REF SCANDAL BACK IN FOREFRONT

SHOCKER- DAVID STERN RESPONDS TO SERIOUS ALLEGATIONS LIKE A POMPOUS ASS






I don't have a whole lot of time to get into this, but kudos to Marc Stein for writing a solid article about the new developments in the ref scandal situation. I think he's right- the idea that the NBA is fixing games is a little too sinister and devious for me to believe. However, when everyone and their mother predicted that Bennett Salvatore and Joey Crawford would ref Game 3 because the Lakers needed a win at home, and then it happened, the NBA has a problem. Donaghy picked the right games to accuse the NBA of rigging, that's for damn-damn, because we all think that there was something amiss. One of them made Michael Wilbon all but accuse the NBA of rigging the game in 2002 (Kings losing to Lakers), the other drew a ridiculously high $100,000 fine for Jeff Van Gundy's accusation that they were targeting Yao in a game the Rockets lost in 2005. Both those games were as sketchy as R Kelly at a middle school dance, and yet the NBA's relationship with referees remained shrouded in secrecy. We don't know how, or even IF, referees are judged. Oh sure, every once and a while we get a PR stunt rule change... remember when bad behavior would result in a technical immediately? Well, prepare for the new "no more flopping" rules to be just about as successful.

The truth probably lies somewhere in between David Stern's pompous "everything is perfect" defense and Tim Donaghy's "I'll say anything to get fewer than 25 years in the friggin' joint" Hail Mary pass... but based on the amount of sketchiness in the results and the NBA's complete unwillingness to make the reffing more transparent, I am willing to bet that the truth is more on the Donaghy side than the Stern side. We KNOW at least one ref was able to change the result of several games, and Stern has given us nothing to believe that anything has changed at the league office to prevent it from happening again. While I doubt that Stern is picking and choosing which teams will win, everybody that watches the NBA with any regularity thinks that the reffing is BS.

Let's just hope that we can write about new developments in the summer after the Celtics win the title, and this scandal doesn't ruin the finals.Source URL: http://ledger-heath.blogspot.com/2008/06/ref-scandal-back-in-forefront.html
Visit ledger heath for Daily Updated Hairstyles Collection