Summer is supposed to be a quiet time in professional sports.  A time to spend your lazy evenings at the baseball field.  A time to go for long runs in the park. A time to catch the occasional WNBA game or tennis tournament, prepare your fantasy football team, and read the occasional news story about a hot off-season move. 

Not so this summer.  From the grizzly Chris Benoit family murder saga, to Michael Vick’s dogfight indictments (and who could forget über-controversial Barry Bonds), the sports world has been rocked by a series of scandals.  And this past Friday, as most of us were grinding out the end of a busy work week and looking forward to another fun weekend, the NBA had no choice but to drop perhaps the biggest bomb of all.

In case you’ve been away from the internet (or simply mesmerized by the trainwreck that is Lindsay Lohan), I’m referring to the NBA’s announcement that veteran referee Tim Donaghy has been the subject of an FBI investigation surrounding allegations of gambling and mob-related activity.  Though as of now the league has managed to keep the lid on the gory details, the upshot of this revelation has dire consequences for the integrity of NBA basketball. 

NBA referees are strictly forbidden from gambling, in any forum.  The alleged charges against Donaghy suggest that his wagers may have extended beyond the relative innocence of playing Club Keno at a divey bar in Milwaukee after a game, and into the potentially devastating realm of fixing the outcomes of NBA games.  Considered one of the most reliable, longest serving members of the NBA officiating staff, Donaghy reffed several games during the 2007 playoffs.  Rabid basketball fans are always looking for reasons to blame anyone other than their beloved teams, and this (still unraveling) situation pierces a hole in the league’s “armor” of truth and honesty in officiating. 

On May 12, 2007, when the Phoenix Suns played the San Antonio Spurs in the third game of the Western Conference semi-finals, it looks increasingly likely that those aforementioned rabid fans might have been onto something.  Sportswriters across the nation were questioning fouls called against the Suns long before the final buzzer gave San Antonio a pivotal victory.  Tim Donaghy officiated that fateful game, and if his integrity is called into question then so are the outcomes of that game, that series, and the remainder of the San Antonio Spurs 2007 championship run.  After winning their first ‘ship in the abbreviated 1999 season (cut short due to player contract negotiations), I’m sure Tim Duncan and co. will be thrilled to add an asterisk to another victory. 

As a Pistons fan, I’m accustomed to watching my team second-guess almost every foul that’s ever called against them.  I have been known to join the legion of fans who beg the players to stop whining and focus on their shots.  But considering the ongoing public debates about the effectiveness of the Draft Lottery and playoff seeding system, this scandal could not come at a worse possible time for the struggling NBA. I know that I will now join my Pistons in regarding every call with a much higher level of skepticism. And if other NBA fans feel like I do, then Commissioner David Stern has his work cut out for him between now and the first day of training camp.