Donaghy Sentenced

Former NBA referee Tim Donaghy was sentenced to 15 months in prison for gambling.  Donaghy pleaded guilty to the gambling scandal.  He gave gamblers inside information.  He also tried to indict other referees.  To read the whole report, click here.

Tim Donaghy is a rat who casted a dark shadow over the integrity of the NBA.  First, he alters games for money.  One of the worst things you can do in sports, maybe the worst.  Then, he tries rat out other referees and blame the league.  

I hope Tim Donaghy is the only referee involved in gambling.  The NBA better hope he is.  But if he's not, the NBA will lose a tremendous amount of fans and respect.  I want to believe Donaghy is a freak case, but the truth is; nobody knows.  Maybe that technical foul on your team's best player was because the ref had 20,000 on the other team.  Maybe the ball that was way outside that the ump called strike three was because he wanted to make more money.

Donaghy is a ugly reminder that people aren't always honest in sports.  Steroids was a reminder (and a wake-up call) for baseball.  I think he got what he deserves; 15 months is a awful long time in jail considering he pleaded guilty.

I think that not just David Stern should take this as a warning, but all major sports commissioners.  And I hope that this will not happen again.