David Stern: A Conspiracy Theory

In just a matter of days, the NBA regular season kicks off with much anticipation. Fans across the nation get a fresh start for their teams and as Kevin Garnett likes to say, "anything is possible!"

One major relief coming into the regular season is the return of the "real" NBA officials. NBA fans suffered through a long preseason with replacement referees. For some reason they were not mentally equipped to handle NBA basketball because average game times slowed down as foul calls and shoddy officiating were infecting the game.

It was then announced last week that the officials and the NBA came to an agreement. Something that seemed nearly impossible a few weeks ago was suddenly very easy to accomplish. The whole problem started with a disagreement over a couple hundred thousand dollars when the overall deal involved millions. Seemed pretty strange to be bickering over relatively small potatoes.

Rewind again back to last season; David Stern took heat for his officials who were being accused of favoritism and poor calls throughout the regular season and especially the playoffs. Stern knew the agreement with the officials was up for renewal this summer.

The two sides got together and talks broke down quickly. Stern basically said it was likely the regular season would start with replacement officials and that was that.

Once the preseason started and replacements were infiltrating arenas across the country, it quickly became clear that they weren't qualified. So why didn't a deal get done? Why would Stern have been so stubborn about a couple hundred thousand dollars?

I think I know why. It's so obvious no one would really expect it. David Stern delayed the deal just to teach fans, coaches, and players a lesson. He wanted to once again show the world who ran the league and put us in line.

For fans, replacement refs ruined the flow of the game. For coaches they were pathetic and with no relationship to fall back on, there was no way to communicate. And of course the players were baffled with an awful overabundance of foul calls.

How can anyone trust David Stern?

He doesn't take criticism well and his smug demeanor makes even the most mild-mannered person want to scream. If you've seen Sonics Gate , you know what he's capable of doing. He controls the league with an iron fist, every move he makes is to benefit him or create revenue for the NBA at any cost.

I don't necessarily think he conspired with anyone else, he probably just thought up the replacement refs as a way to take any lingering heat off of him.

I mean look at how happy everyone is right now, people are ecstatic for not only the season to start, but happy to see Steve Javie and Joey Crawford. Huh?! Those guys pissed us off more than ever last year but we've all forgotten.

Thanks to David Stern and his tricky maneuvering, we are happy right now. When really, nothing has changed. Well, one thing changed: Under the radar, Stern officially changed one of the most fundamental rules of basketball. He approved traveling. What's next? No need to dribble any more?

The bottom line is, we will never know what happened. But there is absolutely no reason Stern wouldn't make this happen. He has everything to gain in the public eye. The more I see his mug on television and the more I hear about his dealings with various teams in the league, I grow more weary.

Stern is a smart man, and he knows exactly what he's doing. He set us up and we took the bait. We'll see how the season goes. I'll be watching you Stern!