NBA suspends referee Joey Crawford

Good old, TV Ted.

 

Another translation: He's didn't think he did anything wrong and has refused to accept the punishment. Therefore, it's my intent to never let him officiate another game again in the National Basketball Association."

That quote from Stern was like a sledgehammer coming down on someone's head. PTI had him on and Stern didn't smile or change expression during those five minutes. He was pissed with Joey, big fucking time.

 

I agree with the "about time" sentiment. Officials and umpires need to get slammed when they're out of line. Maybe then it will stop.

 

Be nice to the cowboy... he has overcome Down's syndrome to have a solid, if not petulant, career.

 

Teddy V was my first thought when I saw that on TV. I hate that jackass. For people who don't see games he doesn't do on TV, the difference in AMAZING. At least until crunchtime in a close game, when he'll still jump out of nowhere from 30 feet away to make a tough call that he was in the worst position out of all three officials to make. And he'll run or hop in to make the call like he's the person people came to see.

He needs to be smacked.

 

I figured there'd be repercussions for Crawford, and I'm glad there are. I'm a bit surprised they're this drastic, but I can't say I disagree with them. I'm sick of people jumping on Duncan for whining. Everybody whines at some point or another. Since Duncan conducts himself in a civilized manner and isn't on Top 10 plays every night, critics have to come up with something to discredit him, hence the whining accusations.

 

Agreed, I've never seen a ref who consistently carries himself as if the game is about him like Ted Valentine. I swear he acts as if he really believes the fans came to watch him blow his whistle and dramatically gesture his calls.

 

Speaking of which, check out this piece by Pat Forde today: http://sports.espn.go.com/espn/columns/story?columnist=forde_pat&id=2840227, wherein he appropriately refers to Ted Valentine as college basketball's "diva". I'm glad some national guys have begun calling out Valentine, that guy's self-consumed look-at-me act has been wearing on my nerves for years.

 

Crawford's reaction to his suspension tells me he has completely lost perspective about his role on the floor. He should never be allowed near an NBA game again.

 

And yet, TV Ted still gets big-time games, including the Final Four this year.

 

A big part of the problem, which Pat Forde hit on well, is that there are too many refs that, although they may know the rules and technicalities of the profession inside out, simply have the WRONG PERSONALITY type for the job. Guys with naturally combative personalities or prima donna attention-seeking egos should not be in that profession--yet it instead seems to disproportionately attract those guys. I don't care how well they know the game or how much experience they have, Ted Valentine and Joey Crawford should never again be officiating Final Four and NBA Playoff calibur games, because they've demonstrated over and over again that they've got the wrong disposition for it.