It’s funny how professional sports can nearly model a Warren Zevon song. As Barry Bonds swings for #756 and Michael Vick fears the dog days of summer, there is more news that simply makes things even worse.

As tainted as the Tour de France seems to be, there’s no stopping current riders from blood doping. Michael Rasmussen was the latest case, someone considered to be the front-runner in winning this year. You would think people would learn from Floyd Landis. Now, one of the greatest treks (along side of the Iditarod), will now face speculation of cheating any time a rider hops on a bike seat. You thought it couldn’t get worse, but…

Now it seems as if the NBA has joined the mix. Instead of the usual thuggery and brawling, this time it involves gambling and fixing games. You would think this accusation would involve a player, but instead it falls around a referee.

It appears that NBA referee Tim Donaghy took his annual salary of $260,000 and used it to bet on games and is suspect for fixing games he ref’d since 2005. David Stern had to believe that his troubles could be put to rest (for a while) after the Detroit-Indiana and New York-Denver brawls. Now it appears that Stern was just browsing the introduction of long book.

“I’ve been involved with the NBA for 40 years in some shape or form and I can tell you that this is the most serious situation and worst situation that I have ever experienced, either as a fan of the NBA, a lawyer for the NBA or as a commissioner of the NBA.'’

Now the NBA is going to review every game that Donaghy was involved in since 2005 as executives, players, and fans wonder how Donaghy’s involvement may have affected outcomes during that tenure. Stern says that this is an isolated situation so far. I am a tad skeptical of that statement, but time will tell.

Of all that’s happened of late, you have to ask yourself what type of image professional sports are distributing to kids. Steroids, dog fighting, blood doping and gambling are the worst examples anyone could imagine. Unfortunately, they are real.

Of all those accusations, the most troubling may be the NBA’s scenario. Of all things in sports (at a youth level), the most arbitrary person in any sport is a referee. Obstinant coaches, ridiculous parents, and over-extended athletes always find there way into sports. The difference has always been referees.

In most cases, the most stable presence in any competition is the referee…they call the fouls/penalties, balls and strikes, yellow/red flags, etc. No matter what happened in any competition (win or loss), players, coaches, and fans always looked upon the referee(s) to be fair. Sure there may have been missed or botched calls, but you always felt that when you walked away, the event was called as fairly as possible. Doesn’t seem to be the case anymore.

So what are kids learning? Well, they’re learning that getting ahead of the competition means sticking a needle in yourself to become a record breaker. Using animals is just another way to earn a buck and use up idle time at a mansion. Worse, that no matter who is playing or what’s on the line, you can always find a referee that needs a little extra money for an illness that is out of control. Sad, sad world.

I just hope that I don’t go to the next park district youth basketball game and hear a nine year old say, “Well, obviously we lost because the ref fixed the game..”

Just my two cents..

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