From quick T's to tee times
The pro basketball season is interminably long, and sometimes in the spring the referees wear out. Remember when all-time great Jake O'Donnell blew his cool and gave Clyde Drexler (then with Houston) a quick ejection in a playoff game? Drexler had spent his whole pro career whining to the officials, and Jake had finally had enough.
That was O'Donnell's last game as an NBA referee.
Now another classic ref, Joey Crawford (left), has gotten into it with Spurs star Tim Duncan. And shades of Jake, old Joey's earned himself an early summer vacation over it.
| Posted at 3:34 PM | Permalink |
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Comments (7)
While Dunc is a notorious whiner, he's no 'Sheed. Joey sure picked a tough target to arbitrarily toss from the bench. Everyone can't line up fast enough to defend TDunc.
Posted by Sebastian | April 17, 2007 4:07 PM
Nothing like a Felon blowing his whistle.
Posted by todd | April 17, 2007 5:02 PM
Duncan is definitely not a "notorious whiner."
O'Donnell and Crawford are notorious. they determined the outcome of last year's championship, in my opinion...and more than a few sports writers.
Posted by Miami Heat are not that good | April 17, 2007 5:45 PM
The real tyrant is Bennett Salvatore. He needs a suspension.
Posted by Jack Bog | April 17, 2007 6:09 PM
I have no idea what Crawford was trying to accomplish by baiting Tim Duncan. Does anyone's ego get that damn out of proportion to their skill set (Portland City Council excepted)?
Side note - Randy gets booted off the island before you get booted off his island. Creative as ever, that old Leonard.
Posted by Steve | April 17, 2007 8:40 PM
"Duncan is definitely not a 'notorious whiner.'"
Oh yes he is (and I'm a Duncan fan)! Here's Michael Wilbon in his article about Crawford in today's Washington Post: "Don't get me wrong, [Tim] Duncan isn't innocent. He seems almost devoid of personality, but he's a whiner, plain and simple."
Wilbon knows the NBA better than almost everyone - take his word for it.
If not, here's Pat Forde on yesterday's ESPN.com: "I'm not exonerating the notably whiny Duncan, especially if Crawford's assertion that he called the ref a 'piece of [doo-doo]' is true."
Duncan is a great player, but for better or worse, he is a whiner.
Posted by Sheef | April 18, 2007 8:25 AM
Yeah, I like Dunc as much as anyone in the NBA, and he's one competitive guy, but cmon, if you've watched him AT ALL in the last decade...then you've seen the incredulous "ME???" face and the conversation that follows about 10000 times.
Posted by Sebastian | April 18, 2007 12:44 PM