A letter from Ralph Nader and League of Fans to NBA Commissioner David Stern received nationwide attention in June 2002 for raising questions about the impartiality of officiating during Game 6 of the 2002 Western Conference Finals between the Los Angeles Lakers and the Sacramento Kings. Nader and League of Fans demanded that Stern conduct a review to satisfy fans' sense of fairness and to deter future recurrences of such egregious officiating.

According to reports on June 11, 2008, former referee Tim Donaghy -- who has pleaded guilty after being charged in 2007 with conspiring with gamblers -- accused NBA executives and referees of broad misconduct and outright manipulation of game results in a recent court filing.

According to Donaghy, NBA executives directed referees "to manipulate games" in order to "boost ticket sales and television ratings." Donaghy pointed to Game 6 of the 2002 Western Conference finals as one such instance.

Following is the letter from Ralph Nader & League of Fans to Commissioner Stern regarding the egregious officiating in Game 6 of the 2002 Western Conference finals.

Field of Schemes

Sonics co-owner: We wanted OKC all along - wait, are you writing this down?
August 14, 2007

"Throw another move threat on the fire: Yesterday, Seattle Sonics minority owner (and billionaire natural gas mogul) Aubrey McClendon told the Oklahoma City Journal Record that he was 'under a self-imposed gag order' regarding operations of the team - then yammered at length about it, including the statement: 'We didn't buy the team to keep it in Seattle; we hoped to come here. We know it's a little more difficult financially here in Oklahoma City, but we think it's great for the community and if we could break even we'd be thrilled.'" . . . | more

By Dave Zirin

Barry Bonds should be basking in the moment. The San Francisco Giants outfielder has just passed Hank Aaron to become the all-time home-run king of Major League Baseball. With 756 home runs, seven most-valuable-player awards and eight gold gloves, he should be trotting into the twilight of his career in a hail of hosannas as the finest ballplayer of his generation. But expect no laurels, parades or calls from President Bush.

(League of Fans' Washington Post letter to the editor)

The City's Verizon Center Perk

Washington Post, Letter to the Editor
Monday, March 21, 2007; Page A12

Regarding "Wizards Owner's $50 Million Request Gets Initial Approval" [Metro, April 4]:

If public investment in pressing city needs were to guarantee the District's elected leaders free luxury suites at sports venues, maybe such problems would actually get some attention.

(from the March 29 Domestic Policy Subcommittee, Oversight and Government Reform Committee hearing: "Build It and They Will Come: Do Taxpayer-Financed Sports Stadiums ... Deliver as Promised for America's Cities?")

Witness Testimony:

Mr. Neil deMause, author of Field of Schemes: How the Great Stadium Swindle Turns Public Money Into Private Profit

Mr. Frank Rashid, waged an unsuccessful 10-year campaign to save Tigers' Stadium in Detroit.

Media Advisory

"Build It and They Will Come: Do Taxpayer-Financed Sports Stadiums, Convention Centers and Hotels Deliver as Promised for America's Cities?"

Thursday, March 29, 2007, Room 2247 Rayburn, 10:30 a.m.

Domestic Policy Subcommittee, Oversight and Government Reform Committee

This hearing will examine the promises of economic prosperity that are made to cities which finance professional sports stadiums, convention centers and hotels.

LeBron James
Cleveland Cavaliers

Dear Mr. James:

Congratulations on your continued success as one of the NBA’s elite players. Perhaps basketball fans across the world will be able to watch you and the Cavs in the Finals very soon.

As someone who participates in many generous charitable activities, we hope you will be responsive to this appeal.

By Dave Zirin

Bowie Kuhn, baseball's fifth commissioner, passed away last night at the age of 80. I never met the man. In private, he may have made Gandhi look like Ted Nugent. For all we know, he spent weekends warming terminally ill puppies against his sweet perfumed bosom. But when it comes to his 15-year reign as commissioner, from 1969-1984, it is more than appropriate to bury Mr. Kuhn, not praise him. Major League Baseball's website, in their Selig-sanctioned obituary, claims that Bowie Kuhn "presided over the dawn of free agency and the end of the reserve system." [The reserve system bound a player to their team for life.] That's sort of like saying the Czar Nicholas II "presided over" the Russian Revolution.

The NFL has said it has had to inform some churches, theaters, schools, museums, casinos, hotels and other organizations of copyright limits placed on Super Bowl viewing parties. Yet sports bars and other businesses that televise sports as part of their everyday operations are exempt.

The NFL caught the attention of the media and drew nationwide resentment when they sent a letter to an Indianapolis church prior to Super Bowl XLI, demanding the cancellation of the church's party. The ramifications of such an organizational crackdown could be far reaching. Many churches across the country ended their Super Bowl party plans upon hearing the news from Indianapolis.

As reported by Neil deMause of Field of schemes, "The British bank Barclays has tied the New York Mets' record $20 million a year naming rights deal [with Citigroup] with a reported 20-year, $400 million contract to dub the new Brooklyn Nets arena the Barclays Center."

Writing for The Brooklyn Paper, Gersh Kuntzman and Dana Rubinstein outline Barklays' rap sheet, which includes being founded on the slave trade, collaborating with the Nazis, doing business with South Africa's apartheid government, and fueling the civil war in the Congo.

Leading up to the Super Bowl, an Online Journal commentary by Jason Miller compares the NFL to U.S. domestic and foreign policy -- and thereby football fans to the U.S. population -- in a challenge to the masses. He writes: "Arising from the same fetid bogs of spiritual decay that spawned the American Way, the NFL reeks with the stench of corporate tyranny, patriarchy, racism, superficiality, greed, competitiveness, and materialism."

Two recent articles from the Wall Street Journal and the New York Times examine the big business of college football and question the tax-breaks and non-profit status enjoyed by athletic departments involved in an arms race of spending on stadiums and coaches.

Allstate is the new title sponsor (for at least the next four years at an undisclosed "seven figure" cost) of the Sugar Bowl, played at the Superdome in New Orleans, Louisiana on January 3, 2007. But many are left wondering how Allstate can market themselves on everything involving the largest annual sporting event in New Orleans, yet deny liability and living expenses to so many customers who suffered losses in the region due to Hurricanes Katrina and Rita.

In the Public Interest
by Ralph Nader

As we settle-in to cheer on our favorite college football teams this bowl season, it's important to remember that an undisputed consolidation of power and money -- the Bowl Championship Series (BCS) -- controls which schools play in the major bowl games and National Championship game.

[*UPDATE* NBA Commissioner David Stern has announced that the old-style basketballs will return January 1, 2007 and be used through the remainder of the season. "Our players' response to this particular composite ball has been consistently negative, and we are acting accordingly," Stern said in a brief statement.]