it's not strong enough to say that this Pistons team has tarnished their legacy. theyve disgraced it. either theyve been fixing games all along, or they are just really stupid and gutless.  either way, they will never win another title, or even a conf. final.  Rasheed is a clown with the emotional maturity of a 3 yr old. He says the NBA is WWF entertainment and he should know.  He was part of one of the most suspicious fixes in recent memory when the blazers, up 20, failed to score a single basket in the last 10 min. against the lakers. Fast forward to game 3 of the celtics series where the pistons took almost as long to score their first basket.  Went into a double digit deficit before trying to post Sheed. People talk about what a great job Dumars did dumping Ben but they havent won without him and they never will. 

honestly though watching this year the whole thing looks more and more fixed to me, and if these guys cant fix games without making it obvious, then Im not interested.  Ive always regarded it as entertainment, but Im just not being entertained as much these days.  I love basketball, but I wont be following the NBA as closely in the future.  thats because the NBA resembles real b-ball less and less every year.  Real ballers dont flop and whine and cry and have 2 fake injuries per game.  It's sad to see these 6'10" monster athletes infantilized by the game, whining and pleading and flailing.  But the truth is they are nothing without the $ystem and the $ystem is administered by the refs. Many writers including me have pointed to flopping as a problem, but the real problem is the refs and the flopping is a direct result of how they call games. 

next time you watch a game, take a good look at the refs.  Slick hair, cruel faces.  They all look like mafia hitmen.

There is only one solution to this problem: get rid of referees altogether.  Do it like the playground and call your own fouls.  And if you call weak fouls then youre not an elite player.

I dont want to hear stupid responses about how Im a disgruntled Pistons/Spurs/bobcats fan or a wacko conspiracy theorist.  I dont want to hear stupid responses about how we need the refs or there will be anarchy and rioting in the street.  Save that moronic shit for the other people who enjoy reciting entrained folksy slogans to each other and smearing each other with flourescent greasepaint and waving pom poms.

bottom line its just not as fun to watch.  everyone raves about a guy like chris paul, so I studied him to see if I could pick up some moves.  Every time he drives the lane its an offensive foul.  He uses his off arm as a battering ram to get through defenders, then clears them out once he's  gotten by. Great for him, but its nothing I can use. The guys in my pickup games would probably call that if it happend regularly, and it'll be hard to convince them that Im allowed to punch them with my off arm just because I have the ball.  same thing when he goes up for contested layups, he pushes off in the air.   Its the same with any superstar.  DWade's pet move was a walk and it got him a chip.   If there's one thing we learned from the Jordan-Bryon Russel incident it's that it's easy to win when the refs let you shove your defender to the floor.

I may switch to watching college ball, but probably not.  the main argument against college ball is the lesser quality of athlete and in-game decision making.  but ask yourself this:  What if you were KOBE, the very best basketball player on the planet?  And you had a three point lead with FIVE seconds left in the game?  Would you:

A.  dribble out the clock, avoiding the foul
B. hold the ball and wait to get fouled
C. Shoot a three immediately

Only if you pick C do you qualify to be the best basketball player on the planet.  think about it.