So Tim Donaghy wants us to believe he never fixed any games even though he’s a degenerate gambler?
Really?
So the thought of a little whistle here and a little non-call there during games never entered his mind when money was on the line?
I’m not buying it and I don’t think anybody on Covers is either.
He’s telling us a bunch of half truths to try and dilute his part in the scandal.
Do superstar calls exist?
Of course.
Do NBA refs let players get away with traveling?
All the time.
Are there some officials that have inappropriate relationships with coaches and players?
You betcha.
But that doesn’t mean Donaghy should be absolved.
He’s like he’s saying, “I’m not the one you should be worried about. NBA Commissioner David Stern is the one rigging everything.”
Gimme a break.
Donaghy brags that it was “easy money” picking winners because of his inside information. But James Battista, the mobbed-up dude Donaghy was feeding picks, says he wasn’t interested in any selections on games Donaghy wasn’t working.
“I got tired of losing those,” Battista told HBO’s Bryant Gumbel. “I told him, ‘Just give me the games you’re working.’”
Donaghy maintains that he called clean games and tells everyone that the FBI and NBA have confirmed that. Of course, according to the New York Post’s Peter Vecsey, the FBI and NBA never talked to Battista.
Pete Rose told a similar story. First he denied betting on games altogether. Fifteen years later he admits to betting baseball, including games that he managed as the Reds skipper.
But it’s not a big deal because he didn’t bet against his team.
"I bet on my team every night. I didn't bet on my team four nights a week. I bet on my team to win every night because I loved my team, I believed in my team," Rose said in an interview with Dan Patrick on ESPN radio. "I did everything in my power every night to win that game."
Right, just like a crooked ref wouldn’t fix a game or shave points.
We’re being asked to believe that a guy - who had no problem breaking all the rules - was actually a man of morals.
I might be a little wet behind the ears but I wasn’t born yesterday.