Personal Foul by Tim Donaghy

After the last "memoir" I read, I started this book with a little hesitation. Was everything Tim Donaghy said true? No one can know for sure except for him. My opinion after reading the book was most of it is true. While I enjoy the sport of basketball, I've never been a fan of the NBA and this book furthered my dislike for the league.

Tim Donaghy was a veteran NBA official who had a gambling problem. He started betting at the casino, then shifted towards sports (excluding the NBA). Eventually, he started betting on the NBA with a friend. At the beginning, he avoided games he reffed but that didn't last long. He turned out to be very good at picking winners - selecting the right team 70%-80% of the time.

The big question is how was he able to pick winners? Simply put: he knew the refs. Each ref has their own tendencies. Some favor certain players. Some dislike traveling to certain cities. Some like to keep games close. Some hold grudges. This information was money to Tim Donaghy. He knew who was reffing which games, how they would ref the game, as well as instructions from the league office for how they wanted the game called.

He claimed betting on games did not affect his job performance. He admitted to wagering on games, but not fixing games. He said he never favored a team because he bet on them. To prove this point, and which convinced investigators he was telling the truth, was a game which he bet the Spurs and ejected the head coach in the first quarter. Why would he eject the coach of the team he bet on so early in the game if he wanted them to win?

The FBI was investigating bookies he was associated with. When Donaghy got wind of this, he turned himself in against the advice of his lawyers. He admitted everything. It turned out the FBI did not have much information on him at the time, but eventually they would have put it all together. He ended up losing everything: his family, his job, his wealth, his dignity.

My rating for Personal Foul: 4 stars out of 5. Get it here!