In the wake of the Tim Donaghy scandal over the summer, in which an NBA official was found to have been betting on games he was calling, it's not surprising that the league's current crop of officials don't have much of a sense of humor where gambling is concerned. That may explain why, after a fan told the official to "make sure the game's over 218 points," and then repeating "the OVER" multiple times, he was promptly ejected from the arena.
There's a YouTube video (of course there is) from the telecast of him being escorted out, but it's not really all that interesting. His first person account of the incident is though, and here's an excerpt (poor spelling and grammar included):
Me(intoxicated): MAKE SURE THE GAMES OVER 218 points. THE OVER. THE OVER. THE OVER.
referee(with no hesitation): THATS NOT FUNNY!THATS NOT FUNNY!YOUR OUTTA HERE!!
Next, he repeatedly blows his whistle and signals for a red suited security guard to eject me from the game! then the nba lead security questions me in the tunnel for 10 minutes and writes a report for league officials to investigate. he then takes my tickets and orders 10 red suited security guards to throw me out of the arena immediately.
A couple of things here. The guy admits he was intoxicated, so it's possible that his inebriated state was a factor in his ejection. Also, I've been fortunate enough to sit courtside or in the first few rows of an NBA game enough times to know that the fans are on an extremely short leash with what an official will allow you to say from that distance. But even being that close to the action, should that comment alone be enough to get you ejected from the arena?
It might be. I don't know if it's the proximity to the officials or the players, or the fact that because you're so close you might be seen on television (as this guy was) causing a disturbance, but the refs put up with almost nothing from courtside fans. I would say that on the majority of the occasions that I was that close, I witnessed an official warning some fans in those seats to tone it down or they'd be asked to leave. You can get away with saying a lot more from a few rows back than you can being courtside, for some reason that's just the way it is.
But what if we take what this guy says at face value, and the refs were simply so bothered by the gambling insinuation that they just decided to eject him. Is that a problem? Maybe it is and maybe it isn't. You can't blame them for being sensitive to the gambling topic, but at the same time, what if this person was just making a (weak) attempt at humor? I'm guessing the officials aren't listening all that closely to the crowd, so the intoxicated state of the fan, along with the fact that this probably wasn't the first thing he said all night that was questionable, contributed just as much to his ejection as the gambling reference did.
Oh, and for you conspiracy theorists out there, your final score: Golden State 116, L.A. Clippers 100: that's right, under the 218 total by a bucket.
[via BallHype]
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Reader Comments ( Page 1 of 1)
1. just because a person buys a ticket to a game does not give him the right to be disruptive. does he/she ever think they might be annoying to other fans who want to watch and enjoy the game? the next time i go to a jack nicholson movie i'm going to stand up and boo and curse the poor acting job. jack shouldn't care unless he can't handle the truth.
Posted at 10:17AM on Mar 31st 2008 by tom stovall III
2. Final score: 116-100
Posted at 10:49AM on Mar 31st 2008 by Jason S.
3. "Oh, and for you conspiracy theorists out there, your final score: Golden State 116, L.A. Clippers 110: that's right, under the 218 total by a bucket."
Am I missing something here?
Doesn't 116 plus 110 add up to 226?
Is that lower than 218 by 2?
Is that some sort of new math?
Or is this some sort of gambling math shorthand that I don't know about.
Posted at 11:36AM on Mar 31st 2008 by george
4. Hey George, thanks for pointing out the typo, I fixed it. If you click the link you'll see the score was 116-100, for a total of 216.
Posted at 11:53AM on Mar 31st 2008 by Brett
5. IF ANYONE KNOWS ANYTHING ABOUT REFS. THEY ARE TOLD AT CAMPS AND CLINICS THE FIRST RULE OF OFFICIATING.
1)DONT LISTEN TO THE CROWD IF YOU ARE LISTENING TO THE CROWD THAT MEANS THAT YOU ARE NOT FOCUS ON THE GAME. THIS IS KNOWN AS RABBIT EARS a term that use when a officials hears everything from the stands. if i am paying you 2500 plus for a game do you think I have would have the time to listen to fans that are drunk. refs are paid to officiate the game not listen to what some drunk has to say. dont get but hurt because one of your boys miss it up for everyone
Posted at 1:02PM on Mar 31st 2008 by dan quintero
6. I think it was both rude and insulting for a fan to shout 'over' and '218' at the ref in question.
It's implying the ref can't even remember the figures he personally gave to the sportsbookie 90 minutes before the game.
Scandalous. Disrespectful. Improbable.
Posted at 7:02PM on Mar 31st 2008 by Mischa
7. This is simply hilarious... I have sent this link out to every single one of my friends and we've been laughing for quite a while. I'm truly surprised there hasn't been more of this throughout the league so far... time to get the ref taunting rolling!!
Daniel - www.laballtalk.com
Posted at 10:05PM on Mar 31st 2008 by LA Ball Talk
8. did you happen to hear the audio prior to the guy's comment about the betting line? he repeated multiple times, "that's a bullshit call, that's a bullshit call." sitting in the first few rows of an nba game, that can be enough to get you ejected from a game. chances are that in addition to the official having had enough of this idiot's blather, the guy was probably also annoying the season ticket regulars, and they were none to pleased to see his butt tossed from the arena.
you're relying on a completely unreliable source--your original post should never even have been written.
Posted at 11:43PM on May 4th 2008 by there's more to the story