NBA fixing: biggest American sports story in recent memory?

[Jack of Arcades]

Clark was not talking about coverage.

[Assani Fisher]

News like the OJ murder, Kobe rape, and Magic aids impacted and interested non sports fans. They crossed over from sports stories to entertainment stories. I doubt that this one does that.

[Jack of Arcades]

This would matter if we were entering Donaghy into the Who's Now competition.

Read his post again:

[ QUOTE ]
And while certainly nothing will get as much press as the OJ case, I am hard pressed to think that any of the things I listed really *should* be bigger, or are more significant than NBA games, including playoff games, having the outcome influenced by an official. The more I think about it, the bigger I think this is.

[/ QUOTE ]

[Vyse]

I really don't think it's going to be that big a deal, and it probably shouldn't be. It's much more likely to be an isolated incident that had minimal impact than some Black Sox mess.

[IrishHand]

Assuming it's proven that he fixed a relatively large number of games (and if he started years ago, that's got to be a fair assumption - and forget this "wait 'til the facts come out", just like Vick, he's guilty as sin if the feds are involved. This isn't some clown Duke DA), I'd rank them:

1) OJ Simpson killing ex-wife and her lover (unbelievable from start to jury verdict, massive public impact/awareness)
2) Jordan to baseball (NBA god leaves to become MLB minor leaguer)
3) Kobe rape case (elite NBA player in his prime)
4) NBA ref fixing games for mob/himself
5) Tyson rape case (lower than Kobe because less shocking, obviously)
6) Pete Rose gambling (deserves permanent MLB/HoF ban, but nothing like Black Sox scandal)
7) Nancy Kerrigan getting whacked by opponent's hired thug
8) Vick dog fighting (suspect character to begin with, moves up 3-4 spots if/when Vick does time and has career killed)
9) Tyson ear biting (a little surprising, but hardly out of character)
10) Magic Johnson with AIDS
11) Ben Johnson doping
12) Duke lacrosse rape case
13) Team USA baskeball turning into a joke (no "event", slow process therefore not a big "story")
14) Bonds/Sosa/McGwire/Canseco "steroid era" (low because there was no "event", just a multi-year acceptance that a decade plus of baseball is a joke)

[Cry Me A River]

[ QUOTE ]
No referee, umpire, linesmen or other in-game official has ever been arrested or indicted for game- or match-fixing in the history of the four major sports.


[/ QUOTE ]

If Donaghy is arrested, this will be pretty big.

If not, it'll blow over quickly.

[By-Tor]

this imo is by far and away the biggest story of those noted for one simple reason, it is a referee involved.

we expect there to be bad apples in the 'player pool'. there are simply too many of them for there not to be.

but for an official to be involved in something like this is mind blowing.

[B00T]

when the real details come out on this situation it will be a lot bigger than it is right now

if one or more referees show up as being conspirators this will reach catastrophic proportions

[talentdeficit]

i think this is going to have the most impact on it's sport of any of the stories mentioned. i think a referee influencing the outcome of games is far more serious than players or even entire teams doing it. if vince carter wants to dog it and throw games so he can get traded, it just reflects badly on vince carter, and his team can make the choice to get rid of him. teams have no recourse to corrupt officials. unless you can prove the corruption, you have to live with officials compromising the competitiveness of the league. corrupt officials destroy the very fabric of the game.

most of the other stories were stories for sensationalistic reasons. oj wasn't making football look bad, he was just making himself look bad.

[andyfox]

"if one or more referees show up as being conspirators this will reach catastrophic proportions"

And one can imagine that the gamblers who got to the ref(s) might also have gotten to, say, a MLB umpire or two. This could indeed be very, very big.