State of the NBA

A general news roundup for today. I'll be beginning a series of commentaries on ballparks I've been to Monday, starting with my least favorite, Yankee Stadium.

Former NBA referee Tim Donaghy (featured in photo above) plead guilty to charges of "conspiracy to admit wire fraud" and "transmitting betting information through interstate commerce." Worse, it was revealed in court yesterday that he was paid $5,000 for correct picks on games and he faces a maximum of 25 years in prison. While it is a foregone conclusion that Mr. Donaghy will face time and never officiate an NBA game again, my liking of the NBA had already sunken low and this doesn't help any. I don't like the image of many NBA players who deck themselves out in tattoos and dreds, nor some of the fans who have a penchant for being more aggressive than even the most die-hard NFL fans (the infamous Detroit Pistons-Indiana Pacers and the New York Knicks-Denver Nuggets brawls are just two of the examples coming to mind.) Also hampering the NBA is the lack of competition. The same teams compete for the title year after year, especially the San Antonio Spurs and Detroit Pistons. This year's NBA Finals between the Spurs and the Cleveland Cavaliers were one of the most boring playoff series I've ever seen. What makes the NFL and MLB more exciting currently? There is so much talent in the NFL that most of the teams have a chance to have a good season plus injuries have more of an effect because the season is only 16 games. As for MLB, there are currently 15 teams vying for playoff contention out of 30 total. Also, since 2000, there has been a different World Series champion each year ('00 - New York Yankees, '01 - Arizona Diamondbacks, '02 - Anaheim Angels, '03 - Florida Marlins, '04 - Boston Red Sox, '05 - Chicago White Sox, '06 - St. Louis Cardinals).

Barry Bonds broke Hank Aaron's record while my blog was on hiatus. Yawn. Here's to hoping another MLB star with a clean record in regards to steroids breaks the record in the next few years to make the record clean once again. Tomorrow I'll be posting a primer on my favorite ballparks in preparation of my series on Monday.