I first heard of the notion of the NBA having its officials influence games fifteen years ago in Sam Smith's legendary book "The Jordan Rules". In the 1990 playoffs the Bulls had taken a 3-0 series lead over the Sixers and Sam Smith alluded to the fact, as if it was an accepted rule of the NBA, that a overcontrolling officiating crew would undoubtedly officiate game 4 so that the series would be extended meaning more money for the NBA. Smith noted the remarkable free throw disparity and moved on. This was before Kings Lakers Game 6, this was even before Game 7 of the Sonics Suns series in 93. This was nearly twenty years ago. Tim Donaghy's letter comes of no surprise, and David Stern's reaction comes as no surprise. Donaghy is detailing things everyone largely assumed to happen. I am just disappointed that this is coming from a former referee who is in a situation where lies and fabrication would not be a great surprise at all. Donaghy's words should be taken with a grain of salt, but it says something about the integrity of the NBA that Bill Simmons of ESPN can guess which officials were going to officiate game 3 of the Finals last night because of their penchant for iffy calls. My friend last night was trying to figure out what NBA team he was going to root for after the Sonics leave. Personally, I won't root for anyone. I am only watching the Finals to see Garnett and Allen win a ring, then the NBA will slide back behind a curtain of apathy as soon as the Sonics move. The NBA has been battling these issues for a long time, and I hope that one day David Stern has some tough questions to answer because his money hungry arrogance has compromised the integrity of one of the worlds purest sports.