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Dick Bavetta

Russell was falling backwards before Jordan even extended his hand. Good no call IMO, and definitely not some obvious screw job like fans have made it out to be. If you want to gripe, complain about the Eisley 3 that was taken away and the Harper 3 they screwed up. At least those calls were legitimately bad.
 
Cappy_Smurf said:
If you want to gripe, complain about the Eisley 3 that was taken away and the Harper 3 they screwed up. At least those calls were legitimately bad.
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Exactly!...or even the hack Jordan did on Malone getting the steal, that may have been a legitimate steal, but could EASILY have been called a "hack" had it not been Jordan doing the hacking!
 
Cappy_Smurf said:
Russell was falling backwards before Jordan even extended his hand. Good no call IMO, and definitely not some obvious screw job like fans have made it out to be. If you want to gripe, complain about the Eisley 3 that was taken away and the Harper 3 they screwed up. At least those calls were legitimately bad.
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I have a video of it and it doesn't look like that to me. The reason Russell fell was because Jordan pushed him. I'm not looking to change anything; it's over and done with. I'm just curious as to how Bavetta would respond to the question, if indeed he would respond. And I don't see how it's stalking him by writing him a letter. I don't think any sportswriter ever asked him that question.
 
Eenie-Meenie said:
I don't know how many of you still wonder about Dick Bavetta's failure to call the push off by Jordan of Bryon Russell like I do, but I have located his home address in Florida thru an Internet search. He summers in upstate NY, however. In any case, I plan to write him in the fall and ask him why he didn't call the foul on Jordan though he was standing about 10 feet away and in position to see it.

As many of you know, Tim Doneghy, in his book, Personal Foul, accused Bavetta of fixing games, suggesting he was under orders from David Stern to play favorites like Jordan and the Lakers team. If this is true, then he surely will either ignore my letter or plead innocent by saying he simply missed the call.

What are your thoughts?
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you simply cannot be a real person.
 
carolinajazz said:
Exactly!...or even the hack Jordan did on Malone getting the steal, that may have been a legitimate steal, but could EASILY have been called a "hack" had it not been Jordan doing the hacking!
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Yes, I agree with this too ... but the strip of Malone by Jordan is difficult to assess because the TV camera was facing Malone's back and we couldn't see if Jordan hacked him or not. Have you seen a different view of it?
 
Eenie-Meenie said:
I have a video of it and it doesn't look like that to me. The reason Russell fell was because Jordan pushed him. I'm not looking to change anything; it's over and done with. I'm just curious as to how Bavetta would respond to the question, if indeed he would respond. And I don't see how it's stalking him by writing him a letter. I don't think any sportswriter ever asked him that question.
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I would guess that PLENTY of sportswriters have asked that question and he didn't offer any information that was worth including in their articles. I highly doubt he'll provide more insight to a random basketball fan.

Maybe start by doing some research into the articles that were written at that time, and going back and asking those sportswriters their thoughts on the subject.
 
moevillini said:
I would guess that PLENTY of sportswriters have asked that question and he didn't offer any information that was worth including in their articles. I highly doubt he'll provide more insight to a random basketball fan.

Maybe start by doing some research into the articles that were written at that time, and going back and asking those sportswriters their thoughts on the subject.
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You know when it happened, people didn't realize Jordan pushed off. You really couldn't tell by watching it on TV. Only when videos of it came out later that were played in slow motion did people realize it. Jordan did it very deftly and quickly, as if he had practiced it. I don't recall any sportswriters writing about it. But I didn't read everything on it, and the Internet was in its infancy then, so it wasn't like today when we see and hear everything instantly. I would have to go back, but why do that when all you need to do is ask him.

Sure, I also doubt he will respond. But you never know. Sometimes with the passing of time, people open up. I'm an historian, seriously, Moe. I've written seven books. The truth often is not revealed until many years after the fact, and often by people who covered up the truth at the time. However, if Bavetta was actually fixing games, he certainly would not reveal it, at least not until he was on his death bed, just like E. Howard Hunt revealed he participated in JFK's assassination just before he died. But I would like to hear what Bavetta would say about it now, having retired.

To be honest, I believe Donaghy, who had no reason to lie. Maybe that's why some Jazz fans think it's inappropriate to ask him, because deep down, they believe it too, and they don't want to face the fact that the NBA stole the one real chance Utah had for an NBA championship. It's a bitter pill to swallow, and would make us question a lot more things about the sport we love.
 
My point was that they haven't written about it because there's nothing to tell.

I'm not sure what you hope to accomplish anyhow. Do you think Bavetta's going to say "Yes I intentionally missed the call because David Stern ordered me to ensure the Bulls win."?
And if that's the response, well then what?

Or he'll say, "I didn't see it like that at all" and so then what? That would settle it for you?

Maybe there wasn't much written about it at the time, but there's certainly been a lot of press about this in the last few years.
 
Eenie-Meenie said:
You know when it happened, people didn't realize Jordan pushed off. You really couldn't tell by watching it on TV. Only when videos of it came out later that were played in slow motion did people realize it. Jordan did it very deftly and quickly, as if he had practiced it. I don't recall any sportswriters writing about it. But I didn't read everything on it, and the Internet was in its infancy then, so it wasn't like today when we see and hear everything instantly. I would have to go back, but why do that when all you need to do is ask him.

Sure, I also doubt he will respond. But you never know. Sometimes with the passing of time, people open up. I'm an historian, seriously, Moe. I've written seven books. The truth often is not revealed until many years after the fact, and often by people who covered up the truth at the time. However, if Bavetta was actually fixing games, he certainly would not reveal it, at least not until he was on his death bed, just like E. Howard Hunt revealed he participated in JFK's assassination just before he died. But I would like to hear what Bavetta would say about it now, having retired.

To be honest, I believe Donaghy, who had no reason to lie. Maybe that's why some Jazz fans think it's inappropriate to ask him, because deep down, they believe it too, and they don't want to face the fact that the NBA stole the one real chance Utah had for an NBA championship. It's a bitter pill to swallow, and would make us question a lot more things about the sport we love.
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That play was more flop than foul. Jordan extended his hand, but there's no way he had enough force to knock Russell over. Russell was attempting to draw an offensive foul, and the refs didn't bite. Buy some glasses and watch it again, then get back to us.
 
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