period were only one- or two-minutes long.

The report on Donaghy’s phone records ― when assessed in light of Foster’s phone records, Foster’s friendship with Donaghy and the frequency with which Foster spoke to other referees ― do not in our view raise concerns about his integrity. Numerous referees and NBA management personnel have also spoken to us about their positive opinion of Foster’s character. Foster requested that we ask the NBA if he could be allowed to meet with the media to explain that he has done nothing wrong. He also offered to have a reporter follow him for a week during the next season so that the reporter could understand the life he leads as an NBA referee and why and when he is on the phone with fellow NBA referees. We have asked the Commissioner to allow Foster to respond to future media inquiries.

[TJastal]

I've learned something else.

If your a spur who fouls a shooter in the act of shooting with your face as Manu did to Dirk your assessed a foul.

If your the guy who fouls a spur in the act of shooting with your face as Nash did to Duncan there is no foul called.

Gotta love the consistency of nba referees. /sarcasm

[phxspurfan]

Plz don't become Sun fans...plz. We lost, fair and square

[TJastal]

What's interesting to me is that no matter TJastal's view of Foster, I've watched officials very closely for a very long time and think that Foster is actually a really good, technically sound official. He's become one of the league's best officials in the last couple of years -- in fact, he's among the 6 crew chiefs still working games and will work the Finals again this year -- and deservedly so. That doesn't mean that he doesn't miss calls; he is, after all, human. To that end, in Game 3 after the travelling call, Foster engaged Manu in a long conversation about the travel and heard him out on the dispute; at the end of it all, Foster seemed to say to Manu that he might have missed the call.

Additionally, I don't know that there's much evidence to really support an argument that Foster is corrupt. While I don't really buy much into referee stats, the picture they paint of Foster is one of remarkable consistency.

* In 2008-09 Foster worked exclusively as a crew chief in the regular season. In his 69 games as a crew chief, his crews called an average of 44 fouls per game, putting 51.7% on the road team and 48.3% on the home team.

* In 2009-10, Foster again worked exclusively as a crew chief in the regular season. In his 69 games as crew chief, his crews called an average of 43.8 fouls per game, putting 51.4% of those on the road team and 48.6 on the home team.

* In the 2009 Playoffs, Foster worked an additional 9 games as a crew chief and his crews called an average of 46.8 fouls per game while putting 52% on the road team and 48% on the home team.

* In the 2010 Playoffs, Foster has worked 7 games as a crew chief, with his crews calling 45.9 fouls per game, putting 51.4% on the road team and 48.6% on the home team.

Again, these numbers can be manipulated in any variety of ways, but at bottom, the utter consistency they betray would be virtually impossible to accomplish if one were trying to affect the outcomes of games.

Also, given the aspersions being cast towards Foster in this thread, I thought it would be worthwhile to bring out the Pedowitz Report's lengthy review and dismissal of any supposed connection between Foster and Donaghy's misdeeds -- just for the sake of providing both sides of the story:

(apologies for the length; I realize that those who are inclined to believe that Foster is corrupt will just skip over this part and claim it to be too long.)

http://hosted.ap.org/specials/intera...a_pedowitz.pdf

I knew somebody would post this bull garbage report that supposedly explains away all the damning cir stantial evidence. I guess I'm supposed to believe two grown men called each other multiple times every day (I don't even call my girlfriend that much!) over golf and basketball? LOL. Anyone with half a brain can see Scott Foster was involved up to his neck with Donague in the gambling end of it and if you ask me it was Foster who was doing most of the actual game 'fixing'.

[FromWayDowntown]

I knew somebody would post this bull garbage report that supposedly explains away all the damning cir stantial evidence. I guess I'm supposed to believe two grown men called each other multiple times every day (I don't even call my girlfriend that much!) over golf and basketball? LOL. Anyone with half a brain can see Scott Foster was involved up to his neck with Donague in the gambling end of it and if you ask me it was Foster who was doing most of the actual game 'fixing'.

Well, obviously you know more about all of this than an entire group of investigators.

And obviously, anyone who would call travelling in an NBA game while Lebron gets away with his crab dribble is inherently suspect.

I find it interesting that all you can do is suggest that grown men don't call each other that much, wholly ignoring the fact that other grown men in exactly the same industry have virtually identical calling patterns but somehow aren't suspected of fixing games. That's not exactly strong refutation.

But, ultimately, if you're so convinced that it's fixed, why watch? Sticking around to watch the games isn't going to suggest to the powers-that-be that there's some intrinsic problem that must be repaired; going away and staying away -- and taking a whole bunch of others with you who use the cop-out of game fixing as a crutch to explain NBA results -- might.

[TJastal]

Well, obviously you know more about all of this than an entire group of investigators.

And obviously, anyone who would call travelling in an NBA game while Lebron gets away with his crab dribble is inherently suspect.

I find it interesting that all you can do is suggest that grown men don't call each other that much, wholly ignoring the fact that other grown men in exactly the same industry have virtually identical calling patterns but somehow aren't suspected of fixing games. That's not exactly strong refutation.

But, ultimately, if you're so convinced that it's fixed, why watch? Sticking around to watch the games isn't going to suggest to the powers-that-be that there's some intrinsic problem that must be repaired; going away and staying away -- and taking a whole bunch of others with you who use the cop-out of game fixing as a crutch to explain NBA results -- might.

These problems are entirely fixable now that its been exposed... it's become really amusing watching Stern hanging on the hook he set himself on with his idiotic handling of the situation. Of course, there will be dopes that will continue to believe ol' David that Donague was the only crooked ref of the entire lot, just a "rogue" bad apple acting independantly from the rest.