Is not whether Donaghy or Stern is lying -- both of them probably are -- but how incredibly plausible the notion of fixed / biased reffing is. We've all seen questionable calls affect the outcome of games, and I'm surprised no one has mentioned the Dwayne Wade free-throw parade from the 2006 finals.

It even spills over into hockey. There was an article in a Vancouver paper

http://www.nationalpost.com/sports/story.html?id=573430

about biased officiating in the Cup finals. The NHL, of course, is run by Stern's mini-me, Gary Bettman.

What's needed is not non-denial denials and counter-accusations, but a response akin to Kennesaw Mountain Landis's to the Black Sox scandal: a firm statement that an independent investigation will be carried out, and ANYONE found to have been involved in game-fixing will be banned permanently from the sport. Of course, we won't get that.

you make an interesting point, and I wonder if football, soccer, whatever you want to call it would benefit from doing what hockey did and putting another referee in the game. Try to have each ref cover one side of the field vertically to get better coverage on plays, flops, and fouls.

I'm one of the unfortunate few who can't watch Euro 08 because I don't have cable, but if I did, I would be. It's one of my favorite sports to watch, and I played as a kid. Is flopping bothersome? Sure. But so is the goonish style that emerges when the refs lose control -- i.e. Dutch-Portugal from the last World Cup. I suppose it's a fine line and the players take advantage of that.

This means little or nothing now and probably will continue to mean little through the end of the summer.

In fact, given how bad the economy is and the continuing unpopularity of the war, I'm surprised Obama's lead is not bigger and will be even more surprised if it's not 10 pts. soon.

But others are right, the smear machine has not hit full stride yet and there've been no major debates or speeches. The gloves are still on (except at Fox, apparently).

My personal bellwether for the election is my family; 2x voters for Bush, they're ready to go with Obama. I've seen them lean this way before and snap back to the conservative side when it came time to cast ballots, but if people like them are fed up with the right-wing message I'd say this bodes well.

I was one of the dorks who turned off the game after the 1st half -- to watch kind of a crappy movie with my wife. But I have to say at least half of this is the NBA's fault -- with the late start and all the TV timeouts, these games simply take way too long. How many kids got sent to bed and missed one of the greatest comebacks of all time?

It's one of the reasons I'm not a big basketball fan.

Meanwhile, good for Phil for standing up and giving kudos to the other team, no whining about refs etc. Unlike the kind of crying that tainted the Stanley Cup finals, here we're just seeing the opposing coach admit that the better team's winning.

it increasingly looks as though the only real chance mccain has is this kind of swiftboating, since all the issues are going the dems' way. please, please let's not do their work for them. there needs to be some top-down instructions for dems, from the senate to the last person licking stamps in an office somewhere in tuskeegee, that people need to stay on message and at least not say anything idiotic that adds fuel to the fire.

i mean, for the love of god.

Kobe had just been screened and had to lunge and swipe around Pierce's back just to make the play -- a classic reach-in foul if there ever was one.

That said, I agree that it wasn't necessarily what killed the Celts; they just didn't have quite enough in this game and you have to wonder if they're missing Perkins. Without him in the lineup, Garnett's forced to guard Gasol and he's in foul trouble all night, which might explain some of the tentativeness (though not the missed free throws).

Uh, what about those "white, working class voters" Obama's told he should fret about? It was the populist message of Edwards that Hillary basically adopted after he dropped out that breathed life into her campaign.

Everyone keeps saying the Lakers will be back next year when they get Bynum, but that's not a sure thing. They can thank Manu's balky ankle for getting by the Spurs so easily, and others in the West will be better as well.

Also, the way they got smoked strategically and physically all series long makes you wonder if there's not something fundamentally wrong with this team. You don't suddenly get tougher and better defensively with the return of one guy -- and that was some of the worst defense I've ever seen.

Hat's off to the Celtics. My wife was laughing out loud at Garnett's post-game interview with Michelle Tafoya. She asked me who that was and I explained to her it was the complete maniac who plays for the C's.