Last night the NBA announced that they would use replacement refs for the beginning of the NBA season (which is still more than a month away) after the Referee’s union rejected a two-year deal by league officials.

The contract between the league and its officials expired on Sept. 1 and they have been unable to reach a new deal. Negotiations broke down at least twice as the sides remained apart on the league’s proposed changes to the referees’ pension and severance packages, as well as a plan to develop younger officials.

Hey man, I get it.  Negotiations break down all the time.  Especially when both sides are of equal strength with regard to bargaining chips.  Wait, what’s that you say?  NBA refs are the least respected officials in all of professional sports?  Everyone thinks that they purposefully and continuously affect the outcome of games in a negative way?  There isn’t a man alive in the great city of Phoenix that wouldn’t like to have personally broken former ref, Tim Donaghy’s kneecaps in prison?  Then what the fuck is the issue?

In the memo, the NBA told teams that the deal in principle would have resulted in savings in the referees program by approximately 3.5 percent over the next two years. Previous deals with the officials have been for five years, but the league agreed to make it two in this contract so the referees could renegotiate sooner, when it hoped the league’s economic situation had changed.

Wait, this negotiation is going so poorly that they want a shorter deal so that they can re-negoitate all over again in two years?  What the fuck is going on?

If this were the NFL, I would get it.  NFL refs are well respected and according to most surveys I’ve seen, most fans think they get the call right most of the time.   Add to the fact that they use replays on a lot of calls and we’re left with a collection of officials that seemingly embrace transparency.  Likewise, baseball, though less respected than NFL refs, have a reputation for at least being consistent: if the strikezone seems wide, it’s usually wide for both teams.  The NBA on the other hand is universally panned as the most corrupt and self-serving group of zebras in all of sports.

My question is this: what the fuck do the refs have that’s even close to a bargaining chip?

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Disgraced NBA Ref and degenerate gambler Tim Donaghy is set to be released from prison next week due to health issues stemming from the fact that he keeps getting beaten up by mobsters who don’t like snitches and cheats.

Donaghy’s release date has recently been in question due to concerns about his medical condition. Donaghy was injured during an assault in November of 2008. During the assault, another inmate claiming ties to the New York mob beat Donaghy with a heavy object. Donaghy suffered severe knee and leg injuries that will require surgery.

Donaghy, as you’ll undoubtedly remember, was the NBA official who rigged numerous games throughout his illustrious career as the only NBA official who got caught doing what everyone else knows they’re doing.

As a lifelong Phoenix Suns fan I find this matter to be awesome and truly worthy of a leaked prison tape.  I hope it occurred in a laundry room or the mess hall or somewhere with a lot of surveillence cameras so they can show it from a lot of different angles.  Seriously, watch this video and pretend the team getting screwed is your favorite team in the whole world.  Oh, and try to remember that this is Game 3 of the Western Conference Finals and not just some conference game in December. Read the rest of this entry »

If you didn’t see the replays of the Diamondbacks/Dodgers game yesterday, go here and watch the clip before reading on.  For those of you who can’t watch it, I’ll summarize:

Top of the 2nd.  Men on second and third.  One out.  Dan Haren pitches to Randy Wolf who hits a soft liner directly at Haren who catches it, throws it to Lopez covering second, who tags out Juan Pierre before he returns to second base.  The team runs off the field having prevented the other team from scoring a run, right?

Not if you’re the umpiring crew at yesterday’s game.

Both teams ran off the field before noticing that a run had been added to the Dodgers tally.  Bob Melvin came out to ask why a run had been added and the umpiring crew said that Andre Ethier had scored from third before Juan Pierre had been tagged out.  Bob Melvin replied, “how can that be, he didn’t tag up?”  The umpiring crew responded, “well you should have appealed the play before the teams left the field.”  Melvin says, “how the hell am I supposed to know that a run was illegally added if it isn’t posted until we’re already in the dugout?”  The ump says, “not my problem.”  The end. Read the rest of this entry »