Regardless of outcome, ref investigation hurts NBA

	David Stern may face one of the most difficult periods of his eventful tenure as commissioner. John Biever/SI
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In his 23 years as NBA commissioner, David Stern has navigated the league through many perilous events: Drug scandals. Labor unrest. Brawls. Now, Stern is facing another crisis of possibly epic proportions.

Friday's news that the FBI is investigating a veteran NBA ref for possibly betting on games as part of a Mafia-led gambling ring is a PR nightmare and a potentially devastating blow for the league.

As one NBA head coach said Friday: "Stern has talked so much about the credibility of his officiating. That's why they don't release information on [referees'] fines or suspensions. Now, he's got this."

It's still way too early to know what kind of mess Stern is dealing with here. The ref might turn out to be innocent. Or if even if guilty, maybe he bet on games in which he didn't work (though early reports indicate otherwise). Maybe he only affected the point spreads, and not the outcomes.

But for Stern, in many ways, it really doesn't matter.

Gambling is poison to a sports league. The mere whiff of it can lead to a stink that will take years to clean. For a league such as the NBA, which has long been the subject of conspiracy theories and WWE comparisons, it could be particularly damaging.

How many times have you heard people say, 'Oh, I don't care for the NBA. The superstars get all the calls,' or 'The league wants to see LeBron or Shaq or a team from the larger market make it to the Finals,' or even, 'Gee, it's amazing how often a late, meaningless basket or free throw puts a team over or under the spread"?

Fair? Of course not. The NBA has had several small-market teams in the Finals in recent years, including the four-time champion Spurs, while big-city clubs in L.A., New York and Boston wallow in mediocrity.

But perceptions can be difficult to shake, and the NBA definitely has a perception problem among a certain segment of the sporting public.

The fact that a referee might be involved only adds to the headache. Even if fans believe the NBA office wouldn't ever be so stupid to risk their entire business by tinkering with the integrity of the game, they might not be so trusting of an official. Bobby Knight once made news by declaring that if the NCAA wanted to really look into cheating they should look at the refs, since they were the ones able to control things. Now it appears the General's take might have been sadly on the mark.

"The minute they name the referee, every player is going to try to remember their games that he worked," said Minnesota Timberwolves forward, and union rep, Mark Madsen. "If there were any close games or late calls, players are definitely going to think about that. This is bad.

"We all know how closely the league monitors the referees," he added. "From a player's standpoint, we respect the refs. I never would have believed that this would happen. It's tragic. I never thought I'd be hearing this in 100 years, about any official in any sport.

"I considered this to be a thing of the past. There's so much education about it, to the players, to the teams. When I played in the Final Four, they sat us down with an FBI agent. They told us not to say anything even about injuries, except to team [members], because that sort of thing would show up on Las Vegas sports books."

Stern can only hope these reports prove to be inaccurate or overblown, and the ref in question gets cleared. If not, the NBA could be facing a PR hit that will make the infamous Pacers-Pistons brawl seem trivial.

"Even though it might be only one guy, it doesn't matter," the NBA coach said. "If you're a fan, you're going to walk out after a game wondering."