00:00How about this, Tim?
00:01So, in your opinion, you believe the NBA singled you out
00:05and made you the face of this one story, and not to name names.
00:09Obviously, we're not here for that, but for you,
00:12there were other folks that were maybe doing some sketchy things,
00:15and I'm talking other NBA referees,
00:17but Stern wanted you to be the face of this one story,
00:21and that's why you're known for this right now,
00:24and that the NBA kind of just swept this away.
00:28Yeah, no doubt about it.
00:29I remember when he stood on the ESPN podium and said,
00:33legal gambling will cost you your job as an NBA referee,
00:38and illegal gambling will cost you your freedom,
00:40meaning that any referee that bet because it was in our contract
00:44that you couldn't place a bet of any kind would be fired.
00:47Then they found out that 50 out of 58 NBA referees were gambling
00:51in more ways than one, but yet, you know,
00:55everybody was giving a slap on the wrist and, you know,
00:58told to just move along and keep quiet,
01:01and they just went after me and put three guys in a room in the NBA headquarters
01:06and made sure that all the blogs and everything were painting me as one bad apple,
01:10and I was the guy that, you know, did everything and did everything alone.
01:14How do other NBA referees look at you today?
01:18Guys that you worked with for years, you did so many years working with those guys.
01:22Did those guys ostracize you as well, and they haven't reached out to you?
01:27Have you ever had conversation with some of the NBA referees of the past
01:31and maybe some of the ones that are current?
01:33For the most part, I really haven't spoken to any of them.
01:36There have been a few guys after retirement that have contacted me
01:39or who were released from the staff for one reason or another,
01:42but for the most part, you know, they still take a job working for the league office
01:48in some capacity, so, you know, befriending me or talking to me might cost them that job,
01:54and, you know, I haven't been able to really reconnect with any of them.
01:59The impact that that book and the impact of your case, what's it had on your life?
02:06You know, it definitely, in the beginning, turned my life upside down,
02:10and I thought that there was no way I was going to ever be able to recover, you know,
02:14but I had four daughters, and I had to figure out a way to, you know, support them
02:19and show them that, you know, mistakes are made, and it's not about the mistake,
02:23but how you get up and recover from it,
02:24and I was very fortunate to get involved with a guy in the Sarasota area
02:30that was a great businessman and showed me the ins and outs of getting involved
02:35in buying properties at a good price at auction or in bidding through different websites
02:41and, you know, started to create a little bit of a real estate empire,
02:46and now I have several rental properties that I manage myself,
02:49and I'm very fortunate that, you know, I bought them at a very cheap price,
02:53and the real estate here has exploded along with rent, so I was able to rebuild my life that way.
02:59So you've basically been able to, like, reinvent yourself in a way,
03:03and maybe at the end of the day, all the things that you went through,
03:07here you are maybe potentially in a better place and a better peace of mind.
03:11No doubt about it.
03:13I can tell you when I first started this process, I didn't have a screwdriver.
03:16Now, if you went into my garage, you would see, you know, all different, you know,
03:20kinds of tools that you never thought you would be operating or learning about,
03:24and, you know, you do things that, you know, try to save money and do things that, you know,
03:30you can maybe, you know, help the other guy out who helps you out who owns property,
03:35so there's a lot of give and take and doing things in the real estate world
03:39and getting help in different ways from other people and making things work.
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