Series Review: "Untold: Operation Flagrant Foul" (2022).

From the director of Legends Never Die: The Sandlot Story comes Untold: Operation Flagrant Foul. This documentary film directed by David Terry Fine. It is the eighth installment in the nine-part Untold documentary film series. Years after serving time for betting on games he officiated, former NBA referee Tim Donaghy revisits the scandal that shook up the league.

On January 7, 1967, former professional basketball referee, Timothy Francis Donaghy. He worked in the National Basketball Association (NBA) for thirteen seasons from 1994 to 2007 until he was caught in a gambling scandal. During his career in the NBA, Donaghy officiated in seven hundred and seventy two regular season games and twenty playoff games. Donaghy resigned from the league on July 9, 2007, after reports of an investigation by the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) for allegations that he bet on games that he officiated during his last two seasons and that he made calls that affected the point spread in those games. In mid August 2007, Donaghy pleaded guilty to two federal charges related to the investigation. In late July 2008, he was sentenced to fifteen months in federal prison. He served eleven months in a federal prison camp in Pensacola, Florida, and the remainder of his sentence in a halfway house, but was sent back to prison in August for violating his release terms. In early November 2009, after serving out his sentence, he was released. In late April 2014, Donaghy claimed that the league office was going to push referees to fix playoffs games to have the Brooklyn Nets beat the Toronto Raptors, which it was. In early May 2014, the Nets eliminated the Raptors after winning game seven of the series by a point. Before Game 5 of the 2017 NBA Finals, Donaghy claimed that referees would be instructed to extend the series for financial reasons. However, the series ended in Game 5 with the Golden State Warriors defeating the Cleveland Cavaliers 4–1. However, in late December 2017, Donaghy was arrested for aggravated assault. He was released on $5,000 bond and given an arraignment, scheduled for January 19, 2018. In late January 2021, Donaghy made his debut as a professional wrestling referee for Major League Wrestling (MLW).

The film falls short of the perfection of the best episodes of ESPN's "30 on 30", but it does have high points worth mentioning. Filmmaker David Terry Fine was behind the excellent Legends Never Die: The Sandlot Story. They continue the good work here. The choice of Donaghy's story is an excellent one. It's a compelling story when taken as a whole, whether or not you knew a thing about it going in. What the film does so brilliantly is control that chaos. The key players in the story all explain how they fitted into it, and they go far beneath the surface. Thew film isn't arriving to scold viewers for not paying attention sooner. It's more of an effective reminder that a lot of what seem like surprises become far more understandable if you know where to look.

Simon says Untold: Operation Flagrant Foul receives:

Also, see my review for Untold: The Girlfriend Who Didn't Exist.