On the least surprising scandal of 2007
I know that my banner says that I'll try to write about astronomy, volleyball, and cats, but I have found a number of excuses to write about being a sports fan. So I suppose it is time to amend that text.
I spend my Fall weekends either attending or watching football games, but other than that, I'm not much of a fan of the other three big pro sports -- baseball, basketball, or hockey. I used to watch the NBA -- it started in 1993 with the Suns / Bulls finals. After that, I was hooked for a while. I still can remember vividly some of my favorite Suns playoff moments -- KJ dunking over Hakeem, Rex Chapman hitting the most ridiculous 3 point shot ever, and Charles running coast to coast and swatting away a dunk attempt (I think by Malone, but not 100% sure about this one). My interest in the NBA waned because my favorite team (the Suns) had a knack for trading or letting go my favorite players -- Chuck, Majerle, Kidd, Nash, Finley...
Still, when the NBA playoffs return, I usually get sucked in for a little while. This year was pretty much the nadir, though -- I watched a couple of games of the Suns / Spurs series, and once again I realized what a travesty the officiating in the NBA is -- it is horrendous. Once it became obvious the best team in the NBA wasn't even going to make the finals because of the horrid calls, I gave up, I didn't even turn on 1 minute of the finals.
So... anyone hear anything interesting in the news lately? Maybe you heard that an NBA referee is being investigated for fixing games? Have you also heard that he officiated one of the Suns / Spurs playoff games?
Raise your hand if you are surprised.
I'm not going to bother saying too much about the other recent sports scandal, about all I can muster is this -- Michael Vick is a loathsome human being. I can't say I will give up watching the NFL, but I can assure you I will *never* watch another game in which he is on the field.
I spend my Fall weekends either attending or watching football games, but other than that, I'm not much of a fan of the other three big pro sports -- baseball, basketball, or hockey. I used to watch the NBA -- it started in 1993 with the Suns / Bulls finals. After that, I was hooked for a while. I still can remember vividly some of my favorite Suns playoff moments -- KJ dunking over Hakeem, Rex Chapman hitting the most ridiculous 3 point shot ever, and Charles running coast to coast and swatting away a dunk attempt (I think by Malone, but not 100% sure about this one). My interest in the NBA waned because my favorite team (the Suns) had a knack for trading or letting go my favorite players -- Chuck, Majerle, Kidd, Nash, Finley...
Still, when the NBA playoffs return, I usually get sucked in for a little while. This year was pretty much the nadir, though -- I watched a couple of games of the Suns / Spurs series, and once again I realized what a travesty the officiating in the NBA is -- it is horrendous. Once it became obvious the best team in the NBA wasn't even going to make the finals because of the horrid calls, I gave up, I didn't even turn on 1 minute of the finals.
So... anyone hear anything interesting in the news lately? Maybe you heard that an NBA referee is being investigated for fixing games? Have you also heard that he officiated one of the Suns / Spurs playoff games?
Raise your hand if you are surprised.
I'm not going to bother saying too much about the other recent sports scandal, about all I can muster is this -- Michael Vick is a loathsome human being. I can't say I will give up watching the NFL, but I can assure you I will *never* watch another game in which he is on the field.
posted by Chris at 11:00 PM
4 Comments:
I don't think he had anything to do with San Antonion's win (which was at home anyway, where the Spurs are almost unbeatable). Phoenix played like crap and spent more time whining about their players being suspended for leaving the bench than trying to beat the Spurs.
Reffing has sucked for a long time. But the primary benificiaries seem to be guys like Kobe, who are allowed to travel at will. The Spurs play a much more conventional offense.
I have to dispute this one. One of the sports blogs has dissected this game, and they show places where Donaghy's calls *clearly* affected the outcome. I think it's on YouTube. This actually wasn't the game where Stoudamire was suspended. This was the game where Bowen gave Nash a shot in the balls and didn't get called, since Donaghy couldn't afford to give Nash two shots.
Great article here: http://sports.espn.go.com/espn/page2/story?page=simmons/070722
I heard a lot about last year's finals and the terrible reffing. But as I understand it, Donaghy's pattern was to have teams make the "over" a lot more, not necessarily pick the winner. That's the pattern that was spotted
But all of this raises more points
- is this NBA referee the only one?
- can we flush Michael Vick down the toilet?
- let's hear it for Steve Nash, eh!
- are people going to flock back to Pete Rose since he only bet on games he was *not* involved with?
I do not follow the NFL or the NBA (only less scandalous hockey :) ), but does this raise the question of officiating in other sports as well?
Dr. D
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