For reasons unrelated to Buzz Bissinger-style  hateration, I can't easily read Simmons right now. Still I try,
because he’s my favorite blogging guy. Simmons is on about the burning
questions of the 2008 NBA Finals, but a lot of us are right now
ruminating on the Western Conference Finals of 2002.

I
am a fan of the LA Lakers, but I’m the rarest kind: the one who also
roots for the Sacramento Kings. (Yeah, yeah. Don’t pillory me; I know
the deal. Literally, friendships in my life have disappeared because of
my split affinity. But what can I say? The Kings moved from Kansas City
to Sacramento the same week I moved from Sandusky, Ohio to Sactown.
They had me at hellow. Yet, I do love me some Showtime, now. Rooting
for the Cali teams while living in NYC will twist a man up real good.)

In
June of 2002, completely down with Webber, Divac, Bibby, Turgulu,
Stoyokovic, etc, I sat in The Colorado of Pasadena, just certain my
Kings were headed to the Finals. They were up big in the fourth quarter
of the clinching game, then the NBA took the Conference Championship
from my Kings. Shaq shot free throws like they were his birthright
because the NBA wanted LA — not Sactown — in its match-up with New
Jersey.

I saw what I saw and no one can make me believe
anything else happened. Apologist for the NBA such as Michael Wilbon
saw it as a horribly officiated game. I say it was, like Porky’s or a Michael Bay film, expertly officiated in that the refs achieved everything they set out to do.

My
whole way of seeing sports has changed. The Patriots cheated — from the
ground — floor I was in on that one. Steroids? Yeah they were an
enormous scam. And even as an advocate of better living through
chemistry I could not abide by their presence in baseball’s un-leveled
playing field. But what to make of Dongaghy‘s
allegations that the 2002 Sac v. L.A. series and others were fixed?
There’s no denying that the former ref is in a desperate situation,
facing a quarter century of incarceration for his misdeeds. How should
one weigh his words’ downside with the Laker-centric vision that’s
forever burned on my retina. Unless you live in Sacramento, it’s a
tough call.

Not trusting ESPN — which might stand for Entertainment leagues’ Spin — I
took a look at FoxSports coverage: They've put out day one graphics that
question the fax of that contest. Fuck Bill O'Reilly, but there's no spin
here.

I
think he’s trying to bring the whole league down, and he might just do
that. Fans like me, who can watch pro sports as theater and accept that
a lot of the abiding frame work is manipulated by market forces, refs
and whatever are the exception. Most folks want to believe. If they’re
led to believe that the hoop they’re watching is being conducted — not
contested — then the NBA may well be on the way to the NHL’s brand of
marginality. Commissioner David Stern must act quickly, or his alleged
one bad actor’s work will metastasize into a thespian disease that will
bleed his league.

Donnell Alexander is the MOLI View's contributing editor for Sports & Fitness. He posts Mondays and Thursdays.