Anyone who grew up as one of many siblings or cousins, can identify with what I am about to say. For every group of kids in a family, there is at least one who's transgressions are overlooked-the kid who subtly gets away with murder because everyone views him/her incapable of bad. Sometimes, if everyone was to pay close enough attention, that kid can secretly be the worst of them all. In the fraternity that is professional sports, the NBA is that child. 

            While each of the other major sports are undergoing heavy scrutiny, or downright neglect, the NBA skates by as beloved, 'clean,' and 'pure.' The NFL is (rightfully) in the midst of the Spygate scandal, involving government officials and the whole 9; Major League Baseball has seen all of it's credibility and integrity be eaten away by the steroids scandal; the NHL has been reduced to WNBA-like (lack of) popularity as a result of the recent strike. Now I have my concerns about each of the aforementioned issues, but my largest concern today is the fact that the National Basketball Association has its own cleaning up to do, yet we continue to allow them to sweep the dirt under the rug.

            First is the issue of performance enhancing drugs; NBA players should be tested and investigated just as any other athlete would be. For details on the science and logic on why, despite their slender build, it is possible and even probable that NBA players use or have used performance enhancing drugs refer to a previous article of mine titled "The NBA Needs To Be Investigated Too."

            From one drug to the next-marijuana. What is being done about Josh Howard's comments? First of all, marijuana is illegal; a message needs to be sent that you cannot just come out in a public interview and implicate yourself and "most NBA players" with such an irresponsible comment. Children watch these men and look up to them, what message does it send to them that one of their 'role models' or most of their role models (according to Howard) smoke pot? Now I am going to explain the severity of this, and in a way that many people may or may not agree with, but it is the truth-there are a large percentage of established adults, wealthy people with children and their own companies, who smoke marijuana on their own time. The key thing is, THEY ARE ESTABLISHED. Pot is like quicksand to young teenagers and even 20-25 year olds who have not found their direction yet. So we have a league that gears its marketing toward the youth of our world, yet allows its representatives to openly condone something that can ruin their lives. What are we doing about THAT?

            Shift your focus now away from the issue of drugs and toward the issue of character. No need to get into the character issues in the NFL as they are all to familiar to us all (Chad Johnson, Pacman Jones, Chris Henry, if I named them all I'd annoy myself). How about Jamaal Tinsley being involved in multiple shootings? What about Carmelo Anthony getting wasted (probably high too), and driving on the highway during the twilight hours of the morning? What have the consequences been? Where is the absurd saturation of media coverage? I want to know what David Stern is actually doing about any of this besides manipulating the way media portrays his product? The answer is nothing. Hell even the Tim Donaghy thing disappeared rather quickly considering the seriousness of the issue. What changes were made to prevent such a despicable event from repeating itself? I don't agree with what is going on in the NFL with Pacman Jones probably going to be reinstated, and Ricky Williams being reinstated multiple times, but at least they were punished-more than I can say for the NBA's transgressors.

            Last but definitely not the least of the problems, is on-court behavior. How is Jason Kidd not suspended? Is it because he is too important to the Mavs? Is it because ratings would decrease? Brendan Haywood should have been suspended a game for his flagrant-2 (<----Corrected thanks to a kind comment; I thought he was)--Raja Bell was suspended for tackling Kobe, and James Posey was suspended a couple years back for laying a shoulder into Kirk Hinrich-Kidd damn near threw Pargo's face into the hardwood floor, and that doesn't warrant a suspension? Hypocrisy-Conspiracy. Had that precise same foul been given by Devean George on Chris Paul, I guarantee there would have been a suspension levied.

            Also worth ranting about is what I refer to as 'the funny business' that is the NBA. The circus that was the Jason Kidd trade was absolutely infuriating-for the sake of making a trade balance out financially, Dallas was allowed to throw in retired (and openly not un-retiring) player Keith Van  Horn into the deal. This completely undermines the integrity of the salary cap and trading players. Even worse than that was what the original plan was; to include Jerry Stackhouse in the trade only under the premise that he would be waived by the Nets immediately so he could return to the Mavs. The Spurs also did this with Brent Barry. That is an absolute joke, why not use monopoly money to cover the difference and save money on travel?

            What I see in the NBA right now is an organization that is thriving on the scandals and public disillusionment with its competitors. To bring proper attention to these issues would mean joining the rest in the blinding, revealing light that powers the microscope. If David Stern should have learned anything from his 'siblings' it should be that taking shortcuts on their chores only leads to more cleanup later on. One day pops will come home, kick up the rug, and find all of the dirt you were supposed to have been cleaning. When that day comes, the rest of the kids will be off punishment, running wild in the world, while you're stuck catching up on the cleaning. Good luck Mr. Stern, hope you don't have allergies.