David Stern Does Not Control the World

Here it is, the big, bad ↵Fox News link to the “second ref” story. The gist, situated conveniently in the first paragraph:↵↵⇥The records show Donaghy placed 134 calls to referee Scott Foster — more than the 126 calls Donaghy made to his bookie — between October 2006 and April 2007, the period during which he has confessed to either betting on games or passing on game information to gamblers. The majority of the phone calls lasted no more than two minutes and occurred prior to and after games Donaghy officiated and on which he admits wagering.↵↵Well, that looks like one giant GOTCHA! for those seeking to bring the league down. If such dark forces really exist. But hey, let’s be pragmatic about this: Stern barely squeaked out of Donaghy 1 with a “lone gunman, raffish bookies” theory. And yet apparently, it was enough, probably because there are too many games already and refereeing, intentionally or otherwise, has been splotchy and weird. Perfect storm of minimization and non-malignant folly.↵
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↵The question is, though, can this fragile strategy insulate the league again against a new wave of corruption charges? That “Stern controls the puppet strings” thinking will never get past the message boards, in part because it already had its moment—too soon, perhaps—with Donaghy. This time, if the appearance of wrongdoing continues to be overwhelming, Stern might have to cut his losses and imply there’s been some minor fixing that matters only in principle, and matters far less than the larger issue of ref incompetence. The time for equivocation has passed. But so has the moment of raw, utter paranoia. ↵
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↵So now, it’s all about the business of admitting guilt without appearing to give a damn. It’s impossible to pin down exactly what games were tampered with, and really, no one fixes major playoff games. In a way, the best thing the NBA can do here is uncover some hazy version of the truth—just enough to dispell the ridiculousness of the “Suns were robbed” thinking. Because this time around, they can’t just lump Donaghy’s greed in with other form of ref slackness. Now, the damage control becomes all about admitting some minor sin such that the imagination gets shut down quick. Sacrifice a few regular season games. Who cares. Milwaukee vs. Chicago in March.↵
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↵It’ll get drowned out by the Olympics, the zebras shall be thrashed, and Stern gets the appearance of a clean-up. Huurah.↵