Referee

Joseph Lee "Spanky" Reppert, a highly regarded former lacrosse official who founded two leagues, died Wednesday of a stroke at Bethany House Hospice in Auburn, Ala. The former longtime resident of Tally Ho Road in Lutherville was 66. The son of a Chessie System executive secretary and a homemaker, he was born in Baltimore and raised in a home at Northern Parkway and the Alameda. Mr. Reppert was a child when he acquired the nickname of "Spanky" because he bore a strong resemblance to the short, pudgy actor Spanky McFarland from "The Little Rascals.

There were no tantalizing bicycle kicks like last year, and the "beautiful game" was a little ragged at times, but Baltimore's exposure to international soccer still produced its share of memorable moments Saturday night. Much of the meaningful action unfolded in the first half at M&T Bank Stadium, where a modest crowd announced at 36,569 saw two early scuffles, one suspect red card and one spectacular goal. Throw in an own goal by Manchester City in the second half, and European champion Inter Milan dominated for a 3-0 victory in the preseason friendly.

Oilers goaltender Nikolai Khabibulin will have surgery Thursday to repair a herniated disc in his back and is expected to be out 12 weeks. The Oilers didn't provide a timeline for his return, saying Wednesday that he's "out indefinitely," but Khabibulin's agent, Jay Grossman , said the goalie will need 12 weeks to recover. Khabibulin, who signed a $15 million, four-year contract over the summer, hasn't played since Nov. 16. He's 7-9-2 with a 3.03 goals-against average.

The Baltimore Sun's Kevin Van Valkenburg discusses and debates the strengths and weaknesses of each team with The Boston Globe's Christopher L. Gasper each day leading up to Sunday's playoff game . New questions and answers will be posted each afternoon at baltimoresun.com/ravens and boston.com Chris, Ravens fans believe about the only way this game will be fairly officiated is if Roger Goodell takes a page from Vince McMahon's playbook and lets Bridget Moynahan serve as a special guest referee.

The NBA says the review that overturned a winning shot by the Bulls' Brad Miller was correct and handled appropriately. Referees looked at video replay for about three minutes before determining that Miller's shot came after the final buzzer, giving the Nuggets a 90-89 victory in Chicago on Tuesday night. Though a review is supposed to be completed in a two-minute period, crew chief Mark Wunderlich then asked the truck if there were any additional angles. NBA spokesman Tim Frank said "the replay was handled by the book and the referee made the right decision."

Let's not hear any whining about the referees this week, OK? The Cincinnati Bengals won this one fair and square. The Bengals are for real. There's no question about it, not after their gritty 17-14 win over the mistake-prone Ravens on Sunday that leaves Cincinnati atop the AFC North at 4-1 and leaves this town in shock. Yep, shock is the right word, given the incredible expectations heaped upon this team since the start of training camp. The Ravens were going to the Super Bowl - that's all you heard on the sports talk shows.

I usually hate it when fans attribute a loss to an official's call. Every game is a complex organism composed of thousands of interdependent actions. Therefore, reducing any result to one pivotal moment has almost always struck me as folly. That said, I believe that if referee Bill Carollo had not whistled a 15-yard penalty on Terrell Suggs to extend the Tennessee Titans' fourth-quarter drive Sunday, the Ravens would have won the game. Good professional officiating is as much about the calls you don't make as the ones you do. Does anyone seriously question that, under a strict reading of the rule book, referees could call penalties on every down of every NFL game?

No matter how the Lakers-Celtics NBA Finals turn out, the forensic investigation by NBA observers will undoubtedly focus on officiating. Granted, it makes zero sense that anyone in a striped shirt would do anything but call an absolutely honest game at this point. But the public is still going to wonder and question. And it doesn't matter that disgraced former referee Tim Donaghy has all the credibility of an oil company executive explaining how much his corporation is trying to hold down gasoline prices.