I clearly remember that 6th game between the Lakers and Kings in '02. Please don't try and tell me the officiating was incompetent in that game...it went way beyond incompetent officiating. It became clear as you watched that game that the refs were determining the outcome. They weren't even subtle about it. It was blatant, and outrageous, and it was a defining moment for a lot of NBA fans like myself who became ex-NBA fans shortly thereafter.

And it made sense when you stopped to think about it....the NBA loves 7-game series. They go way over the top when they have a 7th game of a playoff series to promote.

The NBA also has a pronounced bias toward big-market teams....LA and New York. Whenever a team from Sacramento or Utah has been up against the Lakers in the playoffs in recent years, you knew they had two strikes against them going in.

So I realized after that 6th game that the NBA isn't a sport; it's a business. The NBA is a spectacle....a show. As such, it has more in common with the Ice Capades than with legitimate professional sports leagues like the NFL.

I've never watched the NBA for more than a few minutes ever since '02.

And don't get me started on David Stern. I've watched this clown take a vibrant professional sport that probably reached its zenith during the Michael Jordan era and turn it into something that resembles the WWF.

Some conclusions, based on this article, the responses to it, and recent developments in the NBA.....

• The officiating in the NBA is a joke. At best, it's wildly inconsistent and unfair. At worst, it's crooked.
• No, you say? The officiating can't be rigged in favor of home teams, big-market teams, big stars and exciting 7-game series? Have you watched an NBA playoff series recently? Did you see the 6th game of the Lakers-Kings series in '02? Have you observed how Kobe Bryant and other marquee stars get coddled by the refs? Can you explain the disparity in fouls between home teams and visiting teams?
• Nobody is saying that the officiating in NBA games is completely crooked. It doesn't happen all the time, but it happens often enough to cast a giant cloud of suspicion over the NBA.
• Until the NBA brings some integrity back to the officiating process, the league cannot be taken seriously. It is not a major sport on the same level as the NFL, the NHL, major league baseball or the MLS. When the outcomes of your games are not determined by which team plays better, but by marketing considerations, you're not a major sport. You're a spectacle. You're on the same level as the Ice Capades or the WWF.

Camille: Great article. Insightful....informed....superb writing. Good political analysis.

You're making it difficult for the Paglia haters around here to work up a good animus toward you this time around. I so look forward each month to the whining about how they're canceling their subscriptions to Salon, and how can Salon put up with a no-talent hack like Paglia, and who is she sleeping with, and.....blah, blah, blah....

But perhaps I underestimate the anti-Paglia Fan Club. Let me go and peruse the other letters for some gems of vituperation.......