On Monday night, Chris McCosky of the Detroit News reported on his blog that Allen Iverson had been banned from two of Detroit's three downtown casinos after repeated warnings for "boorish behavior" such as "throwing his chips or cards at the dealer" when he loses.
The only problem? As reported in today's Detroit Free Press, spokesmen for both MGM Grand Detroit and Greektown Casino denied that Iverson was ever banned, or that there's any record that he ever created a disturbance in the first place.
But what's an "injured" professional basketball player to do with all that free time? Gamble, duh. Iverson hit the casinos in Detroit hard; a little too hard, actually, because he's been banned by both the MGM and Greektown casinos. And, amazingly, it doesn't relate to the fight his bodyguard was allegedly involved in recently.
Clipper Darrell is probably the biggest Clippers fan in the world. He attends every Clippers game at Staples Center, has a BMW painted in Clipper colors, and sports Clipper colors on the daily. He also can be found leading cheers at the Staples Center and talking trash to opposing players when they are at the free throw line.
Darrell's passion is wonderful, but this time, it might have led him to a little bit of trouble.
Ten-thousand dollars. That's a lot of money. You don't want to bet that amount either, unless you've got a really, really, really sure thing/stone-cold lock type of bet going. Or you're an NBA superstar who enjoys following the Cowboys. Acie Law IV is the latter. And, based on his Yardbarker blog, he just bet one of his boys 10 large that Dallas is going to the Super Bowl next year.
There's been plenty of talk lately about the possibility of LeBron James signing with the Knicks when he's an unrestricted free agent in 2010. With New York's recent trades that left them with little talent but a lot of salary cap space, it's a logical (albeit annoying) conclusion that the team will do everything they can to lure King James to NYC.
There are some out there though that refuse to believe the hype, and they're the type that make their living off of making these types of predictions.
I'm talking about the odds makers here, and the ones at BetOnline.com don't think that LeBron is going anywhere. In fact, they have lines posted on where LeBron will end up when it's all said and done, and based on the payouts, their guess is that he'll remain in Cleveland.
Perhaps more than any other pro major league, the NBA has flirted with Las Vegas in recent years. The Maloofs, controlling owners of the Kings, are a big part of that. The family's notoriety, fortune and fame come from the Palms Casino. Ever-mindful of the potential or appearance of point shaving or game fixing, the NBA has barred the Palms from offering bets on NBA games in its book. That changed today, when (at the request of the Maloofs) the NBA board of governors voted to allow the league's games on the books at the Palms.
The Maloofs' argument, according to quotes collected by the Associated Press, is that a minority owner of the Celtics runs Harrah's, a casino chain. Harrah's takes bets on all NBA game not involving the C's. There have no problems which game-fixing accusations or whatnot, so the Maloofs feel it's only fair to give the Palms a chance.
Weird timing, yeah? The league is just now burying the Tim Donaghy headlines. The independent Pedowitz report recommended the NBA crack down on player card games on team planes, for crying out loud. I can't imagine even an investigation as amiable as the Pedowitz report would think opening up the book at the Palms to NBA games could possibly be a good idea, given eternal suspicions about the league. And the fairness argument is a non-starter: the Harrah's CEO (Gary Loveman) owns 2.4% of the Celtics, while the Maloofs own something like 80% of the Kings franchise.
David Stern -- who could have stopped this at any point -- really doesn't care about the league's image when it comes to the Donaghy scandal or the gambling issue. This is a particularly egregious reminder of that fact.
Martin also won a $1,000 bet with teammate Mikki Moore on who would be the first to dunk on Oden. "I had to go get my money," Martin said.
Asked if he knew Oden and Aldridge would be there when he crossed over Fernandez, Martin laughed. "Them guys have 7-(foot)-5 wingspans, so even if you don't think they are going to be there, they are going to be there," Martin said. "I'm glad they were there. I got a little richer today."
Is it me, or should more players put a bounty on posterizing the opposition? That's the kind of subplot that will keep fans watching even the most vanilla matchups in the middle of January.
Grizzlies versus Clippers? Yawn. O.J. Mayo and Rudy Gay putting five grand on the line to see who can get the most dunks on Chris Kaman? Now we're talking! I'll give this idea for free, Mr. Stern, but the next one will cost you.
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.
Something we touched on briefly in discussing the explanation for the 130 phone calls between NBA referees Tim Donaghy and Scott Foster was the boredom of life on the road. In the independent report on the NBA's referee program, Lawrence Pedowitz goes into a fair bit of detail about the lonely nature of the job.
[M]uch of a referee's life involves travel, and travel involves a great deal of waiting time, so Foster often makes calls to "kill time." Foster is a creature of habit and a basketball and sports junkie. When he is on the road, he works out every morning at 10:00 a.m. He is also an early riser, which means that he has several hours to kill every morning. [...]
Referees have more time on their hands in the afternoon before a night game. Foster described this time as often boring and lonely, because referees rarely spend it together. Therefore, Foster usually returns to his hotel room after lunch and makes more calls to fellow referees. [...] The excitement of officiating an NBA game in the evening typically leaves him "wired" and unable to sleep right away when he gets back to his hotel room after the game, often after midnight. Because it is often too late at night to call his family, Foster calls his fellow referees to discuss the games they have just officiated.
Scott Foster needs a hobby he can take on the road. Online poker? Erm ... maybe not. The league should include some fix for this problem in its restructuring of the referee program. Why not hire a little buddy to hang out with and entertain each ref? Or give the refs supplemental jobs, like transcribing Gilbert Arenas' blog posts. Keep these guys busy. We all know an idle mind is the devil's playground.
The report from FOX Sports found that Donaghy called Foster more than 130 times over a six-month period, 10 times more than he had phoned any other co-worker. Worse, most of the calls lasted less than two minutes, and many of them preceded calls to Donaghy's betting buddies.
How did Pedowitz explain the odd behavior? By noting the long friendship between Foster and Donaghy and detailing how so many short calls could show up in records:
Foster told us that he frequently calls other referees and either hangs up when the call goes to voicemail or leaves a short voicemail message, and that other referees do the same when calling Foster. Foster's cell phone service agreement, which appears to be typical for cell phone carriers, provides that a call begins as soon as the phone being called rings, and a call as short as one second is recorded as a one-minute call. If the phone rings five or six times and the caller then leaves a message, it is likely that the call will last over one minute and will be recorded as a two-minute call. Therefore, it seems likely that many of Donaghy's short calls to Foster were in fact instances in which Donaghy and Foster did not speak to each other.
So basically, Foster never answers his phone. The report also discusses how lonely life as a referee can be, and notes that talking with other refs is a way to relieve boredom.
The lack of interest in Foster's involvement by the league, the FBI, federal prosecutors, and basically every media entity save for FOX ... that has also served to strengthen the skepticism of Foster's involvement. And while little the league has come up with in its defense has gained much public traction, it seems like this particular explanation could stick.
On Monday night, Chris McCosky of the Detroit News reported on his blog that Allen Iverson had been banned from two of Detroit's three downtown casinos after repeated warnings for "boorish behavior" such as "throwing his chips or cards at the dealer" when he loses. 
Clipper Darrell
There's been plenty of talk lately about the possibility of 
Perhaps more than any other pro major league, the NBA has flirted with Las Vegas in recent years. 
Today's release of the Pedowitz Report -- which, among other things, backed up the league's assertion that 
Something we touched on briefly in 
In echoing the NBA's stance that 
