Swengali: NBA Betting Charges Ring True

JUST AS SPYGATE was thrown back into the spotlight days before the Super Bowl, the referee gambling scandal that threatens the very integrity of the NBA has taken center stage in the middle of the finals.

Tim Donaghy, who admitted to betting on games he officiated, came out from the rock he's been under long enough to say he wasn't alone. Moreover, he says playoff results were altered by referees with a vested interest in the outcomes.

Commissioner David Stern, who only days ago was basking in the attention brought from the Celtics-Lakers series, has naturally scoffed at Donaghy's allegations.

What else can Stern do? Just the allusion to impropriety makes this a no-win situation for the NBA. Stern, like a good soldier, says the FBI completed its investigation and no other referee was associated with the scandal.

Yet I have a little voice saying the chances that only one referee was involved in a betting ring seems as likely as George Lucas making another good movie.

Donaghy has little reason to lie. He's admitted guilt, and there's no saving his reputation.

Anyone at the infamous 2002 Lakers-Kings Game 6 says the refs, either deliberately or not, handed Los Angeles the victory. Does it seem very unlikely that money was the motivating factor of bad calls?

I don't have any proof, but I doubt I'm alone in surmising games have been fixed.
In fact, I'd bet on it — just as I'd wager this scandal isn't going away soon.

Photo by Rocky Widner/Getty Images