Hero Of The Week: NBA Commissioner David Stern

I'm a huge fan of NBA basketball. I'm also a big fan of Commissioner David Stern. A man of intelligence, foresight, and integrity. Besides marketing the league to the entire world, he has made it increasingly profitable, competitive, and is a leader in making management and ownership more racially diverse.

Before I get to the latest scandal that he is currently leading the organization through, I want to remind us all that when former NBA player John Amaechi came out earlier this year, it was David Stern that forcefully declared that the NBA was about what you can do and not who you are. Stern immediately removed Tim Hardaway from All Star Game duties after he made shockingly homophobic remarks.

A couple of months ago, the first female referee employed by the NBA came out as a lesbian. Violet Palmer's revelation was met with a big yawn around the league. Regardless if everyone already knew, I think that David Stern's earlier stance on homosexuality helped make this a non-issue. In fact, the only place I even saw this reported was in her interview with The Advocate magazine when she discussed her life and 12-year relationship. Part of this, of course, could be the prevailing idea that being a gay male jock is an anomaly, while being a lesbian athlete is considered par for the course.

Now to the current scandal and based on yesterday's post, are you shocked when I tell you I think this guy is really physically attractive? Personality and integrity-wise, not so much.

Tim Donaghy, 40, the son of a college basketball official, is suddenly the center of the biggest scandal in NBA history. He is under federal investigation for allegedly betting on NBA games and possibly with organized crime figures to control point spreads of those games they had wagered on together. Two weeks after the FBI told the NBA that Donaghy was under investigation, he resigned. The NBA was advised not to fire him lest it disrupt their probe.

As the story goes, Donaghy had accrued gambling debts when mob associates strong-armed him into cooperating with a game-fixing scheme. The fact that his performance reviews hadn't suffered these past two years reminded the league office how the manipulating of a game can be done in the most subtle of ways, without alarming even the most educated eyes. Something I didn't know as that referees are graded after each game. Officials review the calls that they don't make, not just the ones they do.

I have the utmost confidence in Commissioner Stern and that he will keep the NBA moving forward as a positive force.
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