Foster is the official who received 134 phone calls from disgraced referee Tim Donaghy between October 2006 and April 2007, as originally reported by FOX News. That was the same period during which Donaghy admitted to betting on NBA games. The report said that Donaghy called Foster more than any other ref and that he didn’t call any other official more than 13 times.
Donaghy’s calls to Foster took place immediately before and after games Donaghy was officiating 54 times.
The records also showed Donaghy making several calls to Foster on the days of games, generally for no more than two minutes.
The report also said that when Donaghy called Foster, he mostly used the phone that he dedicated to gambling-related phone calls, and the phone calls stopped abruptly when Donaghy said he stopped gambling.
There’s no question anymore, none.
If there was ANY doubt about the true nature of the situation, it’s gone, put to rest, dead.
Something like 14 straight playoff losses under the same referee who just happens to have direct personal beef with him. A referee who also has irrefutable ties to the only ref in the history of the sport who was actually exposed for intentionally influencing games, ties which correlate directly to that activity.
This isn’t just a “haha beef” moment, this isn’t a little thing we can forget about, this is a referee rigging games intentionally, many of which were playoff games and even finals games.
The debate is over, there are still refs who actively and intentionally rig games. If this doesn’t outrage you I don’t know what planet you’re living on. This should lead to a complete overhaul of the entire officiating system… if it weren’t for the fact that I’m unwaveringly certain that these orders are coming directly from Adam Silver.
The NBA is no better than the WWE, they’re just more discrete about it.