04/24/24
October 26, 2007
NBA Offers New Rules For Referees: NBA Commissioner David Stern revealed that over 50% of the league's officials violated league gambling rules, but maintained that Tim Donaghy is the only ref to have bet on basketball games. Stern said the league is introducing new rules and procedures for referees, such as not revealing the officials for a game until the morning of the game, and allowing referees to gamble in casinos during certain times of the year, and to play state lotteries. The Commissioner also pledged to be more forthcoming with the public regarding officials' mistakes, and said he'll take no action against Isiah Thomas and the Knicks until their appeal process is completed.
posted by The_Black_Hand to basketball at 09:30 AM - 7 comments
How can they not assign refs until the day of the game, don't they (the refs) have to know their scheduling? (I didn't RTFA, FYI, LOL)
posted by billsaysthis at 04:51 PM on October 26, 2007
I don't care if the ref's go to casinos or bet on the lottery but this response by the commissioner makes no sense. A ref was caught betting on games, so they investigate all the ref's and find out 50% are breaking the current rules, so the commissioner laxes the rules on gambling by ref's? Man, could you imagine working for someone like that!! Someone doesn't come in to work and so the boss investigates and finds out 50% of the employees are only working half the day so he decides everyone should only work half days and that will keep them from not coming in to work.
posted by Familyman at 05:07 PM on October 26, 2007
This rule he decides not to punish anybody for violating,but the one about leaving the bench is ALWAYS enforced with suspension.nice stern,real nice.
posted by mars1 at 09:51 PM on October 26, 2007
The anology doesn't really make sense Familyman. Comparing skipping out on half your work hours to playing blackjack in a casino is a little overboard. Personally I would love to work for a company that realizes that it's got a rule that is ridiculous and changes it, and maybe the NBA should analyze some other of their rules, not gonna mention any specifics (see mars1's post).
posted by dj sko at 11:49 AM on October 28, 2007
It's a good thing that he's doing, gotta fix this. Major problems that he doesnt even know about.
posted by Jzsteinm at 06:43 AM on November 02, 2007
It's a good thing that he's doing, gotta fix this. Major problems that he doesnt even know about.
posted by Jzsteinm at 05:05 PM on November 04, 2007
As long as they don't bet on basketball, I think it's a total non issue. Why should I be the only one getting my ass kicked in the casino! I go to Vegas a couple of times a year, and I see way more NBA players in the casinos than I do refs. The NBA has a lot bigger issues to worry about than this.