David Stern's Great Escape

The Donaghy scandal has faded from the spotlight for now

Aug 17, 2007

While Barry Bonds breaks the home run record and Michael Vick continues to be skewered, the NBA has gotten off easy for the Donaghy betting scandal.

How quickly things fade from the public psyche. It's like the NBA stole some of Wolverine's healing powers after Tim Donaghy took a knife and cut into its integrity. All better now. No need for that silly trial business. He admitted his guilt, and even more allegations and more crooked refs won't put a nail in Stern's coffin.

So break out the bubbly and let's get ready for Kevin Garnett in Boston and another crazy battle for supremacy in the western conference.

Here is something along the lines of what you're going to hear from NBA analysts up until the season starts: "The NBA's troubles don't end with Tim Donaghy" or "The NBA has a long way to go to fix this problem" or "The NBA's problems are just beginning."

Something like that. Doomsday vibes mixed with overwhelming pessimism topped by some thick cynicism. But they speak for themselves on this matter.

Newspaper columnists and NBA writers have misjudged the fan reaction to this Donaghy scandal. They think there is a dark cloud hanging over the league. That the NBA is subject to ridicule and criticism reserved only for David Stern's worst nightmares.

And some of that maybe true, but the fans won't be the ones blowing the whistle. That's right, average sports fans and even NBA lovers seemed to have forgotten about the thing with the referee that happened a little while ago. No one can even pronounce his name.

Most of us who follow professional basketball thought there would be a witch hunt. That the NBA would morph into "The Crucible". Driving ranges would have Tim Donaghy life-size cut outs for people to hit at. That the Phoenix Suns would be lined up outside of Donaghy's trial yelling, "one, two, three, we don't want that referee!"

And while Phoenix and its Suns have surely been stirring with the anguish of 1,000 steroid users, there has been no public indictment of Donaghy from any member of that team or from any other public basketball figure.

There are surely private sentiments that none of us will hear. But the public outcry and outrage, even from die hard loyalists, is not there. There should have been fans and players and owners alike publicly calling for heads to roll, for individual games to be reviewed, and asking the inevitable, "How in the name of God Shammgod did this happen?"

Well, there's been nothing of the sort. Just a few rumblings here and there. Maybe that's a good thing for David Stern. Maybe it isn't. Maybe the public protests and fans crying "Foul!" will pick up speed as the season approaches. Or maybe no one cares. An even more terrifying prospect for Mr. Stern.

This writer hasn't forgotten a second of any of this. There needs to be people fired. Every single ref needs to take his/her shoes off, put his/her laptop and bag on the belt, and go through the gambling detector. Let no one be spared. Let private investigators loose on these keepers of the game. Even the innocent should be squeezed dry.

Stern is not taking much of the blame for this, but he should be sweating profusely. Donaghy apparently looked, acted, and sounded like all the other refs. He had an impeccable record.

Some people trust a man with an impeccable record. Stern shouldn't. Not anymore. Because if this happens again, Barry Bonds and Michael Vick might not be there to steal the headlines.