Washington Week: Student Voices (O)

COMMENTARY: NBA ref allegations a kick in teeth to league already down
By Danny Klein
Independent Florida Alligator (U. Florida)
07/24/2007

(CSTV U-WIRE) GAINESVILLE, Fla. — What ever happened to summer love?

Who could have imagined the clouds would seem darkest in July?

At what point did we predict the world of American sports would be crumbling, shaken to its core by controversy and disgust?

Let's forget about Michael Vick for a moment, as hard as that really might be.

Let us try to ignore Barry Bonds and his gigantic steroid-inflated head. Forget, if you will, that he is about to eclipse the greatest record in America's pastime.

Let us turn our weary and suspicious minds to the world of the National Basketball Association, where recent allegations threaten the integrity of a sport that lacked so much in the first place.

Reports have surfaced that an NBA official has been accused of betting on and fixing games he refereed over the past two seasons.

Tim Donaghy, who resigned about two weeks ago, was reportedly connected with organized crime and had fallen into considerable debt.

His solution: Change point spreads by calling an abundant amount of fouls and altering the outcome of games in which he was involved.

Sound like a problem?

You could only imagine.

As far as the NBA is concerned, you would have needed night vision goggles to find credibility in the first place.

This is the sport where players run into the stands, the same that requires a dress code to repair its image. This is the league haunted by conduct like that of Stephen Jackson, Ron Artest and even one of its greatest names — Kobe Bryant.

This is the league where ridiculous reports showed racial biases on calls made by its referees.

Yet this is all just a backdrop for the sport's biggest flaw, one that tampers with what Commissioner David Stern referred to as "the most sacred trust in professional sports."

Referees have too much control in this league; their ability to alter a game is unlike any other sport.

Football has instant replay, baseball has only so many judgment calls and hockey is, well, hockey. But in basketball, you can really mold a game by calling a foul, a charge instead of a block, a phantom reaching violation. In reality, anything can be a foul in a contact sport where at times it seems like you're not allowed to touch anyone.

Perhaps even worse for the NBA is the fact that the league is swelling with conspiracy, and has been for years. Just ask Mavericks owner Mark Cuban. Just ask the Phoenix Suns.

In fact, Donaghy was part of a staff that called game three in this year's Western Conference Finals, when the Suns lost to the Spurs.

This being the same game where the Suns were marred by foul trouble, a game when Amar? Stoudemire played only 21 minutes and received a couple of questionable foul calls.

People have been screaming for years about the NBA being fixed, about the league finding ways to feature the matchups it desires come playoff time.

Whether or not any of these allegations are true, a real red flag has now been raised and people who once seemed to be speaking out of context may just be referring to fact.

How will the NBA ever recover from proof that the sport spent time doubling as pro wrestling? How will fans not throw popcorn on the court when they hear the whistle blow out of control? How will the honest referees ever call a game without the fear of being called a cheater?

The only thing the NBA has going for it right now is that the issue seems to be isolated. However, recent reports state Donaghy is prepared to list names. Does this simply mean mob related? We don't know. But if he begins to throw other refs and perhaps even players under the bus, the results will be catastrophic.

The NBA is in some serious trouble right now, and I'm honestly not sure how it's going to recover. I wish we could go back to the days of Jordan and Isaiah, days when basketball was king. But the sport has been scarred by the technical fouls — something Donaghy called more than any other ref this past season — and the departure of physicality.

Worse than all of this, though, may be our ability to accept that the game we adore is played by honest people.

I always knew money ruled the world. I just wish it didn't ruin everything we love.

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