Rasheed Wallace seeks a refund
Rasheed Wallace enjoys the company of referees!
Now your intrepid author is a huge Piston fan. Let that be known. It is not that the rest of the league is not interesting to me, because it is.
no, the issue of being a fan is different than being a writer. The writer part of me enjoys the whole league. The fan part is a little more finicky
A fan loves his team and has little respect for the opposition. You will often bet with your heart, so to speak, believing that your team will win and the opposing players are bums.
So if you back up a few years to the last NBA Championship for the Pistons, there was a sense of uneasiness in your intrepid author over the Joe Dumars General Manager act of picking up Rasheed Wallace to play alongside Ben “Clock Tower” Wallace for my beloved Pistons.
Many of my friends felt ill at ease as well about this deal.
We repeated to ourselves over and over again, “Trust in Joe D. Trust in Joe D.” and we hoped for the best.
Rasheed just has a knack for getting in trouble and easily leads the league in technicals.
To make a long story short, Rasheed came to the Pistons and along with Big Ben began to shut teams down so much that David Stern had to push for some rules changes after the season to open up the offense.
At the time, Coach Larry Brown told Sheed that Larry would take care of the technicals and Sheed should just concentrate on playing. To a degree this worked and in spite of several, well, more than several technicals, Sheed was able to keep his head in the game.
Now that Rasheed Wallace has found out about the Fed Investigation into illegal gambling and racketeering involving referee Tim Donaghy he wants a refund on some of his fines. In fact, Wallace finds the whole situation laughable.
“The first thing I thought of was how everybody was always saying how I was crazy about some of the things I said,” Wallace said Monday at the Pistons’ annual media day. “Take a look at me, now. Don’t look too crazy now, do I?”
To quote from the Book of ‘Sheed, the NBA should “CTC” — cut the check.
The league should offer Wallace a modest refund for some of the thousands he has contributed to NBA coffers for fines over the years, especially from his notorious run-in with Tim Donaghy. It would be merely a symbolic gesture, an acknowledgment of the new sensitivity regarding corrupt officiating after Donaghy admitted guilt to fixing NBA games to appease gamblers.
Rasheed Wallace has a history with Tim Donaghy.
In 2003, Wallace and Donaghy had a well-publicized confrontation on a loading dock at Portland’s Rose Garden. Wallace, upset by a technical called during the game, and Donaghy exchanged postgame insults. Wallace received a seven-game suspension for threatening Donaghy and lost about $1.6 million in salary.
When we last saw Rasheed under game conditions, he lobbed invectives at the refs after being ejected in Game 6 of the Eastern Conference finals. Many people assumed that would serve as his final image as a Piston.
But he’s back, still full of vinegar, playfully skewering his teammates and maintaining a relaxed mood in the locker room.
Rasheed, when he is laughing, is a problem for all the other NBA teams.
So look out NBA contenders, because Rasheed is going to seek his refund from you!
NBA Basketball Fan Question Do you think Rasheed got a fair shake?
Tags: basketball, ben-wallace, big-ben, clock-tower, detroit, feds, gambling, nba, pistons, racketeering, Rasheed Wallace, referee, sheed, tim-donaghyRelated Stories
POSTED IN: Detroit Pistons, NBA Basketball, Rasheed Wallace
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