FanHouse JoeCrawford

When Eric Gordon took a hard foul earlier this week against Tennessee State, Kelvin Sampson and the Hoosier faithful were pretty sure he'd be fine and available to play on Saturday against rival Kentucky. They were wrong. After barely being able to move around during Friday practice, it was decided that Gordon would sit out.

The Hoosiers didn't need him anyway.

You may not remember this after being dazzled by the freshman Gordon so far this season, but the Hoosiers are a pretty good team without him, and they reminded us all of that fact with their 70-51 win over Kentucky in Bloomington on Saturday afternoon. It was only Indiana's third win in their last 14 games against Kentucky in the annual border war.

In Gordon's place, and fresh off of a suspension, Jordan Crawford got his first career start opposite his brother, Joe Crawford, of Kentucky. Jordan scored 20 points to lead Indiana, most of which came in a key stretch to end the first half. With D.J. White on the bench in foul trouble, Crawford led the Hoosiers on a 15-5 run to take control of the game. He also hit four free throws in the final 30 seconds of the half to give Indiana a 37-25 advantage at the break.

The Hoosiers only built on to their lead from there, but more importantly, Jordan earned his status as his parents favorite son.

Speaking of D.J. White, he had a pretty decent effort as well, scoring 16 points and grabbing 13 rebounds. He also surpassed the 1,000 point milestone in his college career.

As for Gordon's status, the team expects him to be back for their next game against Western Carolina on December 15th. The week off should be plenty of time for his back and hip to heal.

In an effort to get a better understanding of who would win the proposed brawl between NBA ref Joe Crawford and NBA superstar Tim Duncan, let's break things down here. With much respect to Nick Bakay, here's the Tale of the Tape.

No creature on earth -- teddy bears included -- seems as docile and agreeable as Tim Duncan. He's always seemed like a very calm, placid, friendly man. Which is why it's so bizarre that Joey Crawford ejected him yesterday.

So I've spent the day trying to figure out exactly what it was that set Crawford off. Here are my best five guesses.

• Duncan once propositioned and scored with Violet Palmer, on whom Crawford has always had an intense crush that he never acted on. Not only did it break Crawford's heart, but it also violated the "no sexual contact between players and officials" rule that he's always upheld.

• Crawford, while vacationing in the Virgin Islands, was in a car accident because he couldn't adjust to driving on the left side of the road. On the same vacation, he threw up for days at the tail end of a month-long rum binge, and was later beaten and mugged by a native. He holds Duncan responsible for each.

• Duncan read this interview with Crawford, and made some inappropriate jokes about Crawford's sleeping next to his grandson, both in their tighty whiteys.

• Because dammit, Timmy, THE ROSES ARE OUT OF BOUNDS, not the daisies, you got that? Screw Tim Duncan AND his garden gnomes.

• Duncan brought up the charges filed against Crawford in 1998 for filing false income tax returns. Crawford called the foul on Duncan, Duncan said, "I didn't foul him," Crawford said, "Yes you did," and Duncan replied, "At least my taxes are in order." Joey Crawford is very sensitive every year on April 15th.