Ref Scandal: The NBA's Own Fault

by , Nation_of_Islam_Sportsblog

Referees are something we take for granted. Just a part of the sporting landscape, like the ball or the goal or the net.

As such, they have been dehumanized and subjugated for years. Particularly when it comes to salary.

As the owners make more and more revenue. As the players stack their chips higher and higher. The men in striped shirts struggle to make ends meet. They spend the season on the road as frequently as the players. Their contributions to the game are just as important. Yet, the moment a ref mentions more pay, he is snuffed out.

It should come as no surprise that NBA referees need second incomes. The league has done it's best to keep paying them the professional sports equivalent of minimum wage.

The latest revelation of Tim Donaghy's alleged spread manipulation is not shocking in the least. No one is surprised. Men that live a veritable slave labor existence would be expected to eventually resort to any means necessary to eke out a few more dollars. Particularly when such men have documented cash handling problems.

The reality here is one that should not direct anger or surprise at the allegations against Tim Donaghy. Anyone who has watched an NBA game this season past had the thought in the recesses of their mind that something was up with many of the refs.

Disgust should be direct completely and pointedly at the NBA executives that allowed this to go on unchecked. Fan anger should be concentrated on the men that dictate the referees' pay scale. At the men that chose to put the NBA ref(s) in a position that they eventually might have their good judgment jeopardized.

If, instead of figuring how to keep the money from trickling down, the execs had gone the logical route of trying to ensure the economic needs of all their employees were being met; well, then a certain referee who had difficulty making his ends meet would never have been tragically placed in the position of having to make a choice between providing for his existence and allegiance to a league that treated him like a non-entity.

So, as fans, we must singularly act together and forgive Tim Donaghy. And, we must voice our outrage with the executives that put him in that position rather than spend a few dollars more on his paycheck.