Is Tim Donaghy a Rogue?

…or are there others? Do you really think that there’s one official in the entire NBA who decided to become a cheater while all of his colleagues stayed the  straight and narrow? Tough sale for me. Pete Rose bet on baseball, athletes use performance enhancing drugs, infidelity is prevalent, etc. In Language Arts classes I used to teach students how to write persuasive essays. They were required to use three types of appeal to convince readers that their argument was sound. Logical Appeal was one of them and basically held that your support should lead the reader toward a conclusion your position just makes sense – it’s more logical than that of the opposition.

To the point, if sports is riddled with questionable practices that are mildly reprimanded, except for Pete Rose’s suspension from baseball, why don’t we logically assume that Tim Donaghy is on to something? No one likes a rat and Donaghy is a rat but you know that axiom about the thickness of blood contrasted with water? I don’t subscribe to it blindly. If your brother robs for a living, he shouldn’t get a pass because you’re a police officer. I’d drive my own brother to jail if he was a danger to society. So if Donaghy has embellished the truth that’s one thing. To say that he’s totally errant is another. The camaraderie of NBA officials is similar to that of players, perhaps even family. They work, travel and likely eat together. Why wouldn’t they protect one another? I hope the NBA can take a healthy, even if sacrificial, step through this process to produce a truer form of competition.