[Skahtboi]

You know, sports officials by and large are paid well for their services. Some better than others. However, the level of pay should not affect the level of service these officials provide. They accept the jobs, knowing full well the pay scale that they are facing. Below is an accounting of the pay scales of various sports officials as provide by askmen.com:

Major League Baseball (MLB) pays umpires anywhere from $100,000 to $280,000 US for the 162-game season, in addition to the tidy sum of over $50,000 per season for expenses. This does not include the cost of first-class air travel, which is provided. The lucky ones that get to call the games in the postseason make somewhere in the ballpark of $20,000, excluding expenses.

National Basketball Association (NBA) referees earn anywhere from $90,000 to $225,000 for their hard work.

Incidentally, while the National Hockey League's (NHL) athletes make less than their brethren in football, basketball and baseball, no other officials in any of the four major sports leagues make more than those in the NHL, where starters get a $115,000 salary. After a 15-year career, an NHL referee may be looking at an annual pay upwards of $220,000.

The National Football League (NFL) pays referees anywhere from $25,000 to $70,000 per season. When you consider that the league plays 16 games and referees are considered part-time employees, you get a better sense of the disparity. But do not feel so bad for them, not only are there only 16 games in the schedule, they also get one-week intervals.

And where are the women in all of this? Referees in the Women's National Basketball Association (WNBA) earn about $500 per game for a 32-game season, or a maximum of $16,000 annually.

What bugs me most about this scandal is that when one accepts a job, they accept it at the pay level offered and should perform it with the utmost integrity. This obviously was not done in this case.