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In my part-time role as legal analyst for SportingNews.com, I get asked from time-to-time to write about a sports-related legal issue relating to something other than football.
And so, typically, I do what I can to make the thing about football.
The case of former NBA referee Tim Donaghy is one that should be taken seriously by every sport, football included. Though the NFL can weather many storms, evidence of game-rigging by officials could kill the golden goose.
For more, click here.
July 29th, 2008 at 1:20 pm
Did you seriously advocate the use of polygraph tests on new hire and continuing officials?
Not only are polygraphs grossly inaccurate at times (there’s a reason they’re not admissible evidence) but that is a horrendous violation of the Federal Polygraph Protection Act, which you have mentioned on your own in the past. Does Mike Shanahan’s illegal testing of his employees ring a bell? You were quick enough to lambaste him for that. Hypocritical much?
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July 29th, 2008 at 1:27 pm
For the record. NFL Security has oversite on this matter. With the recent hiring of a new security chief , it could that this matter will be reviewed again.
Mike, I agree , Very Hypocritical!!!!
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July 29th, 2008 at 1:29 pm
Ben Drieth was on the take, he got the business down there.
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July 29th, 2008 at 1:30 pm
Mr. Florio,
I will respectfully disagree with you. With the soaring popularity of football, there is so much scrutiny. How many of the other leagues have a detailed instant reply as the NFL? NFL officials, in my opinion are amongst the heaviest policed officials in professional sports.
Also, with the amount of money bet on football, the scrutiny is even larger. Billions of dollars are bet on football every season. If there was a referee making inconsistant calls, that would definitely be noted.
Basketball (82 games), Hockey (84 games), and Baseball (161 games) have more of that ability to not have attention for a game. You can take worst two teams in the NFL and you will still 30,000 people in the seats. That’s no where even close to the other sports.
Personally, I think it would be more difficult to fix an NFL game with a referee than any other sport.
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July 29th, 2008 at 1:43 pm
So for now we are going to pretend that the refs call games fair now?
What about horrendous calls for 3 straight years at Colts home playoff games?
2005 Vs PITT - Troy Palomalu’s interception called an “incomplete pass”
2006 Vs NE - Refs blow multiple pass interference calls in favor of Indy, and officially apologize for the “faceguarding” call later.
2007 Vs San Diego - Cromartie’s amazing pick 6 called back on a b.s. “holding” call that no one could find.
Yeah, it must just be a coincidence that the most ridiculous calls in the playoffs, every year, benefit the Colts.
Lets keep pretending……….
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July 29th, 2008 at 1:43 pm
If it pleases the court, I’d like to enter Super Bowl XL as
Peoples Exhibit I as an indication that the NFL already has
a problem with crooked officials.
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July 29th, 2008 at 1:56 pm
@Debacled - I can always agree with ref bashing - especially when it involves the Colts. How about them pumping in the sound noise while we’re at it?
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July 29th, 2008 at 2:04 pm
As per the first comment by “sactoking” saying that polygraphs can be inaccurate, you are full of it. Polygraphs are over 97% accurate! The only reason it is not admissable in court is because there are certain people out there who are able to sway the results one way or the other deliberately. Referee’s definitely should take these tests, and should have nothing to worry about if they have nothing to hide.
These days it is naive to say that there is no way referees have not influenced games or will continue to, even with polygraph tests. But that is not a reason to turn a blind eye as the NFL, NBA, and MLB has done thus far.
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July 29th, 2008 at 2:10 pm
Good post ShootahCowboy…It’s also why you’ll hear commentators give stats on what crews throw flags for certain infractions more than others. Hmmmm…it’s certainly something a smart bettor would take into consideration.
They are heavily scrutinized and policed for sure.
And that faceguarding call was bogus…it’s not even a rule. And Cromartie’s INT was a spectacular play that was called back as his teammate just straight up bowled over the attacker. “Gee, must be holding as the defender certainly can’t block that well.”
And for the Raiders fans with the “it’s a fumble from the snow game”, how about that terrible roughing the QB back in ‘76′? OK we’ll just trade titles, happy?
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July 29th, 2008 at 2:54 pm
“Personally, I think it would be more difficult to fix an NFL game with a referee than any other sport”
…unless you’re the Stealers.
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July 29th, 2008 at 2:58 pm
Good points about the scrutiny required for pro sports, but I have to disagree about one thing:
Rigging college games is problematic for the cheaters because fewer dollars are wagered on each game as opposed to pro games. If the cheaters affect the outcome of a game, they’re bound to bet out heavily on that game. The “bump” in the expected wagering would be a big red flag to Vegas and the FBI that something was odd. After that, it wouldn’t be too difficult for them to detect a pattern of heavy betting on games reffed by one or two guys. The same would be true of pro sports with lots of games per week (baseball, basketball and hockey).
The only way a ring of cheaters could make enough money consistently enough to make the effort worth the risk of getting caught would be to fix lots of games and bet smaller amounts (which risks the ref/umpires ability to keep their job based on performance evaluations, or bet only games that might attract unusually high betting pools (e.g. Yankees/Red Sox, N.Carolina/Duke). Trouble with that M.O. is that you’d need more than one corrupt Ref, increasing the liklihood that someone would talk.
By my thinking, the NFL is potentially more succeptable to this than college sports or other pro sports, as there are two high profile games every week (Sunday and Monday night) and potential heavily bet games every Sunday afternoon. And since the “best” refs are usually assigned to these high profile games, one corrupt official could affect one game per week and not tip the scheme, at least for a while.
A better method might involve having the game officials submit to rigorous credit checks and finacial disclosures, the same as Presidential candidates. After all, Donaghy was caught partially by his own free spending ways, and we’ve all heard the stories about how Mafia guys get nabbed not for their criminal behavior but for their extravagant lifestyles that don’t match their reported incomes. Just an idea.
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July 29th, 2008 at 3:21 pm
I just don’t think the same incentives/opportunities are there in football.
-all playoff games are one-off, so no incentive to favor the team that’s behind in the series and push it to 6 or 7 games as in basketball.
-flags do not lead as directly to scoring as they do in basketball where you get free throws. An official could end up having to throw a LOT of phantom flags to help the team he wants to score
-fewer games. You can bet against the spread etc, and have a ref influence the game in your favor and still lose. However, in the course of an 82 game season the bias in your favor will produce more wins and fewer losses. A 16 game season doesn’t offer the same opportunity for your advantage to, well, work to your advantage.
Finally, I am always amused by fans moaning about the refs. That so called phantom holding call on Cromartie’s INT run back? As they clearly showed on the slowmo on NFL network, there was actually a very clear hold earlier on in the runback which wasn’t called, before the more iffy one that was called. So, you could argue the Chargers “got away” with a hold as much as you could argue that they got jobbed by one. But then maybe one ref was biased for the Colts and one for the Chargers? Who knows!?
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July 29th, 2008 at 3:27 pm
Sometimes I watch NFL games and I think I am watching pro wrestling. The refs aren’t going to be investigated for breaking the rules, because if they were, it would have already happened. Ref bias is incredible in this league. Many teams find themselves playing the opponent AND the refs. For instance, any team playing Indy.
The league refuses to put in well paid, full time refs. Heck, that would make them “professionals” and perhaps less easy to manipulate, since they would be their own entity. Right now they take their marching orders from the competition committee and Polian.
This game would be so much better if we had refs that didn’t try and change the outcome of games. Wish we could arrive at that, but we won’t. The NFL has its darlings, and money is the king.
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July 29th, 2008 at 3:49 pm
I wouldn’t worry about the NFL, as Goodell has amply demonstrated in the Patriots scandal, if it is going to do long term damage to the game, burn the tapes, don’t investigate the real important stuff and then get the whole NFL to say in unison, Its over, there’s is nothing more to it.
Goodell’s antics put Richard Nixon and his crew to shame when it coves to denial, cover up and avoiding the truth.
By the way, the Patriots cheated and once they got caught, they lost the only superbowl played after that advantage was stripped from them.
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July 29th, 2008 at 4:05 pm
Raiderfan420- your name fits your opinion.
A 1997 survey of 421 psychologists estimated the test’s average accuracy at about 61%, a little better than chance.
In the 1998 Supreme Court case, United States v. Scheffer, the majority stated that “There is simply no consensus that polygraph evidence is reliable” and “Unlike other expert witnesses who testify about factual matters outside the jurors’ knowledge, such as the analysis of fingerprints, ballistics, or DNA found at a crime scene, a polygraph expert can supply the jury only with another opinion…”.
So, in other words, polygraphs ARE inaccurate, as recognized by the highest court in the nation. Hence, the EPPA.
I’d also like to point out that “because there are certain people out there who are able to sway the results one way or the other deliberately” is the VERY DEFINITION of an inaccurate test! Way to make my point for me.
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July 29th, 2008 at 4:05 pm
They should ease up on Tim Donaghy. He just misinterpreted the rules. Give him a fine and let it go. So a few teams won games and super bowls, I mean NBA championships they shouldn’t have. I’ve heard if you’re not cheating you’re no trying.
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July 29th, 2008 at 4:08 pm
Did anyone watch the Steelers play the Seahawks a couple years ago. If that wasn’t a setup I don’t know what is.
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July 29th, 2008 at 4:27 pm
JimmySmith says:
July 29th, 2008 at 3:49 pm
I wouldn’t worry about the NFL, as Goodell has amply demonstrated in the Patriots scandal, if it is going to do long term damage to the game, burn the tapes, don’t investigate the real important stuff and then get the whole NFL to say in unison, Its over, there’s is nothing more to it.
Goodell’s antics put Richard Nixon and his crew to shame when it coves to denial, cover up and avoiding the truth.
By the way, the Patriots cheated and once they got caught, they lost the only superbowl played after that advantage was stripped from them.
They also lost to GB back in 96 when BB and Parcells were running the show then…I don’t think the videotaping just started in 00.
And I guess the loss had nothing to do with the front four of the Gents playing with the Pats O line like a white shark does with a seal.
Friggin Kaczur had to hand out his goodies BEFORE the game.
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July 29th, 2008 at 4:50 pm
I was only referring to Bill Bellicheat and his merry band of video tapers. Yes, the Patriots did lose in 1996 but Bellicheat had nothing to do with that either way.
And I do give credit to the Giants and their front four, I just wanted to see Bellicheat’s face once the final gun had gone off but he already left the field in another display of his lack of character.
Is there a lower life form in the NFL? (other than Bob “Bottoms up” Kraft.
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July 29th, 2008 at 10:15 pm
nixon was run out because he wasnt allowing the drug trade overseas to flourish and he didnt worship israel. watergate was a panty raid compared to what some other presidents and candidates did and do.
speaking of fixed calls etc… yes the steelers getting a td (ben moved) and seattle getting nothing. frisco’s last playoff win in green bay. AND…
TUCK!
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July 30th, 2008 at 2:49 am
If you want to remove the element of gambling having an illicit effect on games, then you need to ensure that all game outcomes can be CHANGED AFTER REVIEW BY THE LEAGUE.
The fact that a game can occur, an outcome be decided, and a league can say “yep, that outcome sucked, but that’s the way it is…” will only encourage this to continue to happen. Had the league said “we reverse the outcome” and awarded a victory instead of a loss.. then this wouldn’t even be an issue IMO.
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