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is pops bad coaching fixing games?
i just don't see pop fixin games
http://sports.espn.go.com/espn/page2...jackson/070723
Donaghy isn't only one with gambling addiction
By Scoop Jackson
Page 2
ESPN.com
So a ref got cracked. Surprised? And if the NBA thought it had problems before (conspiracy theories, image issues, fights, low television ratings, the Eastern Conference, Kobe's soap operas, Ron Artest, Mark Cuban, etc.) … we ain't seen nothin' yet.
Because isolated incident or not, at the root of the latest (and probably biggest) problem damaging the integrity of the league is not the fixing and/or controlling scores of games or the alleged connection to the mob and the Gambino family. At the root of the Tim Donaghy issue is the one thing that has plagued all sports since the day man met ball and discovered compe ion could be a business: gambling.
Up until this point everything we've read about how Donaghy got himself into this situation originates with him "having a gambling problem."
It happens all the time in sports. Vegas was built because of it. (Think an NBA team has a chance in of being in Vegas now?) Horse racing and boxing might not exist without it. Fans, athletes, coaches, owners, scouts, refs, all get trapped. Hooked. Caught up in the extracurricular cir stance of what gambling brings. They want the rush of the game inside the game, the extra incentive to make the game being played, or the race being raced, or the contest being judged worth more than what's at stake on the playing field.
In Michael Lemonick's recent cover story in Time called "How We Get Addicted," he raises the issue of dependency and writes to a certain degree that "it's the brains, not the guts" that drive people's compulsions.
"Addictions," Joseph Frascella, director of the division of clinical neuroscience at the National Ins ute on Drug Abuse, says in the story, "are repe ive behaviors in the face of negative consequences, the desire to continue something you know is bad for you."
The possible addiction that forced Donaghy to call some games the way that he allegedly did, which led to this story, may have began with his inability to stop gambling. If we all take a look at sports over the years, there are many incidents that have made us question "things" that have happened in all sports, made us fall out of love with our heroes in the game, and reminded us that inside of sports there are flawed human beings. It's sports' new DNA. And even with this latest scandal's being exposed, there's really nothing that can be done that's going to change or stop something like this from happening again.
And Donaghy's not alone. Not saying that other officials will come forward or get caught (although there are reports saying that when Donaghy turns himself in he might verbally bring "others" down with him), but the fact is he is not the first, only or last person directly connected to professional sports who will have his or her career destroyed because of an inability to stop that itch.
I personally know of players who have debts to people in the streets that exceed $6 million. I've had loan sharks and "collectors" who speak on behalf of "boss men" come up to me and tell me to deliver messages to certain players that I have written about.
As Tom Shine of Reebok said in a GQ article, "I know of an NBA player who got into a staggering gambling situation. The people this guy lost money to, they were not nice guys. Wes (William Wesley, the man the article was about) saved him from getting killed."
I've been at dice games, at craps tables, in basements, in alleys, at golf outings, as part of conversations. I've seen players get so over their heads in "liability" from gambling that their careers have been sacrificed because they can no longer concentrate on the game because they can't get their minds away from the money they owe and the money they are chasing.
I've learned that when it comes to gambling in professional sports: It comes with the territory.
That's why I'm not surprised at what happened with Tim Donaghy. That's why none of us should be. Sad? Yes, we should be, but not surprised. We all need to understand that gambling -- not greed, not arrogance, not ignorance, not business -- is what caused this to happen. The power that gambling has on those that compete at this level -- and that power sometimes includes those who don't just play the game -- is indefinable. Refs, when it comes to this, are just as susceptible. They are players too.
Stanley H. Teitelbaum wrote in "Sports Heroes, Fallen Idols" of athletes: "Their personal interactions are often colored by (an) inflated view of themselves. It requires great emotional maturity to maintain relationships based on equality and reciprocity when you are surrounded by people eager to anticipate your every need." Think Pete Rose, Charles Barkley, John Daly, Michael Jordan. Think of the range of innocence and illegality. Think of what's at the core of the Michael Vick dogfighting scandal.
I thought you knew.
Now think Tim Donaghy.
Every one of us has a vice. An NBA ref let his get out of control, and it got the best of him. And it might take the NBA years to gain the public's trust back after this one. But until we acknowledge that point shaving, mob ties and game fixing are not the real issue here, that someone's gambling addiction is, this ugliness will rear its ugly head again. Just the next time, none of us can act like we didn't see it coming.
Scoop Jackson is a columnist for Page 2 and a contributor to ESPN The Magazine. He's also the host of ESPN Original Entertainment's "NBA Live: Bring It Home".
is pops bad coaching fixing games?
i just don't see pop fixin games
No doubt. Right now in another league the most coveted record of that sport is about to be broken by a player who cheated through the use of banned performance enhancing drugs. Such use was apparently widespread among players in that league over the last couple of decades. But nothing seems to stick to America's pasttime. Meanwhile one measly ref shaved some points in the NBA and the league is about to be crucified for it.So a ref got cracked. Surprised? And if the NBA thought it had problems before (conspiracy theories, image issues, fights, low television ratings, the Eastern Conference, Kobe's soap operas, Ron Artest, Mark Cuban, etc.) … we ain't seen nothin' yet.
http://www.spurstalk.com/forums/showthread.php?t=74581
It's been said many times that baseball is so great a game that not even the people running it can screw it up. Or as James Earl Jones says in "Field of Dreams" a little more eloquently, "This field, this game: it's a part of our past, Ray. It reminds of us of all that once was good and it could be again."
Dude, where do you even come up with takes like that? WTF?
http://www.spurstalk.com/forums/showthread.php?t=74581
I'm envisioning James Earl Jones' voice telling Barry Bonds "people will come" as he's getting a roid shot in the ass. It's time to stop drinking.
Before I forget, I think football has reached baseball's teflon status. In spite of the Bengals, Pacman, and Vick the league is stronger than ever. Then again, how formidable of a foe is PETA?
I know. WTF? I think MNF could start "Michael Vick's Dogfights sponsored by Miller Lite" as a halftime feature and they wouldn't be criticized.
And if the NBA thought it had problems before (conspiracy theories, image issues, fights, low television ratings, the Eastern Conference, Kobe's soap operas, Ron Artest, Mark Cuban, etc.) … we ain't seen nothin' yet.
Okay, now that was hilarious!
Why is the NBA held to a different standard? Is it as simple as basketball is viewed as a 'black game' by Middle America while baseball and football are not?
Are you ready for some dogfights?
Somehow Steve Howe managed to have a 17 year career in Major League Baseball. He had his demons, but 17 years?
I don't see how football isn't considered black either, i can count good white non qb football players on one hand.
I don't think its racism, I think its just run of the mill generic favoritism. NBA is like the problem child the media loves to thrash around once in a while.
After the MJ-PJ Bulls disbanded, the lockout, and the Knicks and Celtics becoming perennial lottery teams perhaps that was too good for 'sports journalists' to pass up.
Still, the NBA always seems to be the sport mentioned when a media type is looking to dump on the modern pro athlete. Just as much shady and criminal goes on with NFL and MLB players. Given that Middle America seems to have a problem distinguishing between 'black' and 'criminal', I'm not that surprised.
My name is UV Ray and I'm a gambling addict.
UV Ray, what do you say?
Sorry man, I can't hear you.
em pleh
Last edited by UV Ray; 07-24-2007 at 01:17 AM.
so no one sees the difference between getting bigger physically and being WWE like?
Greatness.
the NFL is mostly black and America loves it.Given that Middle America seems to have a problem distinguishing between 'black' and 'criminal', I'm not that surprised.
is middle america still stupid and racist like your hinting at?
Try "getting bigger" illegally. Anyways, steroids were a banned substance in MLB.
Anyways, it's cheating. It's like corking the bat. It invalidates the game. It doesn't matter if the umpires call the game fair.
So no difference.
African-Americans do not dominate the NFL as they do the NBA. Look at who America loves in the NFL. Peyton Manning and Tom Brady. Brett Favre, Troy Aikman, and Joe Montana before them. Who gets all the credit? They do.
3 major popular ball sports: Basketball, Football, Baseball:
Baseball can never be looked down upon. The United States is the birthplace of baseball, where it has long been regarded as more than just a "major sport"; for many decades, it has been popularly referred to as the "national pastime" and Major League Baseball has been given a unique monopoly status by the Supreme Court of the United States.
Football can never be looked down upon by Americans. It's giving a big middle finger to the rest of the world and the soccer world saying: You maybe the most popular sport, but we still call it soccer and not football es.
That leaves Basketball to take the beating.
Did basketball originate in Argentina?
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