FanNation - The Republic of Sport

Finally. It finally happened. A crooked referee in the NBA has finally been discovered. While the immediate implications of this revelation are unclear, the possbilities of what this could do to the league are devastating to any fan of the game. All integrity is lost. Any time Tim Donaghy refereed a game there will be doubt about whether organized crime influenced the outcome, as reports say is the case with Donaghy. This includes the well publicized games called by Donaghy, like the now infamous Suns-Spurs Game 3 of the recent Western Confrence Semifinals, where Amare Stoudemire was plagued by foul trouble and many Bruce Bowen fouls appeared to be overlooked, or the Heat-Knicks game, where the Knicks received 39 free throws and the Heat only 8. These games are almost beyond salvation as legitimate, even if these allegations are false because, to the fans, there was a corrupt ref working those games and it can NEVER be reversed or forgotten. But even more chilling is the sneaking suspicion this creates in all sports fans- the belief that the ref that was calling our teams' game was not merely incompetent but corrupt. Any time we think of ourselves frantically yelling at the T.V. because of a puzzling call a ref made, we will no longer chalk it up to human error or even plain stupidity, we will wonder if some mobster in North Jersey, not the officiating crew, determined that call. The incident throws an irrevocable shadow of doubt on all recent NBA games, if not even all recent sporting events. Now that we finally have proof of what we have suspected to be the case for so long, our collective innocence is lost. Even if this is only an isolated incident, specific to one league and one man, we now know that what we see in the movies, what we have denied is possible for so long, is not only possible but probable. I, personally, try not to think about it, but when I see the stories I can not help but wonder about my beloved Mavericks' Finals collapse a year ago. At the time I joked to my friends that the league wanted one of the Big Three of '03 to have a title, not Mark Cuban, and so told the refs to make it so. It frightens me now that what I perceived as only a way to express frustration about my favorite team's performance, my crazy theory that someone fixed that series in Miami's favor, could actually be closer to the truth than I ever imagined. No great or improbable accomplishment is safe, especially anything in these most recent playoffs. It is depressing to think that one man's actions could permanently damage what many know to be a great league, but in this dark cloud there is, fortunately, a sliver lining. The NBA has been one of the most stagnant leagues in sports since the inclusion of the three point line, with only minor things like the dress code being tinkered with. Now, hopefully, this incident can serve as a catalyst to promote sweeping change in league, whether it's in the All Star game, playoff reseeding and most importantly, finally training and selecting competent referees. Because, make no mistake, many NBA refs are hardly the model of excellence at their profession, with more goats than greats over these many years. So maybe this will finally force to Stern to make changes due to the fallout this will surely produce, or maybe it won't, and as we've seen time and time again, the NBA will keep cranking out the same product to gradually diminishing success. But either way, we can never watch an important basketball game the same way again, all because of Tim Donaghy.