Ev'ry gambler knows that the secret to survivin'
Is knowin' what to throw away and knowing what to keep.
'Cause ev'ry hand's a winner and ev'ry hand's a loser,
And the best that you can hope for is to die in your sleep-The Gambler, Kenny Rogers
With a lack of originality in much of Hollywood’s stories, there has been a major push towards reality television. What’s ironic is that the best original story Hollywood could have come up with is a reality for the NBA.
A gambling addict turned NBA ref fixes over 100 games. Just when we think it is a dead issue he blows the lid off the story by saying that other officials, coaches, and players were involved.
What studio is going to pass on that script? Think The Departed meets Hoosiers or Donnie Brasco meets White Shadow.
The 42 year old veteran referee plead guilty last summer to felony charges that involved taking cash payoffs and betting on games he officiated. He faces up to 25 years in prison and a $500,000 fine.
The story sounds straight forward enough. Here a few points that may make this a more interesting story and possible epic movie:
Tim Donaghy was not caught by NBA Security. He was overheard by the FBI on a mob wire tap, who then contacted the NBA.
During the time period he refereed 139 regular season games and 8 playoff games.
With the investigation still ongoing NBA Commissioner David Stern says at a press conference that he was a “rouge referee” and it was an “isolated instance”.
The NBA has not released a list of games Donaghy refereed from 2005-2007.
Sports gambling expert R. J. Bell tracked every game Donaghy worked from 2003-2007. He discovered that “during the two seasons investigated by the NBA the teams scored more points than expected by Vegas sports books 57% of the time. The odds of such a discrepancy are 1 in 1,000.”
Tim Donaghy told investigators that relationships among officials, coaches, and players “affected the outcome of the games”
Donaghy told investigators about the gambling activities of other NBA officials and about a referee that passed “confidential” information to an unidentified coach.
Donaghy’s attorney suggested that the NBA might have “pressured” the attorney’s office “into shutting down this prosecution to avoid the disclosure of information unrelated to Tim’s conduct.”
NBA referee Bob Delany is a former undercover state trooper with the New Jersey State Police task force on organized crime.
When Bob Delany was asked what illegal activities he participated in Delany said, “stolen property, loan sharking, gambling, purchasing of guns.”
Did he just say gambling? I wonder if Delany and Donaghy worked any games together. What if we found out they were in cahoots? What if David Stern was highly involved along with Lebron James and Steve Nash.
(Opening scene)
Donaghy: (in his car talking on the phone) Okay, Okay. I know I’m in the hole, but I’ll make up for it tonight. I’ll be sure not to make it look too obvious
Voice on the other end of the phone: The boss does not like to be disappointed.
(Kenny Rogers, The Gambler plays as a slow montage of NBA referee Tim Donaghy getting dressed for the game, walking on the court, half court handshake with NBA players. The camera surveys a crowd of cheering fans. One fan is still sitting in his seat with his eyes fixed on Donaghy. He’s there to protect his investment)
The NBA is Fantastic!
No comments:
Post a Comment