Fire David Stern

[dlpin]

The NBA is not a government department, it's a private enterprise. If Stern's bosses are happy with him, they shall keep him - the corollary is that if they had kept him all these years is because they're probably happy with his work. If you don't like the product, quit buying it (or even start your own basketball pro league). If that happens, Stern will eventually be fired.

Consumers's choices are not limited to "buy or don't buy." Every consumer has the right to voice its opinion on the matter. Besides, the "private entreprise" that is the NBA is also afforded certain protections under the law (antitrust exception), and subsidies from local and states governments, which means that he is pretty much fair game when it comes to calling for his head or decrying his actions.

There is a reason Donaghy and now other NBA employees are under scrutiny from law enforcement agencies. Fixing games goes beyond violating the league's internal rules, it actually breaks the law.

As is the seattle case: the two lawsuits against the sonics are about fraud and about a lease with a city and its facility which was renewed by public funds.

[cordobes]

Yeah thats a great way to deal with it commissioner, why don't you present some facts to refute Donahue's comments.  We are supposed to believe what you say simply because your the commissioner?

What kind of "facts" do you want Stern to present? How does one prove that a game wasn't rigged? Can you present some facts to refute that there are aliens living among us?

I certainly believe that some refs are utterly incompetents. I believe that a few of them have bias pro/against some clubs/athletes. I'll need much more than some random and unproven allegations to believe that the league is rigged. And I also believe that the "NBA way of officiating", without calling travels etc etc, plus the athleticism and quickness of the players, make much more harder to referee a NBA game than a FIBA one.

For instances: certainly that Stern wants all the series to go to 7 games. I'm pretty sure almost every referee understands that. A question that can be made: is there a pattern that shows us that refs involved in games 5/6 in which the team with the back against the wall wins, have more successful careers than the median? Because it's possible that NBA refs have the perception that if one wants to officiate better games in nicer cities, if you one doesn't want to get suspended or fined, the right thing to do is to do what's best for "business".

Phil Jackson is absolutely right on this issue, btw. Refs should be out of the league, their boss shouldn't be the same guy who works for the owners. They should be evaluated by guys who can't be fired by Stern. Something like the supreme court: justices appointed for life, who don't need to worry about loyalties to anyone. Also, why not appoint them to the playoffs games through a lottery system? 

[Roy Hobbs]

Stern has done a lot of good things for the league, and continues to do so.  He's brought a ton of revenue in, and the league is more popular worldwide than maybe ever before.  He has done well with the collective bargaining agreement, including the rookie salary scale and (in my opinion) the minimum age requirements.

However, I agree that he should go.  Domestic television ratings are way down in general, and have been declining steadily for awhile now.  Rather than being the second most popular sport domestically, it has again fallen behind baseball, and there are concerns it will be surpassed in popularity by Nascar.  The last round of expansion was a failure, and the way Stern handled the Seattle relocation was terrible.

But, it all starts and ends with the officiating, and it's a mess.  The public perception is that the NBA is cheating, and that goes far beyond Tim Donaghy.  In no other sport does the home team get nearly the number of calls that NBA teams get on their home court.  Multiple refs have been investigated by the FBI, the NBA Finals have been officiated atrociously (despite these refs supposedly being the best of the best), you have NBA spokesman saying the game should be called differently at different times, etc., etc. 

Changes need to be made, and to restore public confidence, Stern can't be the one to do it.  Perhaps that's unfair, but his credibility is shot.  The league needs to revamp its officiating system, and to start fresh with new leadership.

[35Reggie]

How can any of you who call yourselves Celtic fans support this [guy]?  He's the one who decided Reggie Lewis' contract would continue to count against the Celtics' cap after his death.  He singlehandedly screwed the Celts in the early 90's before ML Carr got the chance to finish the job.

-- No offensive language, please. -R.H.

[action781]

I vividly remember game 6 in 2002, thought it was fixed that night, and have never wavered from that thinking. Donaghy mentioning that game in particular, definitely adds a great deal of validity to what he says (...)

How so? I think it's quite the opposite. He mentions that game like any NBA fan does mention it when trying to make the point that some games are fixed.

Yeah, if he's going to pick a game, he's going to pick one that is already fishy to bring "assurance" to the public's (and Scot Pollard's) opinion.  Not some random game that nobody remembers for anything.


I honestly thought the celts had no chance in game 6 against Detroit.  After that Pierce foul on his 3 pointer, I thought the refs had it in for us... Still kind of think so.

[timpiker]

I really don't intend to demean anyone but David Stern but, he's always looked and acted like a con man tio me.  He looks like one of those cheap used car salesman trying to sell a used car that's a lemon, dishonestly.

I'd do not like his smug attitude which comes off to me, not refreshing, but with an attitude of "hey, I'm the boss and I'll do what I [dang] well please."

[Schupac]

Yeah thats a great way to deal with it commissioner, why don't you present some facts to refute Donahue's comments.  We are supposed to believe what you say simply because your the commissioner?

What kind of "facts" do you want Stern to present? How does one prove that a game wasn't rigged? Can you present some facts to refute that there are aliens living among us?

...

You are correct he can't present a fact to prove the games officials are all on the up and up.  But I would love to sit down with Stern, watch game 6 of those finals, and hear his explanation for the officiating.

I think the idea here is not the needs to "prove" these weren't officiated poorly... but rather his argument is nonexistant.  Rather than address any of these ridiculously badly officiated games, he just acts as if we are all ridiculous for even hinting at there being a problem.  That's not an argument at all, that's just dodging the issue.



But I agree with your last paragraph, as Phil Jackson said (am I agreeing with that jerk?  wow) the referees need to answer to an independent party.  As it stands, the problems (or the APPEARANCE of problems if you don't believe in them) are too much and it has to be fixed.

[jaketwice]

As a commissioner, Stern had a choice between shepherding the brand, or shepherding the game - and he chose the brand. I say he chose wrong.

The game is what got the brand where it is. Ultimately, the commissioner has to protect the integrity of the game - even at the expense of ratings because stars are ephemeral, as are ratings. Only the game is constant.

You can have the greatest athletes in the world, but if they aren't playing a fair game, their athleticism doesn't mean anything.

There needs to be a new commissioner, and whoever it happens to be needs to protect the game from all the marketing forces that work against fairness. David Stern has failed as a commissioner, because he has allowed individual successes, which admittedly do drive revenue, to flourish at the expense of fairness. In so doing, he has lost the trust of the fans.

Fire David Stern!!!