Now Donaghy is a moron AND a rat

I don't get this Tim Donaghy fella at all.

First of all, he just looks like an idiot you feel compelled to slap the taste out of. Every video I've seen of him shows a guy who just looks so completely smug and smarmy, with that grade school haircut and that perma-smirk. He's a guy you just want to hate... or beat up... or both.

Second, his whole gambling arrangement with the "Gambinos" (wooooo, sweatsuits and greasy hair) sounds like it was set up by Moltisanti and Paulie Walnuts ("Things change, my friend"). From what I know of it, it sounds utterly idiotic. I've read the criminal complaint against him and I still can't figure out what advantage he was providing the Gambys that they might have found useful.

Allegedly, what he was providing them with was some sort of "insider nonpublic information". Insider nonpublic information? On what? What model of black Reeboks his fellow refs were wearing? Violet Palmer's choice of underwear? What else was he privy to?

According to the complaint, the information included reports on the "physical condition" of NBA players. But what "nonpublic" information could he possibly have had access to on that front that the Unwiseguys couldn't have gotten themselves by reading the Newark Star-Ledger (Tony's newspaper)? Was he peering into locker rooms to see who was getting a rubdown and where? Or was he providng his co-conspirators with on-sight eyeball assessments ("Shaq looks really buff tonight! Take the over!")?

The indictment also says he provided the mobsters with his "expert picks" on NBA games. Excuse me... I'm laughing really hard. Those must have been worth a lot. I bet his mob nickname was "Timmy the Greek". Timmy's expert picks. Beautiful. I would have loved to have seen what his winning percentages were. I'm sure they weren't overly impressive. Why didn't the Unwiseguys just call one of those ridiculous gambling hotlines that annoy me so much when I hear about them on the radio ("Call me now. Get my absolute lock of the week, free!")

Finally, I now hear he's going to rat out his fellow refs for gambling in violation of their contracts. Why would he do this? How does it advance his cause one iota? The petty gambling of fellow referees he is said to be singing about does not sound like criminal behavior to me. And the fact that media reports refer to "contract violations" makes me assume he's singing to the NBA, not the federal authorities. I don't get it.

Why would he sing to the NBA? His NBA future is deader than disco, so it doesn't benefit him at all to help them. Maybe he's just that vindictive. Or maybe its some sort of misdirected PR campaign ("they were doing it too"). But does he think that tattling on his former peers somehow rehabilitates his image? Because, Timmy boy... it doesn't! It just makes you look like an even bigger creep. And, while I don't know much about prison life, I'm pretty sure I've heard somewhere that the residents in those places don't really appreciate song birds and tattletales, so... I don't know... watch your back when you get "inside".

My advice to you, Timmy, is to just grow up and go away and do your time and shut your mouth and, above all, stop harming the game and the Association that I love so much! You moron you!