The world of sports has yet another black eye.

Recently, the world was informed about Tim Donaghy, a former NBA referee, and his involvement with gambling. With the FBI investigating Donaghy, the NBA has this gray cloud over it just like the NFL and Major League Baseball.

"This is the most serious situation and worst situation that I have ever experienced either as a fan of the NBA, a lawyer for the NBA or a commissioner of the NBA," David Stern said in a press conference on Tuesday.

Mr. Stern is right. This is extremely serious. More serious than some people believe it is.

Although Donaghy is being investigated for gambling, Stern is not sure whether there is any discussion of Donaghy's involvement with fixing games. However, there are trends that do not exactly favor Donaghy. According to ESPN's First Take, Donaghy's games were over the point spread in the past two seasons 57 percent of the time. Maybe he did fix some games. Maybe he didn't.

Needless to say, Stern was not happy when he got the news.

"I feel betrayed by what happened on behalf of the sport regardless of how protective I've been," Stern said. "This is not something that is anything other than an act of betrayal of what we know in sports as a sacred trust."

You got that right, Mr. Stern. The NBA commissioner trusts his officials to do their job without being corrupted by idea of gambling in the process. However, there was a much deeper betrayal that occurred.

Think about this. When the Suns and Spurs played, nearly everyone agreed that this matchup was the NBA Finals. There was no need to send anyone out of the Eastern Conference because the winner of this matchup would dominate any team remaining in the playoffs. Going into Game 3, the series was tied 1-1 and fans across the country could not wait to see what would happen.

Enter Tim Donaghy.

The now embattled referee called by far the worst foul anyone has ever seen or not committed in their lives. After Manu Ginobili missed a layup, the Suns gathered the rebound and were on their way back up the court ... and Donaghy blows his whistle to signal that someone fouled Ginobili. That, along with a few other bad calls, gave the Spurs a 2-1 lead.

Now, before I go any further, I would also like to point out that the NBA, according to Stern, has an observer system that take notes about how the games are being called. These observers, then review a tape of the game. These observers are audited and the auditors are even audited. My question is how sure are we that these "observers" have the appropriate background to have this type of job?

How much will Donaghy's actions effect the trust of the NBA coaches? What about the players? Will they be able to get the same calls because of their superstar status?

This is just what the NBA needs.

Fans already have a hard time trusting officials now. This won't make this any easier. Even though Stern says the league plans to "reaffirm our covenant with our fans," it may take a while if you can set a timetable for that sort of thing. Until the NBA comes up with a better way to improve officiating, fans will look at every pivotal call or non-call and wonder if this official is anything like Donaghy.

-- T&D Sports Writer Emery Glover can be reached by e-mail at eglover@timesanddemocrat.com or by phone at 803-533-5532. Check out his blog, Cover 2, at www.thetandd.com --

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