Fernando Gallo:

Tim Donaghy

The biggest scandal of the summer was hands-down the Tim Donaghy betting scandal in the NBA. Donaghy shook the integrity of an entire league, and made famous ref-criticizers like Phil Jackson and Pat Riley look like the smartest guys in the room. A referee betting on games he or she is officiating and possibly conspiring to fix games with mafiosos is NBA Commissioner David Stern’s worst nightmare. Ron Artest blowing up again and beating down the King’s Mascot Slamson would be a dream come true to Stern compared to what he now faces.

Every questionable call from now on will be viewed in a different light, especially those in the now infamous game 3 of last season’s Spurs-Suns playoff series, which Donaghy officiated. That game saw tempers flare due to ridiculous calls, resulting in Amare Stoudemire and Boris Diaw’s “charge” off the bench when Robert Horry gave Steve Nash a hip-check that almost sent him into the stands. Most of us remember the end of the story: Stoudemire and Diaw were given unwarranted suspensions which probably cost the Suns an NBA title. There hasn’t been a more poorly called game since the 2002 Western Conference Finals, game 6, between the Kings and Lakers, when Kobe elbowed Mike Bibby in the face and it somehow earned Bibby a foul (sorry, some wounds never heal). Suns fans now rightfully wonder if a championship was stolen from them, thanks to Donaghy and his goodfella cohorts.

Will NBA players and coaches still be fined for badmouthing the refs publicly, when perhaps they might now be right to question their judgment? It will be a scary new world for Stern when the season opens up in November, and he should send Michael Vick a nice “thank you” card in prison for keeping the heat off of the NBA the past few weeks. Then again, Stern might luck out and all of this could be forgotten in a few months?but I wouldn’t bet on it.

Galen Kusic:

Michael Vick

The biggest scandal that I can think of (and actually can’t get off my mind) is the Michael Vick situation.

Vick, one of the most talented athletes to ever put on pads accepted a plea bargain to the federal charge of dog fighting a couple weeks ago. It remains to be seen what sentence the judge will hand down, but we do know he will not play this season- and for possibly a few more.

Vick is an inspiration to so many young people around the country, including myself. He has a field presence and awareness that no one has ever seen before.

Vick has been under scrutiny by authorities for the past couple years, and they haven’t been able to make anything stick until now. Federal agents have harassed him in the past, including an incident last year at an airport involving a supposed stash spot for marijuana in his water bottle. I want to emphasize that no charges had ever been brought against him.

I’m not excusing Vick’s alleged behavior. He obviously made some dumb decisions, especially to be associated with the folks that have made this ordeal a nightmare for him. It’s hard to get away from old friends and peer pressure. However, there is no proof that he actually committed the unspeakable crimes against animals that he has been accused of.

Before condemning this man, we should look at the facts, and not be swayed by all of the negative media hype that goes along with being rich, black and famous in this country.

Vick is not a bad guy. This only makes the situation more discouraging. To put himself in a predicament like he has, it was only a matter of time before something had to give. Sadly in this case, it is not only his career, but his freedom as well. I just hope that people will forgive him and he can get back on the field because that is what I care about.

My heart sank when I heard the news because I knew I wouldn’t be watching one of the greatest athletes of our generation compete for who knows how many years. And that is a shame.

Jordan Guinn:

Barry Bonds

No matter what is written about Barry Bonds in this space, all those who will read it already have their minds made up about what they personally think of the man. Some say he is a jerk, a cheat and a liar. Others recognize him as the most dominating offensive force ever to play the game.

Yes, Bonds has ostracized teammates like Will Clark and Jeff Kent. He does not sign many autographs, he has a recliner in the Giants clubhouse and he rarely runs out routine ground balls.

He also has eight gold gloves, a batting title and seven most valuable player awards to go along with his 500 plus stolen bases and more walks than anyone who has played the game. There have only been three seasons, out of his 21 years in the majors, in which Bonds struck out more times than he has walked.

What all of the “Game of Shadows” enthusiasts will have you believe is that Bonds was at the end of his career, that he was washed up and couldn’t compete, and that is when he started juicing up.

Excuse me while I laugh so hard my eyes tear up and I cannot see what I am typing.

Yes, Barry Bonds did put on about 20 pounds in his late 30s over the course of four or five years. Does that automatically mean that he took something illegal? From his college years at Arizona State and throughout his career, Bonds has been referred to as a workout freak, someone who never stopped training and always got better.

Bonds haters love to put asterisks by his name and say his records should be wiped out, but what they never say is that he was a first-ballot Hall of Famer before any of this came about.

Just for fun lets play a little game. Let’s take away the last four MVPs Bonds has won. Take away his batting title and his Silver Slugger award. Take away the 300 plus home runs he has hit since 1999.

What are you left with? Not much really.

Just a major league record three MVPs, and he would still be the only member of the 400 home run 400 stolen base club. You hate him because he is not on your team.

Barry deserves all of the respect and honor of a legitimate home run king. People want his records obliterated because they want to return the game to a time of honor and tradition that never actually existed; back to a time in which the leagues were separated by race, pitchers greased the ball and players bet on the game.

The only thing Barry did wrong was play the game better than just about everyone who ever stepped on the field. Just because he is not personable to the press, other players or even fans does not change anything. Ty Cobb was racist. Babe Ruth boozed throughout Prohibition. Baseball is not a game of saints and steroids do not help you hit the ball. Period.

Can a game that has Viagra as one of the major corporate sponsors really make a judgment about performance enhancement?

Alicia de la Garza:

David Beckham

Interested in knowing how to obtain celebrity status in just a few months? And no you won’t find the answer on that Howto.com website either. It’s simple. Marry an ex-Spice Girl, play soccer (not very well), buy a “modest” $22 million dollar mansion, and have your own signature cologne.

David Beckham did just that. The 32-year-old soccer star recently moved his wife, former Spice Girl Victoria Beckham, and his three young sons to Los Angeles. Beckham accepted a five-year contract worth $32.5 million to play professional soccer for the Los Angeles Galaxy.

He signed with the Galaxy last January and joined the team for practice on July 13, but has yet to see much playing time. The guy has only been a part of the team for a little over a month and has been forced to miss both home and away games due to a troublesome left ankle. Additionally, in the 30th minute of last week’s SuperLiga final against Pachuca, he sprained his right knee after falling.

Not only have his devilish good looks and marriage to “Posh” increased his popularity, but he is also known as one of the greatest soccer players in the game today. One of the greatest soccer players in the league sprained his knee by chasing after a ball and tripping over it. Go figure.

Simon Fuller, Beckham’s manager, happens to think that Beckham (and his amazing soccer skills) can transform Americans into living, breathing soccer fanatics. Fuller has been quoted in various publications saying that “there seems to be a real foundation now for soccer [in the U.S.].” After Beckham’s success playing in Europe, “the States is the last frontier in terms of soccer,” Fuller said.

Just how can one man, who has been injured most of the season, transform the minds of millions of people? Hopefully Fuller didn’t think that giving Beckham his own signature cologne was going to do the trick. “It’s not a big brand thing,” Beckham maintained in an article in the June 23 issue of Sports Illustrated. “It’s about me being the ambassador for MLS. If I can make people more aware and make kids realize that you can go into higher levels and make a great living from playing soccer, that’s what I’m going over there to do.”

Not only has Beckham’s arrival caused mass pandemonium for the soccer (football) fans, but the celebrity world is going insane also. Shortly after their U.S. arrival, Beckham’s wife Victoria did an hour-long special on NBC entitled “Victoria Beckham: Coming to America.” The special showed how she plans to cope with the drama of moving to Los Angeles and how she will handle celebrity life. Additionally, women want to know all about the maternal side of Victoria and men want to see more pictures of her in magazines.

Looks like Mrs. Beckham has been welcomed to America more than her husband has. With such a high-profile couple moving to America, it’s easy to use the Beckham family to increase soccer popularity in the United States.

My advice to David would be to bring Victoria to all the games, and I’m pretty sure he’ll increase his fan base. You never know, maybe he should have his wife and her four Spice friends perform at half time. Now that would definitely bring up ticket sales.

Justin McCall:

Tim Donaghy

Summer is now coming to an end and I hope all of you remembered your sunblock. If not, you could have very well suffered a severe burn from all of the heat. Don’t believe me? Ask the NBA, which experienced one of the most severe summer burns in sports history, with former NBA official Tim Donaghy gambling on NBA games he refereed in. Most likely having a hand in which teams would win and which teams wouldn’t, Donaghy diminished the integrity of referees doing their job of calling a fair contest and cheated the gifted ball players who gave their blood, sweat and tears to win every game.

With Donaghy gambling on these games, it is hard to avoid the question of how much of an impact his calls had on a game. Here’s an interesting fact: In the 64 games that Donaghy was an official in, exactly half of those games were won by 10 points or more by a team. If anyone is familiar with betting on sporting events, the amount of points a certain team wins by is very important in winning bets. Seriously, 32 out of 64 games decided by 10 points or more says something. I would have to say that it says Donaghy loved the number 10 for his point spread on games, especially if he was making money off of it.

Another question some may be thinking about is who was Donaghy’s favorite team(s)? He had to have had at least one favorite team to make money off of, right? After looking over the scores of all of Donaghy’s games last season, something stood out. He has much love for the beach, Hollywood and Elton Brand. There were five Los Angeles Clippers’ games that Donaghy refereed in and the Clips went 5-0. Kings fans have nothing to worry about because the hometown team went .500 with a 2-2 record last season with Donaghy as referee.

Now that the trust with NBA players for referees is most likely at an all-time low, what could this mean for the game itself? How about the idea of instant replay? This method should be used to decide all controversial calls in a game, as opposed to leaving it in the hands of the refs, who can almost not be trusted as a result of Donaghy’s actions. But is it a good idea? I’m going to have to go with no. Let’s look at it this way: Sure, everyone will be able to see the call more clearly and there will be no excuse for a missed call, but it will take up too much time from the game. I don’t think we want to see the first half of a basketball game last about two hours because refs can’t be trusted in making calls. Moreover, you know players will do more talking to the refs about the calls they make. Instead of asking the ref “what kind of call was that?” they can easily replace it with “how much did you put down on this game?” It’s simple. If one ref gambled on games he refereed in, what makes us think he’s the only one?