With the recent news that has surfaced regarding the cheating scandal in the NBA and referee Ted Donaghy, is anyone is really surprised?(Espn) As long as there has been professional sports there have been people who bet on it, and there have been people who cheat. In fact, today it seems there is so much cheating that it is sometimes hard to differentiate between what is actually cheating. To me cheating anything which can alter the outcome of the game, which can be anything from calling fouls or taking steroids.

Ted Donaghy has also come out and pointed fingers to other referees and claimed that they are as guilty as he is. I like this, because for once the refs are finally being called out as cheaters. It seems to me that far too often refs have long been the untouchables of professional sports and are never held responsible for the crappy calls that they make on a daily basis. I am what can be considered casual gambler and I have never bought into the idea that sports can be fixed, yet everyday it seems new information is available which says otherwise. Many times I have been told that certain games are fixed and I never thought they were, until now. I have to say that I do believe Donaghy because it is impossible for nobody else to be in on it with him, he is simply the scapegoat for the problems of the entire league. If someone offered you $100,000 to call a couple of extra fouls, would you? I sure would and I’m sure that many other NBA officials have.

What has also surfaced in this scandal is that Donaghy claims that refs make calls which cater to the superstars and most marketable teams in the NBA. This is also believable as anyone who watches sports can see that the stars get call the calls. It happens in the NBA, the NFL and of course in the NHL. When this is all done I hope David Stern is found out to be the man behind the scenes, responsible for fixing all the games. I really believe that the commissioner has a few skeletons in his closet which would give his credibility another knock if it falls into the wrong hands. So for anyone who still believes that professional sports can’t be fixed, don’t bet on it.