http://extramustard.si.com/2014/05/19/tim-donaghy-punched-joey-crawford-in-the-face/

quote:

---

Are you an NBA enthusiast or employee? Do you hate hearing piercing shrieks blare through your TV screen as if Gilbert Gottfreid were planted on your living room couch? Is your name Tim Duncan?

If the answer to any of the three questions was “yes,” then there’s a good chance you’ve wanted to punch Joey Crawford in the face.

---

quote:

---

“I’ll admit,” Donaghy said. “I was being a (jerk). Joe and I had been good friends, but we were arguing on this issue. We didn’t see eye to eye and we’d had a bad argument on the telephone about it in which one of us hung up.”

Crawford apparently had enough of the disrespect. He walked up to Donaghy and slapped him across the face. The left-handed Donaghy took one step back, wound up, and dropped Joe Crawford with a left hook.

Crawford spent the rest of the meeting with a bag of ice on his eye.

---

Joey Crawford definitely strikes me as a dude who slaps dudes across the face. What a ***got

I'll never forget Crawford ejecting Duncan for laughing on the bench in what was a pretty significant game at the time. What an idiot. The fact he is still an NBA ref shows just what a joke NBA officials are. That and how the league was so weak they wouldn't even bar the refs from gambling.

How the NBA refs have so much power I will never know but they seem to have more leverage than the players. Is it really that hard to find guys that can ref a basketball game for several hundred grand a year?

quote:

---

Is it really that hard to find guys that can ref a basketball game for several hundred grand a year?

---

Maybe? I don't know. I remember the fiasco of having to replace the referees by the NFL a couple of years ago. College refs can't ref for both college and the professional leagues. But, maybe some would want to switch completely.

Joey threw the Coyote out of the arena one game several years ago. Seems like the mascot was slow getting off the court after time outs. After the third time, Crawford came over to the scoring table and said the "big dog had to leave". It was quite a sight.

Gig 'em Aggies!

That Crawford is still allowed to officiate shiws to me a certain fix in the nba. Not a "they want the lakers to win it all" conspiracy. More a "they like officials that are entertaining and screw with the game conspiracy." It's like wrestling. They're fine with officials that take over games and turn them around.

I don't think the game is rigged or influences one way or the other anymore. It's certainly debatable that it was at one point. They were investigated thoroughly and are still being watched today very closely. I've always felt like Joey hanging around was a result of him knowing "where the bodies are buried" when it comes to the NBA and its past methods.


Saying that, I actually think he's become a better official after he was suspended for the Duncan incident. He certainly egotistic and that takes away from the game but all in all I think he calls a pretty good game when compared to some of the other guys. Strictly from a good call/bad call standpoint.

Crawford still thinks he's part of the entertainment.

There is no way that guy should be officiating. You can't have an ego like that and be an official. The game isn't about you.

I still dislike Crawford, but agree that he is better than he used to be. I read an article a while back that his suspension after the Duncan incident forced him to rethink some things. He went to a psychologist for some of his issues and seems to be a little more laid back now.

I dont really know that the NBA is rigged one way or the other, but I find it hard to convince myself that the NBA DOESNT try to make games stay close atleast going into the 4th qtr.

There are far too many games that I watch where 1 team is just much better that night, but a few BS calls go the other way that let the other team back in it.

I would actually like to see a psychologist do a study to see if that kind of behavior is normal and combine that with a statistical study of the timing of "bad calls". Is it natural to see ambivalent situations through a lens favoring the underdog?

quote:

---

Is it natural to see ambivalent situations through a lens favoring the underdog?

---

Underdog bias is very real. I can't point to the studies because I don't remember the authors or titles, but several studies have shown that people will root for the underdog, even when that "underdog" is no more than a simple geometric shape. It's a small stretch to assume underdog bias likely affects judgments and behavior, all unconsciously, relating to the underdog.

quote:

---

I dont really know that the NBA is rigged one way or the other, but I find it hard to convince myself that the NBA DOESNT try to make games stay close atleast going into the 4th qtr.

There are far too many games that I watch where 1 team is just much better that night, but a few BS calls go the other way that let the other team back in it.

---

I see it more in the NCAAs. But it occurs in the NBA, too. A sort of moment when you see the officials wanting to be part of something and getting caught up in the game.