PLC is developing an Officials Workshop for our partners to use in the 2010-2011 school year that will be unveiled at the 2010 Sports Leadership Conference. This is why I found Tim Donaghy’s interview so interesting last night. If you missed the 60 Minutes interview with Tim Donaghy, then check it out at www.cbsnew.com or view below. Donaghy is the infamous NBA referee who bet on professional basketball games, many of which he was officiating. The story portrayed a remorseful man who suffered from a severe gambling addiction that eventually got him into trouble with the mob, put him in jail, and tore apart his family.
A central theme of the interview focused on the integrity of NBA referees and officials in general. Both the FBI and the NBA did not find that his bets influenced the way he called his games. On the other hand, Donaghy claimed that he was able to win 80% of his bets exactly because of the inside information he was given by his fellow officials. He claimed in the interview that he knew of personal likes and dislikes of each official that would ultimately influence the outcome of the game. In other words, he made fair calls while benefitting from the unfair calls of his fellow officials.
Are officials influenced by personal opinions of teams, players, and coaches?
Two primary goals of the official are to protect the integrity of the game and ensure the safety of the players. Favoring (or disfavoring) a team because of personal opinions insults the integrity of the game. Just as coaches and players complete for the love of the game, so should officials officiate for the love of the game. There is no place for officials to make calls based on their personal opinions of the players or team.
At the same time, officials are human. As a former official, I seldom had players or coaches that I disliked a lot. Sure there were many who disliked me and never showed any sense of courtesy, but all that comes with the job. I can, however, remember a number of times when I would officiate a game with friends or even fellow officials who were participants. Sometimes they became the biggest critics! Occasionally I would make a call (the right call), knowing well that people would be upset by it. I may have felt guilty afterwards, not because of the call but because of the repercussions. I cannot imagine making a call (or not making a call) to teach a player or a coach a lesson.
Is Donaghy a “rogue official” as the NBA claims?
I hope so. In the interview, Donaghy made a number of accusations against the NBA. I hope that money does not play into the NBA’s influence on officials. At the same time, there were a lot of game 7’s last year. I also hope that the games I watch on TV are fair. I have had my fair share of yelling at the refs through the television – I just hope that it is caused by human error or my own ignorance and not personal vendettas.
What are your thoughts? Do you think he was impartial when he officiated games on which he placed some money? Can any referee truly call a game without any influence by personal likes and dislikes of teams, players and coaches?
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