Hard to get up off the mat on this one..............

If there is one sport that couldn't take a hit to it's credibility, it's the NBA.

It's like catching a cold when your immune system is depleted. Sure, when everything is looking good and going right, when your body is strong, you can handle a virus. You wait it, sweat it out and eventually it goes away. But when the body is already weak, when everything is being done just to bring it back to a small level of working order, even the simplest of illnesses can be deadly.

For any league, even one that is healthy, the specter of fixing games is like the Ebola Virus. There's no guarantee that you can come back from it. For the NBA, who has been on life support now for a while, looking for anything to bring it back to respectability, the infection is devastating.

Enter Tim Donaghy, the 13-year veteran ref who has alledgedly, for the past two or three seasons, be engaged in a point shaving scam devised by the mafia to protect his image and settle steep gambling debts. Donaghy has been involved in playoff games, has ref'd playoff games and championship games during that time, and his influence on the sport cannot be diminished. He has been in a position to effect the outcome of some of the more important games in the league over that time, something he seems likely to have done now intentionally.

What does this mean for the league?

It introduces "reasonable doubt" into the minds of every fan. Of course, as is the nature of our culture today, this will quickly be relagated to late night humor status, and that "humor" will trickle down to the arenas and the fans all over the league. Donaghy chants will be heard any time a questionable call is made. Confusing, almost non existent fouls will be scrutinized and refs and the league will have to defend itself constantly against a steady stream of questions surrounding the legitimacy of the game calling.

But the truth is what is SOOOO damaging to this sport is that, for a long time, the credibility of the league has been clouded by speculation. That speculation was usually only voiced in a hap hazard, comical, sarcastic manner. Fans who hated the refs would joke about their "motivation" in calling a game a certain way but there were very few earnest feeling behind those jokes. In all, 90% of the people believed there was no real conspiracy, only woeful incompetency (bad enough). Deep down they may have wondered if there were something more to it but realistically they thought "there's no great conspiracy here, just a bunch of dim wits running around."

Now, that small part of each fan that may have thought "there is something more here" is the large part of how they look at the game. It was buried deep behind innuendo but now it is at the forefront of everyone's mind. Donaghy won't be the only one implicated in this. ALL refs will be implicated, simply because they are refs, they will make bad calls, and they will make mistakes. Those mistakes were thought to be just that before. Now, they will be looked at as calculated efforts to influence a game.

The reach of this is truly overwhelming. First, this isn't going away anytime soon. Donaghy hasn't even turned himself in. We have no idea how many games he influenced, how many points he may have shaved, when those games were and what teams it influenced. Was someone's chance for a title derailed by Donaghy wielding his magic whistle? Was someone's playoff hopes dashed by a game in February where Donaghy placated his mafia bosses? Those are all questions that will inevitably be asked and answered.

Second, and perhaps most important, were there any other people involved in this scandal? The NY Post reported today that some federal invesitigators expect Donaghy to turn himself in by Tuesday and, when he does, to flip on other refs and perhaps even players who were involved in shaving points. Having Donaghy at the center of this is bad enough. If it came to be that he was simply the first domino to fall in a huge conspiracy it would deliver a death blow to the league. How could the fans ever trust another game if it came out that certain players were "in on the fix" for some games? Is it out of the realm of possibility? Not at all.

Finally, the NBA has gone out of it's way to try and protect the refs, going so far as to fine Mark Cuban about $300 mill over the course of tha last few years because of his constant complaining about officiating. Now, the NBA will have to rethink how it does EVERYTHIN, especially in terms of the refs. It will HAVE to be open. It will HAVE to be transparent. And it will have to be thick skinned. Refs are going to have to be made available for questioning. They are going to have to be willing to open up and admit mistakes when some are made. They are going to have to go out of their way to convince the fan base that their calls were made because of what they saw rather than what they were trying to accomplish.

Since the departure of Michael Jordan the league has been treading water. Stars in the making, saviors of the Association spring up and die off almost every year. Troubles seem numerous, leagues seem unbalanced, ratings are down, attendance is pretty stagnant (although still good) and the sport has definitely secured a place as the third wheel in this battle of the big three (NFL, MLB, NBA).

Since the end of the Cavs, Pistons series there has been no good news for the league (and even that good news came after yet another tough season overall).

But this is the end game right here. This is the knock out blow. This one will put the NBA to the mat. Will they get up? Probably, but the question isn't whether the stagger back to their corner with their head still screwed on straight, the question is can they recover from this blow to get back into the fight?

With at least 5 or 6 more months of accusations and discolsures about to come out, it seems as if this year will be one of the darker ones in NBA history. And when your game isn't that compelling to begin with success may be a lot further off than may think.

If David Stern ever had any dramatic ideas about how to improve the league, now would be the time to take that chance. Sadly, he may have nothing to lose.