You cheating referee

The story of Tim Donaghy the cheating referee is absolutely brilliant. Anyone who watches the NBA knows that there's always something fishy about the referees. I mean, you watch some games and you don't even know that there are referees (which is typically a good thing), but then you watch other games and there are obvious muggings that don't get called on one end of the floor and then a series of ticky-tack fouls at the other end. A good example of crappy refereeing was game 5 of the Golden State-Utah series where Golden State was hit with a slew of technical and flagrant fouls, most of which were undeserved. I was secretly glad when Utah missed every last free throw resulting from those calls, because they all seemed so shady, as if the intent was to push a 2 point lead into a ten point lead and thus end the series. Why would they be so concerned about the point spread? Oh, wait, it turns out that they are betting on the games. Okay, so maybe one is betting and all the others just stink. I am just delighted at this turn of events. Now with the microscope on the refs maybe we can stop watching LeBron James bull his way into the lane and get to the free throw line every time, or watching Shaq throw his gigantic bum against people and go to the line, or watching Michael Jordan shove Bryan Russell ten feet off him to win the NBA Finals. And maybe just maybe, Tim Donaghy will point the finger at Dick Bavetta and Bennett Salvatore and the last fifteen years of professional basketball will all make sense.