Poll on ESPN; Which sport is facing the biggest crisis?

It has to be the NBA referees scandal.
None of the others is even close.

 

Online polls? I vote "indifferent."

 

NBA way out in front. If he bet on games he ref'd, was he making calls to cause the final score to go his way. He must have.

 

NBA by far is the biggest problem. Refereeing calls can cost a team a game or make or break team play.
Especially in playoff games that are so crucial. I'd hate to see it happen in the Final round game seven.

 

If refereeing is so gosh darn "crucial" as you all are saying, why aren't these guys paid better?

Then they wouldn't have to point shave.

----------

Which league is in the biggest crisis?

It truly depends on how big the ref scandal is. One guy? Isolated incident? Versus a large majority of your players on illegal performance enhancers?

I don't know. How pervasive is each problem?

 

The thing about the ref scandal is, even if it's only one guy, how do you ever convince the fans that he's the only one? Every questionable call suddenly makes you wonder if the fix is in. That's why the NBA has the biggest problem.

 

NBA refs make decent money. I always thought the NFL refs were more vulnerable because what happens if their day career goes south? Say, for example, one of them worked at a highly respected mortgage company?
All officials should get paid more money, but this case seems to be a compulsive gambler. Leonard Tose went broke that way, and he was an owner.

 

Don't forget. This isn't the first time NBA refs have gotten tangled with the law. There was that business with the airline tickets a few years back, whcih got a passel of them ripped up by the IRS. And, luggie, for me, one ref taking cash to dump games is worse than a teamful of Giambis.

 

How pervasive the problem in reality is may be less important than how pervasive the fans percieve it. Even if only one guy was doing it, if it creates a widespread belief that there may be more, that's more damaging to a league's credibilty than 100 steroid users.

 

NFL doesn't have to die -- or stop thriving, for that matter -- to be in the bigger crisis. Goodell suspended a player with no convictions for a year, so now he's got PETA protesting at the league offices in New York because of Vick. And you can bet the case only intensifies from here.

 

Without a doubt the NBA, and this coming from someone who loves to piss on the current state of pro hoops.

The NFL dogfighting scandal hurts and so do continuous player allegations, but it's more player-specific than team-specific and Roger Goodell has shown a willingness to go where Tagliabue wouldn't even have dreamed.

Baseball? Ya, people hate Barry Bonds and think that McGwire was all smoke and mirrors, and they may have poured it on Pete Rose back when he was suspended, but they're coming to the games in record numbers. It'd be more of a story if people stayed away.

Has to be the NBA. You can make jokes about how refs don't call traveling, how they may favor certain players (oh hi, MJ!), but betting on the games themselves hurts the league's credibility in a second.