NBA Voodoo: David Stern Fixes the Playoffs

A Different Drummer ^ | 5 June 2002 | Nicholas Stix

[Bikers4Bush]

World B. Freeeeeeeee! Those were the days and I doubt that we'll ever get back to there.

[RabidBartender]

LOL. I can't believe none of these Sore Loserman types have had the testicular fortitude to answer your challenge. I guess it is beyond their limited conspiracy minds to accept that the Lakers are a more talented team than the Kings. So they have to cry and blame it on the referees.

Someone posted earlier that the foul total for the entire series was 174-170. Yeah....there's a fix. Keep crying and tell yourselves that, maybe you can form a support group or something - Depressed and Battered Kings Fans or something like that.

[Sir Gawain]

[mrustow]

This article may seem like sour grapes to people who want to see the Lakers get the crushing reality check that the Yankees got last year, but a very bright and talented sports announcer and columnist named Bob Fitzgerald has contended for years that the NBA -- and thus Stern -- chooses the officials for the playoff games, and there is a certain referee who is ALWAYS -- without fail -- chosen to call Game 6 of any playoff series. I don't remember his name.

The stakes this year were even higher, with the rights to NBA broadcasts being up for grabs next season now that NBC is eschewing major league sports from now on, and focusing on entertainment. What if Los Angeles -- the second largest TV market in America -- was aced out of the Finals by Sacramento, the 19th largest market? How would the NBA demonstrate that it is worth top dollar to a network?

"Mmmmmmmmakes me wonder..." -- Led Zeppelin

The Fitzgerald theory works for me, L.N. But then, according to Laker fanatics (many of whom were Michael's minions just a few years ago), I'm just a bitter "Queens" supporter -- even if I'm not.

[mrustow]

fyi

[mrustow]

Join the party!

[mrustow]

Join the party, everyone!

[mrustow]

We're havin' a party!

[aristeides]

Did you see how Stix just had an article appear in Insight magazine (the Washington Times's weekly affiliate)?

[diamond6]

It is pretty amazing, isn't it. Your analogy is perfect. Whenever SoreLosermans were given facts about the election, they started talking emotionally about how the election was fixed. I knew that they couldn't talk logically and analytically about the series as a whole, and so my challenge was a test that they have all failed miserably.

[SoCal Pubbie]

Ooh, Bibby's hurt- somebody call the whhhambulance! Maybe you don't remember the Eastern Conference playoff game where Mark Aguirre, I think it was, for the Pistons collided with a Boston player in the lane AND WAS KNOCKED UNCONSCIOUS, with no foul called. That's playoff basketball, my friend.

It's too bad you can see, or you're too feeble to understand. If you watch a replay (You've heard of those, right?) you'll see that as Kobe starts to move, Bibby reaches up with his right arm and wraps it around Kobe's back. Kobe's forearm is moving as he starts to make his cut, but because Bibby is clutching him there's no place to go and Kobe accidentally strikes Bibby in the nose. I can remember as a kid, probably in the mid sixties, reading a Sports Illustrated article about one of the Celtics who's reputation was drawing fouls. It had full color diagrams and text by the guy on how to do it. Weight back on the heels to draw the charge, all that kind of stuff. Bibby's move was straight out of the how to draw a charge textbook. Sometimes they work, sometimes they don't. The ref was looking right at the play and should have called it on Bibby before the inbounds but he gave the Kings a break. You're too biased to see that.

Why haven't we heard you comment on the questionable call they made against Kobe at the end of regulation? Sending Bibby to the line to tie it up. Was it fixed then?

[diamond6]

Again, where's your facts. You come up with the most bizarre statements without any credibility whatsoever. Do any of you consider that MAYBE the better team usually wins an NBA championship?

[diamond6]

Why haven't we heard you comment on the questionable call they made against Kobe at the end of regulation? Sending Bibby to the line to tie it up. Was it fixed then?

They're incapable of answering any logical questions with any brain powered answer.

[diamond6]

Thanks for sending us your portrait. It's true what they say: A picture [of oneself]paints a thousand words! Now I know where your opinions come from!

[Sir Gawain]

There's no way you're over 16 years old.

[diamond6]

Think again. Check my bio.

[Sir Gawain]

Your bio must be wrong.

[diamond6]

Hey, what can I say. I piss people off for a living, and I'm doing it to you right now!

[Sir Gawain]

Sorry to disappoint you, but it takes more than juvenile ramblings to make me mad.

[diamond6]

Sorry to disappoint you, but it takes more than juvenile ramblings to make me mad.

Again. You go back to talking about yourself. I only talk facts and logic. That's why it's so difficult for all you Queens' fans' feeble minds to understand.