NBA Ref Gambling Probe: The Death of the NBA

What was that I was saying about the NBA officials being the WORST in all of sports? Looks like myself, Mark Cuban, and all Phoenix Suns and Sacramento Kings fans might not be paranoid conspiracy theorists after all.

A story published Friday in the New York Post reads as follows:

The FBI is investigating an NBA referee who allegedly was betting on basketball games—including ones he was officiating during the past two seasons—as part of an organized crime probe in the Big Apple, the Post has learned.

The investigation, which began more than a year ago, is zeroing in on blockbuster allegations that the referee was making calls that affected the point spread to guarantee that he and the hoods who had their hooks in him—cashed in on large bets.

 

The official's name has been withheld, but sources have indicated that the official will turn himself in next week and that the mobsters that he associated with will be arrested.

 

Apparently, FBI sources indicate that the referee had a serious gambling problem and fell into debt with the mob.

How dearly I wish I could be a venom-spewing fly on the wall in David Stern's office.

What was that line in the Kids in the Hall film? I believe it was, "My empire is crumbling!"

GOOD. It was time for that son of a bitch to leave YEARS AGO.

Does this surprise anyone? Hell no. It's a matter of human beings and money. What do steroids and athletes have in common? What about recruiting violations in college football?

MONEY. CASH. DEAD PRESIDENTS. FRANKLINS.

Whatever fucking euphemism you want.

Commissioner Stern—do you still think having that NBA team in Vegas is a great idea?

Obviously, this story is going to involve Sin City in some capacity. All the games under suspicion will be analyzed in all the sportsbooks to check for suspicious movements in the lines.

The dirty ref didn t necessarily have to make calls to help one team win—all he had to do was make sure the team he wagered on covered.

That an official was betting and/or shaving points is one thing. That an official was shaving points FOR THE MOB will RUIN the NBA...and should force David Stern to finally step down.

The NBA's credibility is officially shot, especially during the seasons in question. I just pray that the ref under investigation is Bennett Salvatore...who oversaw that infamous Game 5 in the 2006 Finals between the Mavs and Heat, in which Dwyane "Breathe on me and it's a foul" Wade got his phantom call in the final seconds.

Whomever the culprit is, this story opens a Pandora's Box. Suddenly Cuban doesn't seem like such a whack job. Maybe it was Joey Crawford? Ahh, this is going to be delicious—I haven't been so excited to get results since my last palimony lawsuit.

I only wish that this could've involved Chicago Bulls games in the 1990s. Maybe Jordan picked up an extra ring or two—you know he got plenty of horseshit calls. Wonder what Bryon Russell is doing right now?

And don't think the scrutiny will be limited to a finite number of games. Every game the ref ever officiated will be analyzed down to the LAST DETAIL. How long has he been in the league? If he's a 15-year veteran, you can bet your ass his entire career will be under the microscope.

How will this affect teams' records? What about past champions?

 

Basketball is, by far, the easiest sport to fix—as New York mobster Henry Hill proved with his work at Boston College during the 1978-79 season. As a ref, all you have to do is make four or five wrong calls. As a player, it's a matter of five or six careless turnovers or three or four missed shots.

 

As a mobster, your first choice as an inside man has got to be a ref. It's not so hard to suspect a player of throwing a game. But a referee is supposed to be beyond reproach.

 

With a ref in his pocket, a mobster could lay a bet with the utmost confidence that a point spread would move in his favor.

 

And don't forget the bookmakers—with knowledge of a ref on the take, a bookie could set a fake point spread to lure "lay" bets from other bookies with too much action on a particular team. That team, of course, would be likely to lose or at least unlikely to cover the dummy spread. 

 

It's not like we haven't seen fixed games in the NFL or Major League Baseball. (Pete Rose anyone?) Cheating is a part of sports. It's unfortunate—and it's something no diehard sports fan could imagine as a kid—but it's the truth.

 

This latest investigation shatters what little innocence we had left if we had any left at all. Like it or not, money IS the ultimate bottom line.

 

First Michael Vick, now this—I thought we watched sports to GET AWAY from the CORRUPTION and GRAFT that make this fucked up planet go 'round. I need a drink...NOW. Better make that five.

 

And to think the NBA was my first true love.

 

I'm sick, but I'm not surprised. I want to hear your thoughts on this—especially you longtime NBA fans. Someone tell me it's going to be all right. Or that it isn't. Just say something.

 

I've had enough news for awhile. 

 

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