The request accuses Donaghy of striking their children, breaking into her e-mail account and threatening to harm her.

Donaghy could not be reached for comment Wednesday; his attorney’s office declined comment.

The allegations against Donaghy surfaced in the middle of the couple’s divorce proceedings, as the couple fights over custody of their four young children and their $1.1 million mansion in the Lakewood Ranch Country Club in Manatee County.

In court papers, Kim Donaghy says her husband used her AOL password to steal e-mails about the divorce. On March 14, she says she asked for the e-mails and other paperwork and Donaghy threatened her in front of their children, and police were called.

A Manatee sheriff’s report on the incident said that the fight was not physical. Kim Donaghy said in court documents that Tim has hit the children in the past.
“He is going to snap,” she wrote.

A local judge will have a hearing on the restraining order request Monday. About a month later, Donaghy is due in a New York court, where he will be sentenced for his role in an NBA betting scandal.

The former ref pleaded guilty to wagering on games he worked and tipping off other bettors with inside information. He faces 25 years in prison.

NBA commissioner considers Sonics’ move inevitable

By GARY WASHBURN
P-I REPORTER

NEW ORLEANS — City of Seattle officials lashed out at NBA commissioner David Stern late Saturday after Stern said the Sonics’ move to Oklahoma City is inevitable.

“I clearly see this as a publicity stunt by Mr. Stern, nothing else,” Deputy Mayor Tim Ceis said. “I’m optimistic that we have a strong case in court and we’ll be in front of a federal judge to argue it.”

Speaking during his annual state-of-the-league news conference at the All-Star Game, Stern also revealed the Sonics ownership group, at Stern’s urging, offered a payment of $26.5 million to buy out the final two years of its KeyArena lease and pay the remaining bond debt on the building.

The city quickly rejected the offer, appearing content to sue the Professional Basketball Club to hold the Sonics to the lease. The sides have a June 16 trial date to determine whether the Sonics will be bound to KeyArena through the 2009-10 season.

Ceis and Marty McOmber, spokesman for Mayor Greg Nickels, both criticized Stern for using a public forum to drum up support for relocation.

“It’s quite clear that the NBA no longer seems to want to honor the contracts they sign with cities,” Ceis said. “So we’ll have to have a federal court enforce that. If Mr. Stern thinks this lease is for sale, that’s not the case.”

McOmber suggested Stern is trying to drive an irreparable wedge between the team and city.

“It’s completely inappropriate for Mr. Stern to be revealing conversations between lawyers, period,” McOmber said. “Any offer that has been made was completely inadequate to cover the loss and damages as a result of losing the Seattle Sonics. This is apparently some collusion by David Stern and Clay Bennett to hijack this team and take them to Oklahoma City. They have a lease until 2010 and we are going to hold them to that lease. We have every intention on doing that.”

Bennett’s group purchased the Sonics for $350 million in July 2006. Its proposal to build a $500 million arena in Renton, financed largely with public funds, never gained traction. In September, Bennett sought arbitration to escape the lease and move the team. The city then sued.

“It’s apparent to all who are watching that the Sonics are heading out of Seattle,” Stern said. “There’s not going to be a new arena. There’s not going to be a public contribution, and that’s everyone’s right. I mean that sincerely. So the only question now becomes, is the court going to rule that you can fulfill the terms of the lease by paying money for the remaining two years after this? Or, despite everything, there is some reason to keep them there as the clock winds down.

“All I can tell you is that in response to that request by me, the (buyout) offer was made, and it was rejected. I think it’s bad public policy.”

The city is still paying off the bond on the 1995 refurbishing of KeyArena and that debt will remain for several years. Stern’s revelation marked the first time it has been publicly stated that Bennett’s group offered to pay anything beyond the final two years of the lease.

Neither Ceis nor McOmber would confirm Bennett’s offer, but a document obtained by the Seattle P-I shows an offer indeed was made.

A letter from the law offices of McAfee & Taft dated Feb. 14 was submitted to Seattle city attorney Thomas Carr, highlighting the three scenarios of the court case. In statement No. 5 of the letter, the Professional Basketball Club makes the offer: “The third scenario is a settlement. PBC is willing to offer a one-time payment to the City that will (a) satisfy the anticipated rental revenue sharing payments and admissions taxes of the final two years of the KeyArena lease and; (b) provide the City sufficient funds to pay the $26.5 million principal due on the KeyArena debt as it matures.”

The letter then states that Professional Basketball Club will offer the city a payment of $7,265,286 to cover the final two years of rent at KeyArena and a payment of $19,305,766 to cover the current estimated bond due for previous repairs. The Bennett group offers the city a total of $26,571,052 for the rights to move the team to Oklahoma City next season. The letter gives the city one day — Feb. 15 — to respond to the offer. It apparently was rejected within that span of time.

Ceis said the Bennett group has withheld “important documents” as the sides prepare for trial. Many observers believe the city has a good case against the Sonics, who will be forced to stay until 2010 unless a settlement is reached. A settlement now appears highly unlikely.

“No, we’re not interested in anything Mr. Stern has to say. Our discussions are directly with Mr. Bennett and his attorneys,” Ceis said. “I think Mr. Stern has been hurting the situation for many months now with his statements in the public. We have yet to have one conversation directly with Mr. Stern about the status of the Sonics in Seattle. Instead he chooses to hold press conferences and make pronouncements instead of trying to work with the city to come to a resolution.”

Stern expressed disappointment in the city’s decision to delay relocation.

“I feel actually badly that the team, when it leaves either now or in two years, is going to leave behind an unpaid debt which the city has,” he said during his 44-minute news conference. “The city’s still going to have a debt on the building. And the Sonics have offered to pay it off. The city says no, and so we’ll see.

“But I don’t feel uncomfortable. We know how to observe court orders and we do a pretty good job of that. So if the court says they’re not free to just pay and leave, then they won’t just pay and leave. But if they are, then they’ll be gone and there will be two years of payment, and the city will not have the benefit of the $30 million or so and other things that would be worked on if there were an amicable solution to that.”

Stern said he believes the city’s reluctance to publicly finance a new arena has nothing to do with disdain for Bennett, who has done little to camouflage his desire to move the Sonics to his native Oklahoma. Sonics co-owner Aubrey McClendon told the Oklahoma City Journal Record in August that the group purchased the Sonics for the express purpose of relocating them to Oklahoma City. The NBA fined McClendon $250,000 for those statements.

“They’re equal opportunity deniers of aid,” Stern said of Seattle city officials. “Howard Schultz, who was a resident of Seattle, who owned the team previously, who invested time and energy leading lobbying efforts at the city council, at the county level and at the state level, was unsuccessful.

“Clay Bennett actually spent more money, developed more plans, made more visits, and the answer was no, no, a thousand times no.”

Stern pointed to comments by Speaker of the House Frank Chopp, who said the state would be open to extending an existing tax to fund a refurbishing of Husky Stadium. Bennett asked for a similar extension for the Renton arena project and the Legislature refused to hear his proposal last winter.

“Indeed, even recently as I read the newspaper occasionally,” Stern said, “the speaker of the house was heard to say that if the university wanted a new stadium, that was certainly a good reason to consider extending the tax that helped build the baseball and football stadiums, but certainly not for the Sonics. And into that sort of wind, it doesn’t make a lot of sense to sail.”

The NBA Board of Governors is scheduled to meet April 17-18 to discuss possible relocation. Bennett’s application could be approved well before the trial date, contingent on a court settlement that would allow a departure from the lease.

“Right now, we are in court enforcing the lease we have with the Seattle Sonics team,” Ceis said. “That’s what we will continue to do. What Mr. Stern says really doesn’t matter.”

Asked if he was convinced the Sonics would leave Seattle after 40-plus years and one NBA title, Stern seemed resigned to their fate.

“I see nothing — I don’t know why anyone would expect in the absence of what they’ve been saying all along, which is funding for a new building of some kind and a plan for it that they would be staying,” he said. “I accept that inevitability at this point. There is no miracle here.”

• Hiring Coach Petrino out from under his 10 year contract at Louisville, Louisville was a contender year after year, Atlanta killed a top 5 college football team.  Only to have him resign mid-season to go to Alabama to coach.

•  Michael Vick - the most exciting player in the NFL - done.

• In a Patriot-like, if you’re not cheating - you’re not trying move, Atlanta falsely has Shaq removed from a game after only his fifth foul.

I suppose Atlanta can ride on the outcome of UG-Athens beating Hawaii soundly in the Sugar Bowl, and their president’s war on the NCAA BCS.

Miami can take advantage of Atlanta’s official scorer goof.

It’s the first time since San Antonio successfully argued for a replay against the Lakers in 1983.  The Spurs would go on to win that game.  Will Miami have the same success?

Home team scoring errors are an embarrassing part of the game.  It may have cost Atlanta a victory earlier this year when the ‘official scorer’ missed a basket by TJ Ford.   The Spurs also lost a memorable game due to home-team officials.  How about Derek Fishers shot with 0.4 seconds left on the clock.  Derek Fisher had the ball in his hands 0.4 seconds before the clock was even started - this one may have been a cost the Spurs another championship.

Now that we see that officials, other than the refs, can cost a team a game, what are the regulations on gambling with them?

Apparently the league has decided that the best punishment for Isiah or the Knicks was to actually have him coach the next game against Toronto.

The unfortunate side effect is that the NBA will be punishing not just Knick fans but basketball fans across the globe by letting Isiah continue to degrade the game of basketball.

(see Avery Johnson fined $25k)

While the Knicks have cracked down recently on hecklers and holders of opinionated signs inside Madison Square Garden, they probably cannot influence a demonstration outside the building that will urge the dismissal of Isiah Thomas, the team’s coach and president.

The rally, organized by a Long Island dentist who said he has been a Knicks fan for more than a half-century, will begin at 11 a.m. Wednesday on the Seventh Avenue side of the building and will include a pink slip that is eight feet tall and four feet wide.

The professionally printed message on the pink sign will urge James L. Dolan, the Garden’s chairman, to fire Thomas, whose team is 7-17 going into Wednesday night’s game with Cleveland. Protest organizers said two people will hold up the sign in a manner that will allow supporters to sign it.

The dentist, Dr. Art G. Nathan of Freeport, N.Y., said the idea of having a protest began a few days ago and crystallized after the Knicks lost, 119-92, on Monday night to Indiana. Late in that game, a fan with a “Fire Isiah” sign was peacefully moved out of a seat behind the team bench

Last week, during a Knicks loss to Seattle, a man a few rows behind Thomas said he was handed a printed warning from a security guard because he was heckling Thomas, although he was not using profanity.

The fan ordered from his seat Monday for wielding the “Fire Isiah” sign identified himself Tuesday as Jason Silverstein, a real estate agent who lives in Manhattan and said he goes to every home game and sits near the court, but not always in the same seat.

Silverstein, 23, said he played high school basketball in New Jersey and sponsors a summer basketball team at Rucker Park in Harlem.

“The guy is killing our team,” Silverstein said of Thomas. “How many 25-point beatings can we take?”

Silverstein said he carried some blank posterboard into the Garden on Monday night, intending to make a sign with a dark marker. Security guards confiscated it at halftime, even though nothing was written on it, he said.

Near the end of the game, Silverstein said, he made an impromptu sign by writing on a disposable food tray. After he held it up for about 45 seconds, he said, security guards said: “Get up. You’re going. You’re out.” Silverstein said he cooperated because, “I didn’t want to cause a ruckus.”

For Wednesday’s rally, in addition to the pink slip, Nathan said his group will carry picket signs with messages like “Save the Knicks,” “Dump Isiah,” “Give Him the Pink Slip” and “Restore Knicks Pride.”

“I’m getting disgusted,” said Nathan, who is 67. “And James Dolan is not going to do a darn thing. We hope we have thousands of people. It’ll be a beautiful sight to see.”

The group has told the Police Department that the demonstration will probably include about 15 people, said Officer Martin Brown, a police spokesman, and last for about 30 minutes.

Nathan said he had followed the team since “the McGuire boys at the old Garden,” and added that his group would conduct its demonstration behind a police barricade.

“They are perfectly within their rights,” said Brown, who added that a permit would be needed only for a large number of people or use of a sound system.

Jonathan Supranowitz, a Knicks spokesman, said the team had no comment about the proposed demonstration.

Supranowitz had more to say about Silverstein’s “Fire Isiah” sign. Supranowitz said Silverstein was in a section where seats sell for $330 and had a valid ticket. His sign was removed, Supranowitz said, because it might have blocked the view of other spectators.

Supranowitz said security guards escorted the man to the corridor behind the seats and watched him walk away, but did not eject him. Supranowitz said the heckling and sign-waving recently directed against Thomas are “not against the law, it’s just against our policy.”

The policy, which is detailed on the Web site thegarden.com, said in part that “signs may not be derogatory in any manner” and “they cannot block the view of other guests.” Violators, the policy said, can have their sign confiscated and may face ejection.

Supranowitz said the Knicks would not reveal how many fans have had signs confiscated recently, how many have been warned about heckling, or how many have been ejected for violating either policy.

The heckler who was warned last week, Michael Katz, an accountant from Westchester County, was not ejected and voluntarily moved to another seat.

The card he was handed read, in part, “You are being issued a warning that the comments, gestures and/or behaviors that you have directed at players, coaches, game officials and/or other spectators constitute excessive verbal abuse.”

Of course, in addition to the actions and words of individuals, fans as a group have chanted “Fire Isiah” during recent defeats.

Link

-Mike MonroeThe Spurs received their annual preseason briefing from league referees after their morning practice at the AT&T Center.

Steve Javie, one of the NBA’s top referees and the crew chief at Tuesday’s game, spoke to the players and coaches about plays and calls the officials have been instructed to emphasize this season, including an ongoing crackdown on traveling.

Another emphasis: More leeway for big men to defend smaller players who drive to the basket.

“They were talking about some stuff about the bigs not getting so many (foul) calls in the paint when we smalls drive into them,” said Spurs guard Manu Ginobili, who has benefited from his share of foul calls when driving to the basket.

In USA TODAY, Roscoe Nance writes “NBA referees this season will use instant replay to review flagrant foul Penalty Two calls and player altercations. The NBA Board of Governors last week approved the expanded use of instant replay on the recommendation of the league’s competition committee. In the past, instant replay was used automatically on baskets and personal fouls made with no time remaining on the clock at the end of a period in regulation or overtime.” Source: NBA.com  Also See: USA Today