2008 Woodie Awards
Ref oversteps boundaries
Nate Landwehr
Issue date: 4/19/07 Section: Sports
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The very image of San Antonio Spur Tim Duncan laughing confused me as much as the next person.
In retrospect, I probably would have thrown him out of the game too, if only because seeing a 7-foot robot laughing, despite having no human emotions, would have made me lose all sense of reality.
But NBA referee Joey Crawford got the news Tuesday that he'd been suspended indefinitely for giving Duncan a technical foul and kicking him out of the game for doing just that.
Now where's the justice in that?
Who is NBA Commissioner David Stern that he can decide referees can't make themselves the focus of the game by throwing people out and challenging them to fights at their leisure?
I guess the NBA just likes to have their officials do their jobs instead of making a mockery out of the games.
In all seriousness, no one cares about the referees or other officials. The idea that one has become the center of a huge story illustrates a problem in the world of sports, and specifically the NBA.
Not a season goes by without someone, whether it is a coach or player, accusing an official of being out to get them.
And to think some people called the NFL the "No Fun League." At least laughter is allowed in that sport.
The NFL refs run up and down the field, throw their yellow flags, no one really knows their names and only one is allowed to talk in any game.
It can be funny when one of the officials gets hit in the head with a ball, but arguments rarely come about and aren't that fun to watch anyway.
Baseball umpires are the easiest to recognize in any sport, since all of them get a game at home plate eventually and have their mistakes judged all game long.
But human error has been accepted as part of baseball, and arguments between managers and umpires are a heck of a lot more fun to watch, if only for the dirt kicking and hat throwing. No NBA argument can match that.
In the NHL, the line is so thin between good officiating and bad that it can come down to a preference between lots of penalties, letting the teams play or protecting the players.
In retrospect, I probably would have thrown him out of the game too, if only because seeing a 7-foot robot laughing, despite having no human emotions, would have made me lose all sense of reality.
But NBA referee Joey Crawford got the news Tuesday that he'd been suspended indefinitely for giving Duncan a technical foul and kicking him out of the game for doing just that.
Now where's the justice in that?
Who is NBA Commissioner David Stern that he can decide referees can't make themselves the focus of the game by throwing people out and challenging them to fights at their leisure?
I guess the NBA just likes to have their officials do their jobs instead of making a mockery out of the games.
In all seriousness, no one cares about the referees or other officials. The idea that one has become the center of a huge story illustrates a problem in the world of sports, and specifically the NBA.
Not a season goes by without someone, whether it is a coach or player, accusing an official of being out to get them.
And to think some people called the NFL the "No Fun League." At least laughter is allowed in that sport.
The NFL refs run up and down the field, throw their yellow flags, no one really knows their names and only one is allowed to talk in any game.
It can be funny when one of the officials gets hit in the head with a ball, but arguments rarely come about and aren't that fun to watch anyway.
Baseball umpires are the easiest to recognize in any sport, since all of them get a game at home plate eventually and have their mistakes judged all game long.
But human error has been accepted as part of baseball, and arguments between managers and umpires are a heck of a lot more fun to watch, if only for the dirt kicking and hat throwing. No NBA argument can match that.
In the NHL, the line is so thin between good officiating and bad that it can come down to a preference between lots of penalties, letting the teams play or protecting the players.