Quote:
Originally Posted by RainMaker
Different situations. Doesn't ABC have the rights to Game 7? Don't you think they want Rando playing?
|
How do you think this is done, league memos to referees, or just a wink-wink-nod-nod, sack of money with a dollar sign in a tree stump arrangement?
I used to be very suspicious of the NBA, until all of those referees got in trouble for tax fraud. I thought that if they had that ace in their pocket, that the NBA was rigging games, they certainly would have used it with the feds then.
I know that Tim Donaghy made allegations about that Kings/Lakers game 6 (just as I thought those tax frauds referees would do, if there was really funny business). Obviously that didn't go anywhere, and Donaghy isn't exactly credible (though I realize that it's the sleazy, non-credible types that usually know the dirt - see Jose Conseco).
I mean, the NBA/networks rigging games is a serious, serious allegation. That's life-in-prison type stuff, end of North American professional sports forever type stuff. Do you really think the risk of that is worth the .05 rating jump or whatever a game 7 gets over regular programming? How do you keep the referees/network employees quiet?
It just doesn't add up to be as a practical plan for the NBA and the networks to get involved in something that ridiculous. I do though, think the NBA has done an amazing job somehow sweeping under the rug that a referee rigged games and got caught!! How did that not harm the league more? It's always in the back of my mind when I watch the NBA.