Joey Crawford Back in the League
Hothead referee Joey Crawford has been reinstated into the NBA. As I blogged about earlier, Crawford was suspended back in April of this year for slapping a benched Tim Duncan with two quick technicals, and then jawing with him as he was leaving the floor, purportedly asking the big man, "Do you want to fight?" As a response, David Stern was quick to suspend Crawford from the league (Duncan was also fined $25,000 by the L for the incident).
I guess after the Tim Donahue mess this summer, a hothead ref is the least of the league's worries. Think about it this way: the league doesn't want this whole summer mess to affect games in any way. They don't want gunshy refs swallowing their whistles because they fear making too many calls will bring scrutiny. They don't want regular calls to be overanalyzed. In short, they want a bunch of veteran refs who are too stubborn and hard headed to do anything but call the game their way and give a big F-you to anyone who claims they are rotten. Joey Crawford fits this role perfectly.
Hopefully, some good will come out of this whole Donahue mess. I'm hoping the worst refs will be shown the door (Violet Palmer, I'm looking in your general direction). And maybe Stern will officially reprimand Hue Hollins for his officiating in the 1994 ECFs which cost the Bulls their chance at a non-MJ championship. (Interestingly, if you Google "Hue Hollins" you'll find that he's made quite a few "Worst Sports Call in History"-type lists due to that infamous game where he whistled Pippen for a late foul that, essentially, decided the winner of that otherwise exciting Bulls-Knicks playoff series. I still can clearly remember watching that game and my reaction when that call was made... unbelievable...)