NBA ref gets caught fixing games

[Creeps]

Maybe if certain black athletes/celebrities would stop doing things like killing dogs, getting caught with concealed weapons with no permits, getting minors drunk, trying to smuggle drugs through airports, raping underage girls and killing their wives... wait, I forgot what my point was.

I read the first part of this thread and none of it had any kind of racial connotations until Deejay decided to try and be Al fucking Sharpton. You're a racist asshole and you should probably just get the hell out of this thread because you're in the very small minority here (PUN NOT INTENDED LAWL). Being black does not give you the right to pull out the race card whenever you want. If you're so against racists and want it to stop, then try not being one, dumbass.

[Izzy]

So when theres fighting done in hockey, I assume theyre just being competitive? Is it just a coincidence that 80% of hockey players are white, yet when they get into large brawls no one calls them hoodlums for it? Face it, theres a double standard for the black athlete in America.Chris Benoit kills his family, even has a record of past off enses and still receives a 3 hour tribute show airing on national television. Michael Vick kills 8 dogs and will remain under scrutiny of the public eye untill he either A.) wins a superbowl or B.) finds the cure for aids.

You're right, I did take your statement as racism whehter you meant it that way or not. But looking at the track record of most BG posters, that fact that a player is black is brought up in almost every one of the "new NBA/NFL/MLB scandal" threads.

Man, seriously shut the fuck up. You'd make a great lobbyist. You're saying things in the right "tone" to make it sound like everyone in America is racist. Dude, you realize they aired that thing BEFORE they knew what happened? After they found out, they took all Benoit stuff off their site etc.

You are 100% what is preventing racism from becoming extinct. If you continue to find racism, where there isn't any, of course it's gonna look like everyone is racist. Let's try this one on for size?

"There's more Asian people on the west coast, obviously the east coast hates asians."

That's the logic you're presenting. If the majority of players that play in the NBA/NFL are black, OF COURSE the ratio of black>white crime is going to be higher BECAUSE THERE IS MORE OF THEM.

Go hang yourself.

[Venture]

Actually, brawling in hockey has nothing to do with hoodlumism. Hockey is a violent-ass sport. Slamming people into a wall is called 'checking' and is a widely-accepted strategy, while fighting is a tradition of the sport that ends whenever one opponent or both end up off their feet. There's been huge brawls before, but it's hockey. Hell, they even have players on their payroll who's entire purpose is to beat the shit out of the other team's player and intimidate them or put them on the sideline. It's apples and oranges when it comes to violence.

Can't compare basketball's penalties for so much as giving someone a nudge to hockey's having to knock someone unconscious to get a 5:00 'Roughing' penalty.

[Deejay]

So when theres fighting done in hockey, I assume theyre just being competitive? Is it just a coincidence that 80% of hockey players are white, yet when they get into large brawls no one calls them hoodlums for it? Face it, theres a double standard for the black athlete in America.Chris Benoit kills his family, even has a record of past off enses and still receives a 3 hour tribute show airing on national television. Michael Vick kills 8 dogs and will remain under scrutiny of the public eye untill he either A.) wins a superbowl or B.) finds the cure for aids.

You're right, I did take your statement as racism whehter you meant it that way or not. But looking at the track record of most BG posters, that fact that a player is black is brought up in almost every one of the "new NBA/NFL/MLB scandal" threads.

Man, seriously shut the fuck up. You'd make a great lobbyist. You're saying things in the right "tone" to make it sound like everyone in America is racist. Dude, you realize they aired that thing BEFORE they knew what happened? After they found out, they took all Benoit stuff off their site etc.

Just like everyone has called Michael Vick, Kobe Bryant, an animal abuser/serial rapist BEFORE they knew what happend? Chris Benoit was innocent untill proven guilty. It works the other way around for the latter 2.

Call me whatever the fuck you want, but before you say that i'm pulling out the race card, (lol)atleast quote me where I said "everyone is being racist." I pointed out a couple double standards, so hang me. You need to calm the fuck down lol.

[Intense]

At any rate, David Stern made a PR statement regarding my OP.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/19868741/

[Venture]

Small mercy for the NBA that it was a referee, and not a player. Still pretty bad, but the fall-out could have been so much worse. Now they gonna go back all the way through that ref's career, and it's going to put a lot of games he called under suspicion. Wonder how many critical playoffs he worked, where one or two points made the difference? Should be rather interesting, if anything comes of it.

[Intense]

I think it being a referee makes it even worse. I mean a player betting on the games is like Pete Rose over again, which is bad. But a ref has direct control over the flow of the game and can impact and manipulate the game moreso than a player.

[Anyway]

If I have to hear another touching story about how so and so player got out of the projects through basketball or football, I'm gonna flip. When there's a large percentage of your players coming from the "streets" or "projects", don't be surprised when they act like what they are: Hoodlums, thugs, gangstas, etc.

[Venture]

Entirely true about the referee having a broader impact on the game's result, but I was just thinking about the implications of opening up any doubt that players were not being completely honest in their performances for their own personal gain. Referees are humans and members of the NBA, too, but paid very cheaply compared to the players, and nowhere near as idolized or talked about.

A referee cheats, you know, you get rid of him and prolly review all his past called games, but it doesn't necessarily go any further then that because noone really cares about the referees. He'll prolly be forgotten about in a month, but a player? That doesn't dissapear as quickly. We're still talking about Pete Rose and the Black Socks to this day.

Although if I end up wrong, and we'll still know this guy's name along with Pete Rose and the Black Socks thirty years from now, i'll have to readjust my perspective on humanity for it's ability to care when it's not someone famous.

[Charla]

Just like everyone has called Michael Vick, Kobe Bryant, an animal abuser/serial rapist BEFORE they knew what happend? Chris Benoit was innocent untill proven guilty. It works the other way around for the latter 2.

Chris Benoit was also dead at the time. Because that's the part of the story we heard first, we didn't bother to blame him for it until we heard a little more. Also:

My other point is this: no one complains about paying for CD's, movie tickets, or videogames. It was never a bad thing that actors, musicians, and game-makers alike are paid handsomely. But as soon as a little money gets into the black mans hands everyone screams WHYYY OH WHYY R THEY PAYIN THEM SO MUCH?!

A few of us don't believe in paying for music, movie tickets or (non-new) video games either. The big difference in perception is due to the "value" of art that has been traditionally considered artful, as opposed to sports entertainment. If an actor gets 80 bazillion dollars for a triple-Oscar performance, it's ok. If an athlete gets 80 bazillion dollars for signing to a team for a year or two, we just don't see it the same way because he isn't creating something we deem "worthwhile". Now, that being said, I think a lot of us don't really have a problem with the situation as it is, so the complaints about the money flying around in professional sports are more like a vague notion that it could be done better and with less opportunity for corruption.

[Koyuki]

Damn black people and they're stereotypical view of the white demon!

[Tyche]

So when theres fighting done in hockey, I assume theyre just being competitive? Is it just a coincidence that 80% of hockey players are white, yet when they get into large brawls no one calls them hoodlums for it? Face it, theres a double standard for the black athlete in America.Chris Benoit kills his family, even has a record of past off enses and still receives a 3 hour tribute show airing on national television. Michael Vick kills 8 dogs and will remain under scrutiny of the public eye untill he either A.) wins a superbowl or B.) finds the cure for aids.

You're right, I did take your statement as racism whehter you meant it that way or not. But looking at the track record of most BG posters, that fact that a player is black is brought up in almost every one of the "new NBA/NFL/MLB scandal" threads.

Man, seriously shut the fuck up. You'd make a great lobbyist. You're saying things in the right "tone" to make it sound like everyone in America is racist. Dude, you realize they aired that thing BEFORE they knew what happened? After they found out, they took all Benoit stuff off their site etc.

Just like everyone has called Michael Vick, Kobe Bryant, an animal abuser/serial rapist BEFORE they knew what happend? Chris Benoit was innocent untill proven guilty. It works the other way around for the latter 2.

Call me whatever the fuck you want, but before you say that i'm pulling out the race card, (lol)atleast quote me where I said "everyone is being racist." I pointed out a couple double standards, so hang me. You need to calm the fuck down lol.

Just like everyone called the Duke kids guilty BEFORE they knew what happened? It does work the other way around...It has nothing to do with them being black, it has to do with them being the face of their sports. And if you think Michael Vick is innocent, you obviously haven't read the indictment or know much about federal indictments.

[Deejay]

Dude, to my knowledge, nobody was calling the Duke lacrosse team guilty. The part i remember most about it was them deciding to cancel the season because of rape charges. I also remember Al Sharpton and the NAACP trying to get invloved, but i forget why.

I never said Vick was innocent either, but everyone has been acting as if he was guilty the minute they heard he was indicted. The fucking thread was titled "I hope he goes to asspounding prison" for crying outloud lol.

[Exoduso]

Chris Benoit got the tribute show before they knew the actual story behind the death of him and his family... didn't WWE apologize the day after for that show?

[Charla]

[quote="Deejay"]Dude, to my knowledge, nobody was calling the Duke lacrosse team guilty.[quote]

wikipedia to the rescue, as usual:
Initial coverage (March-April 2006)
The case attracted widespread media attention almost from the moment it became public. The apparent circumstances—three white males from privileged backgrounds at an elite university apparently taking advantage of a student and single mother from a crosstown black college, trying to make ends meet by working as a stripper—seemed tailor-made for wall-to-wall coverage.

Among those giving extensive coverage to the matter was Nancy Grace. Prior to Duke suspending its men's lacrosse team's season, she sarcastically noted on the air, "I'm so glad they didn't miss a lacrosse game over a little thing like gang rape!" and "Why would you go to a cop in an alleged gang rape case, say, and lie and give misleading information?"


The case continues (May-October 2006)
Grace continued to feature developments in the case on her program, with a pro-prosecution slant. On June 9, 2006, after hearing reporting on various defense motions, which the CNN reporter indicated might already prove reasonable doubt, Grace sarcastically asked, "Well I'm glad you have already decided the outcome of the case, based on all of the defense filings. Why don't we just all move to Nazi Germany, where we don't have a justice system and a jury of one's peers?" On June 22, 2006, she featured Sports Illustrated writer Lester Munson who opined, "I think the state has probably a better case than most observers are describing. I have studied this at some length ... There is some voracity (sic) to the victim's account."


In conclusion, someone most definately was "calling them guilty". Therefore I conclude that it does work the other way around too.

[Bratt]

Tim Donaghy called game 3 of the Suns vs Spurs, but if you watch it again you can see that Eddie F. Rush and Greg Willard made the majority of the BS and phantom calls. There was a really really really late call on Manu that Donaghy made from halfcourt but that's about it. That game overall was one of the worst officiated games I've seen but Doanghy had very little impact. The Wizards game near the end of this season that he called looked like the refs were trying to control it. It came down to a few calls and gave Washington a playoff berth I think. WITNESSSSSSSSXAVIER

[Elmer the Pointy]

Dude, to my knowledge, nobody was calling the Duke lacrosse team guilty. The part i remember most about it was them deciding to cancel the season because of rape charges. I also remember Al Sharpton and the NAACP trying to get invloved, but i forget why.

That's the Sage Sundi defense. Not only were the kids assumed to be guilty for being privileged white jocks, but even the coach received death threats over the case. Al Sharpton got involved because he always has to stick his fat head into this stuff so he can play 52-pick up with a deck of race cards and summon his baa baa black sheep to yell and scream and further his own agenda.

Sure, he can condemn and label whoever he wants, or demand apologies only to refuse them when offered. But where was he after the lacrosse team was exonerated?

Now let me say I appreciate that a guy like Al Sharpton is around. I think any group of people deserve a vocal figurehead to demand the rights and respect we all deserve. Still, so often people get too caught up in their own sanctimonious Boz Scaggs to consider both sides of the issue. Sharpton was there to support the victim in the Duke case, which was important for a poor, black unknown woman. But he was absent at an even more important time: the aftermath. He's quick to demand blood, to exact revenge, but during the healing process he's already moved on.

I think when we see any kind of high-profile case come out like this, everyone gives a little knee-jerk reaction. Columbine involved some ostracized kids who were quickly labeled as Manson-listening, Doom-playing, faggy-looking, Krye-wannabes. The Washington sniper was believed to be some crazy lone white guy, or perhaps a terrrrrorrrrrrrist from the Middle East. In the end it was a black guy who had even been a war veteran. Even the Chris Benoit case was divided. It wasn't all praise, there were lots of people calling him out for beating his wife and going on 'roid rages or whatever. You can't look back and only pick out the parts that support yourself.

I'm not sure what my point is anymore, but there's more than just black and white on these issues. There are enough mistakes and misconceptions to go around. Every case sees people jumping to one side or the other. Sports generates more disgust usually because people see these celebrities with their cash money, sporting ice and spinnaz or whatever and stop thinking of them as people who live day to day like any of us. So then you throw some water at a ballin' b-baller and end up getting your ass kicked, or in some cases the guy next to you gets his ass kicked by accident.

The issue here is more the rift between spectator and player than anything racial. It's like in any society, lower class people demand those of a higher class be held accountable. And who is living the high life more than celebrities? We're always told it's a land of equality, then people like Paris Hilton can get drunk and mow down street signs and bribe their way out of jail. Speaking of which, I hope you weren't asleep during that uproar, because there surely weren't any people around this board trying to keep that curvy, perfumed saltine out of jail.

I guess I'm done now. 8)

[Deejay]

I concur, Elmer. You have shown me the light, lol. Let's end our bickering in the name of Lindsay Lohan.

[Charla]

And thus did peace return to the thread, and there was much rejoicing. And the people didst feast upon the carps and sloths and orangutans and anchovies and fruit bats and breakfast cereals and- yes I am tired, how did you guess

[Sho]

Elmer for President. 8)