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Former NBA Referee rips Stern regarding gambling scandal

written July 24, 2007

Mike Mathis, a 26-year veteran official who retired in 2002, stated on ESPN today that Tim Donaghy appeared a promising official when he broke into the league in 1993-94 -- but one with a notable flaw.

"He's a shoot-from-the-hip kind of guy. He was prickly, arrogant," Mathis said. "Sometimes those qualities make a good referee, but he went overboard with it. Usually I can tell in 10 minutes on the floor with a guy whether he'll be a good ref, if he can make the calls and handle the pressure. And he was one of them.

"But he had the kind of flaws that (eventually showed up) -- overreacting a lot, a quick temper, flashy-temper kind of things. There were things out there that would have been red flags."

Mathis was even harsher regarding David Stern, accusing the commissioner of not hiring the best available refs and making fun of the checks and balances the commissioner states is currently being used to grade an official's performance.

Mathis stated, " I know for a fact that one of the 30 people on the committee that supervises and judges a referee's performance only played Football whereas another is a time keeper for NBA games."

Mathis was taking a strong jab by inferring that neither of these two are qualified to be in their current positions. 

When asked if any of the committee members that supervises and grades current referees were former NBA officials, Mathis stated that he didn't know of one who currently were.

It should also be noted that at least one ESPN reporter suggested that Stern never took any responsibility for this referee's criminal behavior as Stern kept calling it a"rogue" occurrence.

It did appear that David Stern tried to do everything he could to vindicate himself and his system from being at fault throughout most of the interview.

Some might even suggest it was hypocritical of Stern to say that he would review "everything" about the game due to this incident.

Why would there be a need to do this since Stern said he that he did nothing wrong and that the checks and balances which currently exist are state of the art techniques?

Yeah right.

"I don't think the tip of the iceberg is even in sight in terms of what damage this could do," said Mathis.

I agree.

written by Kenneth Weitzner--EOG

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