On the plus side, he alredy knows how to deal with big people who hate him

Yes Nation, it's the Tim Donaghy / NBA Ref Fixing Games post. Let's get to it, shall we?

For a league that already had major issues from

1) SunsGate (we like to throw this out there to get out Spurs readers to angry up)

2) the NBA Finals that always feels like the fourth act of a three act play

3) a season where half of the Leastern Conference went in the tank (we like to throw this out there to get our Celtics readers to angry up)

4) a WWE-level screw job at the Draft that just coincidentally sent the top picks to teams that didn't tank (Your tears taste so good, Celtic fans)

5) a regular season that actively spit in the face of anyone trying to play fantasy sports...

Well, let's just say that a bookie-mad ref who JUST COINCIDENTALLY led the league in technical fouls called *really* isn't helping matters.

As always, it's not the initial scandal that throws you off the cliff -- it's the long-term damage to credibility. Historically, if you heard someone crying about the ref, you could commiserate over the bad luck, or just shrug and point to the scoreboard as the ultimate arbiter of good and less good.

Now, the sour grapes fan has a whole bag of additional conspiracy to go to... and the NBA bashing crowd, who are never lonely, get an unlimited source of ammo.

Just to make the regular readers of this blog do a spit-take, I'm going to be positive about this. Maybe this is just the crisis that the NBA really needs to get out of its comfortable funk. After all, global awareness continues to rise, television networks keep ponying up the big bucks for games, and while piss-poor NBA Finals ratings don't really make anyone happy, it's clearly not doing enough damage to make the powers that be do something sensible.

What's sensible? The immediate implementation of

1) Reseeding playoff teams to create a more satisfying playoff season

2) Greater quality control of referees, including direct and continuous monitoring of bank statements.

Yes, this is a serious violation of a person's privacy and not foolproof -- but we're talking the completely integrity of the league being at stake. Not keeping a better eye on these people is like running a casino without cameras.

3) Direct and obvious punitive measures against tanking teams.

You're telling me that Joe Smith signing an underhanded contract with the T-Wolves was worth the loss of five number one picks... but the Celtics intentionally trying to lose games in the second half of last season is kosher. Giving Seabass Telfair minutes at any time, to my eyes, is proof that the game is in the bag.

4) Direct and obvious punitive measures against tanking players.

You want to stop the phenomenon of the skilled veteran player with the guaranteed contract that forces a ruinous trade away from his current bad situation to a place with more sun, less taxes and a better chance of getting to the playoffs? Fine him. Suspend him. Dock his pay. Go to war with the union if you have to (trust me, after the lockout year, you're really not going to lose), but get the game back in the hands of organizations, not contractors.

5) Stop coddling China.

The Chinese Government and/or team doesn't want Yi to stiff it up in Milwaukee? Shut down satellite transmissions to the country. Let them take back Yao Ming if they must -- because they won't want to put the toothpaste back in that tube, and they'll cave on Yi, too.

Do all of this, and you still won't have a golden age of the NBA -- because Stern's devil's bargain with Jordan, and the Cult of One over the Cult of Teams that that age created, has never really stopped, and team sports don't work in the long term over being built on individual players. (This, by the way, is how I know David Beckham will do nothing to make US soccer much better. That, and the fact that unless you or your kid is playing it, you probably don't give a crap about it.)

But it will help stop the bleeding, and give people something else to talk about, other than the Black Sox parallels. Worse yet for the NBA, the league does not have a roaring economy and a Babe Ruth-esque player to bring it out of the mess. (No, not even Bassy Telfair.)