Major League Baseball has to be thrilled that another sport stole its thunder. After the NBA dragged its way through a scandal-infested landmine this summer, including a referee betting on games, the president of one of the league's marquee franchises allegedly sexually harassing an employee, and several players making news for off-the-court antics, the hunt for baseball's steroid and HGH users was relegated to old news.

As the 2007-2008 season kicks off this week, the league will attempt to repair an image that underwent severe damage during one of the most tumultuous off-seasons in recent memory.

You couldn't imagine a more damaging scandal to befall the NBA – a referee, the game's guardian of integrity and fair play, betting on games. Can it get any worse than that? Tim Donaghy, or as David Stern so aptly nicknamed him, the "rogue, isolated criminal," managed to smear the entire league's reputation and image more than Ron Artest and Stephen Jackson were ever able to do by jumping into the stands and throwing haymakers at innocent fans. The infamous Palace Brawl surely tainted the NBA's reputation and was horrible PR, but it never affected the fans' perception of the game and its integrity. 

Now we're all left wondering: how many games might have been affected? Were there any other refs betting on games who managed to escape Stern's probe? Worst of all, are the games even believable any more?

Until the season gets underway and some other storylines rob our attention, many will remain jaded. One can't help but think that if a disaster like this could take place, unnoticed for months before the media caught wind of it, then how many other deceitful practices were taking place under the radar over the past few years?

The Donaghy Scandal has also proven to have longevity, as evidenced by Stern's announcement last week that over half the referees in the NBA have violated the league's gambling policy (mostly for minor infractions like playing cards at casinos). While this news isn't necessarily crippling, it nevertheless serves as a reminder of the black cloud that Donaghy has left hovering over the league. Referees gambling is still an issue and Stern is still out there investigating. He's still not convinced, and frankly, neither am I.

The players themselves certainly haven't done anything to lessen the damage to the league's reputation either. While there isn't enough room to document all the legal problems that NBA players have faced recently, some particularly disturbing examples are worth mentioning.

Over the past month, we've seen two different players accused of sexual assault, including superstar Jason Kidd's alleged groping of a woman in a Manhattan nightclub. The other player, Justin Williams of the Sacramento Kings, is suspended indefinitely, while the Sacramento police investigate his alleged rape of a young mother in her 20s, an acquaintance of Williams. In September, Shawne Williams of the Indiana Pacers was arrested for driving without a license and marijuana possession during a traffic stop.

Yet perhaps the most egregious example of misbehavior this past off-season came from a league executive. New York Knicks president and coach, Isaiah Thomas, was recently found guilty of sexually harassing a former employee, Anucha Browne Sanders. As the facts from the case leaked to the public, the scandal became an unavoidable train wreck, making a mockery of the Knicks organization and Thomas's professionalism as the franchise's leader.

The low point of the trial came with Thomas's bizarre testimony regarding his use of slang in addressing his former employee. Rather than denying Browne's accusation that he called her a "bitch" or "ho," Thomas bewilderingly attempted to justify it by declaring it acceptable for an African American man to use those slurs. Geesh.

More damaging facts kept leaking out as the trial progressed, including the alleged "frat-boy mentality" of the Knicks organization, which included owner James Dolan's raunchy office behavior and the "green light" he gave his male employees to act as they pleased.

The New York Daily News reported that Dolan was regularly seen "hurling books during meetings, throwing water across the table and yelling so close to people's faces he would leave a trail of saliva." Despite the seriousness of the matter, I can't help but think that the entire situation sounds more like a "Saturday Night Live" skit than a legitimate office setting.

Thus, the NBA has some PR work to do, and fast. Non-scandal-related, but still negative, press has already begun to dominate headlines as the league kicks off the new season, with stars Kobe Bryant, Shawn Marion and Andrei Kirilenko all demanding trades through the media.

The hope for a high-octane Rookie-of-the-Year-Battle between Greg Oden and Kevin Durant, which would presumably bring some positive energy to the league's dynamic, was scrapped soon after it was revealed that Oden would miss the 2007-2008 season while recovering from the ultra-serious microfracture surgery.

As scandals and damaging news reports continue to cling to the league like flypaper, Stern cannot afford any more kinks to the NBA's floundering reputation. For the sake of the fans, players and anyone else affected by the off-season of turmoil, here's hoping for a clean and successful start to the post-Donaghy Era. Nothing less than the integrity of the game is at stake.