It wouldn't be hard for an official to fix a game without drawing too much attention. In fact, you wouldn't even have to change the outcome (win vs. loss) of the game, but just ensure the spread was covered. If things started getting too close, you make a 3-seconds call. A ball goes out of bounds, you make sure "your team" gets the possession. A guy is dribbling close to the sideline, you blow the whistle. He stepped out of bounds.

You see this sort of officiating occasionally at lower levels when local referees give the home team a few extra favors.

You're comparing Stern to the Pope? Seems to me the Pope has WAY more priests than Stern has refs. Seems to me the Pope has WAY more layers of people between him and the "offenders." I don't recall seeing the Pope sitting in the congregation of the offending Priests, but I do recall seeing Stern sitting in the audience during games. By this logic one could argue the CEO of Enron might not know what his CFO was doing until it became public. I don't see the similarities at all.

One thing I bet is similar between probelmatic priests and the NBA refs is.....there is no such thing as a "lone offender." Now you can BET that!

People, processes and transparency.

I agree with Mark Cuban that this is what is needed. These sound like SYSTEMS to me.

I'm waiting for Lee to show up with his bean-bag proposal so I can actually agree with him on something.

There are now suspicions that more than just one ref is involved. This is getting interesting by a minute.

And possibly players.

This could possibly be bigger than the Darko tinted window scandal.

Never.

Only if we find out that the refs and players involved smoked three packs a day.

Including half a pack in the half-time.

You know, on the other hand here's the dilemma. You get the call from mob saying either you fix the games or else. What do you do? You have a family to protect as well. I can't say what I would do. Do you go to the authorities and risk having to be in witness protection for a long time or do you play along risking federal prosecution? The choices are not abundant and realistically you're screwed either way.

So the moral of the story is, don't gamble with high stakes, unless your name is Bond, James Bond that is.