I love newspapers.
Newspapers are one place of employment where you could lock yourself in your home office for, oh, four hours straight, squinting as you pore over columns upon columns of data that you have gone to great lengths to obtain – only to have it cut out of the article you wrote because it didn’t fit in the little white space assigned to it.
So before I drop off my son at summer camp Tuesday morning – my son who turned 3 Monday and whose party was occurring while I was holed up in a local Starbucks writing about impending federal indictments and John Doe warrants – here is the information that you would’ve gotten if the space in the newspaper were unlimited, as it is on the Web site you are now reading.
During the 2006-07 season, Tim Donaghy reffed eight games in which at least 72 free throws were attempted – or 20 more than the league average. Of those eight games, six had final scores exceeding the “over/under” by an average of 26.8 points.
This seems significant to me. According to sports betting sources, calling fouls would be the easiest way for an NBA official to influence the number of points scored in relation to the over/under. In addition to wagering on the point spread, or margin of victory, some bettors put money on whether the total number of points scored will be greater or less than the over/under set by bookmakers.
According to Covers.com, a sports wagering Web site that tracks referees’ tendencies, Donaghy officiated the fourth-highest scoring games in the NBA last season with a 201.2 average. In addition, 43 of the 73 games he officiated hit the over, the third-highest percentage in the league.
People familiar with the Donaghy probe have been telling us that they are not really focused on particular games and the statistical anomalies that may seem to have occurred. They are building their case through old-fashioned law enforcement techniques – like evidence gathered through wiretaps and apparent admissions by Donaghy, who is cooperating with investigators.
But certain facts about games officiated by Donaghy don’t seem right. That’s not good enough for a federal indictment, but it’s good enough to make the average fan say, “Hmmmm.”
I’ll check in again after David Stern’s news conference today at the “majestic ballroom” of a Manhattan hotel. What an appropriate venue!