Lost in the Josh Hamilton Home Run Show and Brett Favre fiasco was an interesting story from Fox News.

A story the NBA probably wanted hidden. A story the NBA probably wanted to drop on Super Bowl Sunday so nobody would notice.

But not even 28 HRs in one round of Derby nor a fake retirement of one of the NFLs most popular player could upstage this.

In a nutshell, the evidence makes it look that scandalous referee Tim Donaghy was mired in a conspiracy with another referee(Scott Foster).

In fact, in one season, Donaghy made SEVERAL calls to Foster.

How many is several?

Well, he made 134 phone calls.

So unless Foster and Donaghy are hiding a secret, romantic relationship, something stinks here.

And while Stern has done his best to label Donaghy as a “rogue, isolated criminal” this evidence makes him look…….well, it makes him look like a huge liar.

Either way you look at it, its bad.

If Stern didn’t know about referees gambling under his nose, than he’s truly a moron and no better than the CEOs of Enron and Worldcom who claim they didn’t have sufficient information to provide investigators.

If Stern did know what was going on, then the NBA is as corrupt as everybody thinks it is.

Again, I hate to beat the same drum over and over but some of the most mysterious calls in playoff games have come from the same pool of referees.

Is it that far fetched to think that Donaghy had an accomplice or two in the NBA?

Many laughed at me when I wrote this a few months ago.

So really the only solution is:

Let every single NBA referee who has ever officiated a game go.

Give them their pensions, give them severance pay, whatever.

Will you be getting rid of very good referees? Absolutely.

But you know what, the integrity of the game is at its lowest point and you need to show the fans that you are serious about restoring it.

The negative of course is, bringing in “less than” officials will hurt the NBA for a year or two. Replacement refs that they grab from lesser than leagues will need time to adjust to the speed of the game.

But Ill take it. Ill take two years of college or European League officials. Ill take two years of poor officiating because at the very least, you can tell your fans, these guys are clean, they aren’t on the take.

And at this point, that’s the most important thing.

So did the NBA have to hit rock bottom before real changes are made? I don’t know….but I will say this….

I will NEVER watch a NBA game again and not question whether a ref will pull a Donaghy on my team.

NEVER!