FanHouse Tim Donaghy

Tim Donaghy, the disgraced former NBA referee who admitted to gambling on games that he officiated, was officially released from a federal prison on Wednesday.

Donaghy was transferred to a halfway house for two months earlier this summer but was returned to prison in late August after violating the terms of his probation by failing to appear for his job. Donaghy claimed it was a simple misunderstanding -- he believed he had permission to miss work in order to visit a physical therapist -- but the courts obviously disagreed.

You have to give Las Vegas Mayor Oscar Goodman an "A" for persistence. Neither the bad economy, nor the bad publicity from the All-Star Game in 2007 -- or even the stepped-up anti-gambling push after the snake-like Tim Donaghy raised his head -- has deterred Goodman from continuing his push for an NBA franchise.

He does make a lot of sense. Las Vegas really would be NBA heaven.

Goodman at his weekly press conference Thursday brought up the issue again of moving forward with plans for a new downtown arena in hopes of luring an NBA franchise to his city.

On Thursday, a memo from the NBA to all 30 teams was leaked and subsequently reported on by Chris Sheridan of ESPN and tweeted about by Chris Mannix of SI. The purpose of the memo was to reiterate a "no-tipping" policy regarding officials and arena or locker room personnel.

Long story short, backstage personnel have long done favors and personal errands for officials before and after games, and in the latest CBA negotiations, a policy was put in place to end it. The memo clearly states that the league does not feel the pre-existing actions have tampered with games, but a conclusion was reached to eliminate it regardless.

"This is an important change to the CBA," the memo states, as reported by ESPN. "While we do not believe that the pre-existing practice of tipping locker room attendants has affected the integrity of the officiating in any way, it could be perceived in a negative light, and it is therefore best to eliminate this practice."

On Tuesday we learned that disgraced former referee Tim Donaghy was arrested again. Now, thanks to the Philadelphia Inquirer, we know why: Donaghy skipped work.

The U.S. Marshals took Donaghy into custody for failing to show up to his job at a Sarasota bottling company, according to the Inquirer's Frank Fitzpatrick. In the two months since being released from federal prison camp, Donaghy has lived in a halfway house, where he was scheduled to stay until October in order to finish out his prison term. In 2008, Donaghy plead guilty to gambling charges, in the process implicating the NBA in a mass game-fixing conspiracy.

Ever since being released from a federal prison camp in June, disgraced NBA referee Tim Donaghy has enjoyed relative freedom, working during the days and spending his nights in a halfway house in Tampa, Fla., biding his time until his 15-month sentence was complete on Oct. 24.

Or at least, that was the plan; after being arrested by U.S. Marshals on Monday for an undisclosed rule violation, Donaghy may have his release date pushed back, or at the very least, may be forced to spend the balance of his sentence behind bars. [Update: Donaghy's violation is revealed.]

It's too early to say what the repercussions will be until information regarding the severity of his violations is released, but for the time being, he's being held without bail in a Hillsborough County jail.

I was glad to see my FanHouse colleague Brett Edwards pick up the discussion string concerning the disturbing attendance data uncovered by Peter Nussbaum last week at Supersonics Soul. What was disappointing, however, was his failure to grapple with the data presented and how he instead pointed the finger back at hockey fans like me and our "hilarious" insecurities.

Let me make one thing clear: I take no joy in the attendance woes of the NBA, or any other league for that matter. And if hockey fans like me are "insecure," it's for a very simple reason: the relentless drumbeat in the mainstream media and on sports blogs that the NHL is irrelevant.

What am I talking about? Well, our friend Enrico Campetelli gave us a nice reminder last week over at The 700 Level, where he posted an interview he did with long-time Flyers beat writer Tim Pannacio. It was Pannacio who left the Philadelphia Inquirer after last season when he demurred after his editor attempted to re-assign him to cover the Eagles. The reason: the editor, an ex-ESPN hand who was responsible for PTI and Around the Horn had declared hockey "an irrelevant sport," this in a town where the Flyers are outdrawing the 76ers despite the fact that the Flyers lost six straight games to start the season.

NBA Essentials ranks our six favorite stories of the day.

1. IndyStar.com: Shaquille O'Neal, so happy to be back home in New Jersey that he's ... stealing candy bars?

2. South Florida Sun-Sentinel: Shawn Marion, feeling like a caged animal.

3. SI.com: Good Interview with Scott Foster, the other (innocent!) referee whose name kept coming up in the Tim Donaghy scandal.

4. Toronto Star: Do not mention the "stupidity" of the Chris Bosh 2010 free agency to Raps' coach Sam Mitchell.

5. Deseret News: Carlos Boozer "hasn't decided" if he'll opt out this summer. What? You don't believe Boozer when he's talking about his contract?

6. AlanaG.com: A hilarious tale of a trip to the voting booth, which has been taken a little too seriously by at least one other site. (Oh, and it's NBA-related because of the video of Acie Law voting, I guess.)

Today's release of the Pedowitz Report -- which, among other things, backed up the league's assertion that Tim Donaghy was the only one doing what he was doing -- prompted David Stern to take questions from the media via conference call. Here were some of the hightlights:

- The question was asked that if the report found that referees were not manipulating the outcomes of games, how were they able to win between 60 and 70% of their wagers? Stern answered simply, "I don't know," then questioned the reporter on that statistic. He added that he hadn't seen those numbers and that he didn't know if that was accurate. But he guessed that if you start by guessing and you're at 50-50, any additional piece of inside information would be likely to increase your odds of guessing correctly.

- Speaking of inside information, that was the reason the commissioner gave for implementing the game-day release of the names of which officials would be working which games. He said that the more information that's available publicly, the less of a gambler's advantage there is, because there would be almost no inside information anymore. Stern stated that the "gambler's edge would be blunted" by the release of more public information.

Never has a guy playing a "friendly" Nassau got himself in so much trouble.

Tim Donaghy, a man that will most likely be nominated into the Suns Hall of Fame after jail, got infected with his gambling bug from, of all places, the golf course.

"(Stephen) Block, a longtime New York-based gambling treatment counselor who interviewed Donaghy in January, traced his problem to 1994, when he started betting up to $500 a hole and playing card games at various golf clubs in his home state of Pennsylvania."

I have some buddies that would bet on anything from who hits the most trees in a round to which portion of the cart girl's shirt will be stained and even they don't toss $500 around the links.

Who is this guy, Charles Barkley?

"His gambling history demonstrates the need to gamble to fulfill the underlying need for 'action,"' Block said. "He continued to gamble despite the consequences and the fear of disclosure of his activities."

With Donaghy just being sentenced to 15 months in prison, I guarantee the need for "action" will indefinitely be fulfilled. "Hey Timmy, wanna bet on which guard I paid off to conveniently disappear for the next eight minutes?"

He better hope they send him to a jail near San Antonio, it might be the only place he's safe.

Never has a guy playing a "friendly" Nassau got himself in so much trouble.

Tim Donaghy, a man that will most likely be nominated into the Suns Hall of Fame after jail, got infected with his gambling bug from, of all places, the golf course.

"(Stephen) Block, a longtime New York-based gambling treatment counselor who interviewed Donaghy in January, traced his problem to 1994, when he started betting up to $500 a hole and playing card games at various golf clubs in his home state of Pennsylvania."

I have some buddies that would bet on anything from who hits the most trees in a round to which portion of the cart girl's shirt will be stained and even they don't toss $500 around the links.

Who is this guy, Charles Barkley?

"His gambling history demonstrates the need to gamble to fulfill the underlying need for 'action,"' Block said. "He continued to gamble despite the consequences and the fear of disclosure of his activities."

With Donaghy just being sentenced to 15 months in prison, I guarantee the need for "action" will indefinitely be fulfilled. "Hey Timmy, wanna bet on which guard I paid off to conveniently disappear for the next eight minutes?"

He better hope they send him to a jail near San Antonio, it might be the only place he's safe.