The NBA's intentions may have been good but, in the end, the means were impractical. And as a result, NBA commissioner David Stern had to make an admission. Nearly all -- if not ALL -- of his league's 56 referees had violated one of the strictest anti-gambling policies in sports in some fashion.

After the Tim Donaghy scandal broke, the pro basketball league's rules for game officials, as they related to gambling, were laid out in detail. Some of the highlights were that the only betting that refs were allowed to do was at racetracks in the offseason and if they even went inside a casino -- and they were not permitted to gamble if they did -- they had to report the visit to someone within the league. The letter of the law prohibited gambling in social poker games and on a golf course and even, it seems, buying a lottery ticket.

After an internal review that was taken as a result of Donaghy's egregious admitted conduct in federal court -- that he passed along sensitive information to gambling associates -- the league has discovered that every ref had violated the league's prohibitions in some fashion. None, though, came close to Donaghy's criminal conduct and no one admitted to betting on sports with a bookie or sports book. But, as a for-instance, the officials had held a poker tournament during their annual meeting.

So Stern, being realistic, announced yesterday that referees would be permitted greater latitude in their gambling practices. For example, they'll be permitted to participate in casino gambling during the offseason. Sports betting will continue to be embargoed.  

More importantly, I thought, was that Stern said that the league will examine more carefully statistical trends in games and how they relate to gambling practices. There is a wealth of information out there in the sports gambling community and in hindsight, Donaghy's conduct might have been uncovered sooner had someone been looking for gambling anomalies -- for instance, the frequency that Donaghy's games covered the over in over-under wagering. And how that might have related to his habits on whistling fouls.

It comes down to this: Where there are serious games, there will be gambling. Where there is gambling, there will be a temptation to cheat. And the best defense against cheating is to acknowledge the reality of gambling and use all the available information to keep the games as clean as possible.