The latest details from the again broken-down referee labor negotiation come from ESPN's Chris Sheridan and Howard Beck of the New York Times. Beck reports that the executive board of the refs union initially approved the latest offer from the NBA on Sunday with a 3-2 vote, effectively endorsing the plan for the fuller population of refs.
But an impassioned plea from the two exec board dissenters -- identified by Sheridan as Bennett Salvatore and Steve Javie -- flipped a third exec board member -- identified as Bill Spooner -- and led to the eventual defeat of the deal on a vote by the full union.
When you take a look at just who makes up the leadership of the union, and you see what's at stake in these negotiations, you begin to realize why these negotiations are getting nowhere fast.
Here we are, smack dab in the middle of the playoffs and instead of talking about Carmelo Anthony breaking through to the second round or the demise of the San Antonio Spurs, we're talking about officiating.
Hard foul here, flagrant foul there. That one is and that one isn't.
Should Rajon Rondo's last-second clubbing of Brad Miller have been a flagrant? Why was Dwyane Wade's virtually clean block on Maurice Evans' dunk attempt called a flagrant 1? Should Dwight Howard really have been suspended a game for his elbow on Samuel Dalembert?
Kenyon Martin has been known to be a (fake) tough and physical player. Part of that act is throwing random elbows and forearm shivers. Luckily, referees like Joey Crawford have been ordained by the basketball Gods above to protect women and children and make sure that that type of play stays off NBA courts. Let's see what happens when those two opposing powers collided in last night's Cavs v. Nuggets match up:
So just in case you missed it, Joey Crawford basically gave Kenyon Martin a flagrant two foul for that little shove he gave Anderson Varejao. Flagrant twos lead to automatic ejections, and of course Martin was not too happy with the call. And he definitely has reason to be upset. I mean, did that really look like a flagrant two to you? If anything it looked like more of Varejao's classic flopping. Of course, Martin did receive a deserved technical foul earlier in the quarter, but this looks like Joey Crawford was just overstepping his bounds again. You would think he would have learned his lesson from the Tim Duncan situation a few seasons back.
We've been discussing the referees a lot lately, so something would be amiss if I failed to mention the assignments for this evening's Game 6. And here they are, in all of their controversial glory:
Wow. Where do I begin? All three of these guys have a history of being involved in their share of controversies over the years. Let's just hit on the most recent for each, shall we? Crawford was the one suspended last season for ejecting Tim Duncan for laughing, then was assigned to the infamous Brent Barry-Derek Fisher game in this year's Western Conference Finals. Salvatore was the one that basically gave the Miami Heat the championship in 2006 with about eight controversial calls that favored the Heat in Game 5. And Rush has been called out for his inconsistency as recently as last season.
You've gotta love Spurs' fans. So worried are they about losing to the Lakers in this series and feeling insecure about their chances in Game 4, one local writer is actually starting to complain about the officiating before the game has even started.
It's the news every Spurs fan has dreaded - the team is fighting for its season tonight in Game 4, and blowing the whistle will be one Joey Crawford. To recap, he was suspended for last year's playoffs ... after throwing Tim Duncan out of a regular season game because he thought Duncan was laughing at him on the bench. Then in Game 5 against New Orleans, he T'd up Gregg Popovich between the first and second quarters over an argument over a delay of game warning in which Pop was essentially correct.
Conspiracy! David Stern wants the Lakers in the Finals! Come on, people. Sure the Spurs and Crawford have a bit of a recent history together, but can we at least wait to see if there are actually any game-deciding calls made by Crawford before we begin with the histrionics?
Besides, as is noted in the same article, Crawford actually ranks eighth out of 62 officials in terms of making calls that favor the home team. Now if Steve Javie (who is a notorious anti-homer and number 59 on the same list) were to be working tonight, then you would have something to be seriously worried about.
As you may have heard about, Isiah Thomas got the boot on Wednesday after making contact with a referee as he was being T'd up. The league reviewed the tape, though, and determined the since the contact was incidental (and actually initiated by ref Joey Crawford, no less), Zeke would not be suspended, which, as the New York Times says, is actually punishment in itself:
But a suspension would have almost seemed kind. Then Thomas would not have to listen to chants of "Fire Isiah" when the Knicks play host to the Toronto Raptors on Friday.
"There's no truth to that," said Thomas, who is also the Knicks' president.
Asked why he viewed his players as untouchable, Thomas said, "Because that's how I feel."
Not sure I believe him there. And I'm also not sure that's the best strategy for motivating his players. If he told the press that anyone is expendable, they might actually pick up their play, fighting to attract attention and earn that plane ticket out of town.
Rumor has it that the NBA is close to reinstating hot-headed referee Joey Crawford. Crawford, you might recall, was suspended last season for hilariously challenging San Antonio Spurs superstar Tim Duncan to a fistfight in the middle of a game. Crawford was apparently mad at Duncan for having the gall to laugh at some of his calls.
NBA referee Joey Crawford is expected to meet with commissioner David Stern next week in Manhattan for what could be the final step before the veteran ref is officially reinstated.
A league spokesman would neither confirm nor deny that Crawford and Stern are scheduled to meet.
Instead of going through all of these trivialities for reinstatement, I have a much better idea: Put Crawford in a small room with Tim Donaghy, and whoever comes out alive gets their old job back. Tim Duncan could even referee the whole thing. Like you wouldn't $49.99 for the Pay-Per-View of that rematch.
David Stern's press conference on all things Tim Donaghy begins at 11 a.m. Eastern, and you can watch it on NBA TV, NBA.com or ESPN. In the meantime, ESPN.com's Marc Stein drops an atomic shard into his 'questions for Stern' column published this morning:
One colleague insists he was known at league level as an undeniable "problem child" in spite of his relative anonymity, since Donaghy is also said to have exchanged blows with fellow Philadelphia native Joey Crawford at a refs' meeting years ago.
Um, what? Actually, this tells us much more about Crawford than about Donaghy. Now we know not to mess with Ol' Joey -- he doesn't discrimate, saint or idiot, you're ass is going to get beat.
Over at ESPN.com, Marc Stein's reporting that Joey Crawford might be hanging it up. That's not all, though. According to the same "informed sources," Crawford's unrepentant about ejecting Duncan. In fact, if give the chance, he'd do it all over again. He made as much clear to Stu Jackson yesterday.
So that's pretty juicy. But it has nothing on what follows: claims of a deep-seeded rivalry between Crawford and fellow refereeing elder Dick Bavetta:
Crawford also blasted fellow referee Dick Bavetta in the e-mail obtained by ESPN.com, hinting at divisions among referees between those who do and don't support Bavetta and writing that maybe Bavetta will wind up as the crew chief in Game 7 of the NBA "which is a travesty in itself you even being in the finals."
A little advice for Crawford: after Bavetta's epic race against Barkley, he's definitely winning the war of public perception. Maybe Duncan's far more of a pain in the rear than the league will ever let on. But as I said yesterday, Crawford's outburst was exactly the opposite of what people want refs to be. And even if Bavetta's no less mortal, he gives the impression of keeping order without placing himself above the game.
Then again, so did Don Corleone. Could Crawford be onto something after all?
Weird things happen when expectations are high and results are low. Players get frustrated, coaches get frustrated, and managers challenge radio talk show personalities to fights ... happens all the time.
Manager Charlie Manuel's frustration was evident after the game. The normally mild-mannered manager challenged a radio talk-show host to a fight. Manuel had to be restrained by hitting coach Milt Thompson at one point.
"We're going to win," Manuel could be heard yelling in his office.
Apparently, the radio talk-show host was WIP's Howard Eskin, which explains how a "normally mild-mannered manager" is suddenly going all Joey Crawford on someone ... as Eskin has accused the Phillies of being run like a department store, and he isn't known as one of the more docile Philadelphia sports radio personalities. An account of Manuel's run in with Eskin after an 8-1 loss to the Mets on Tuesday comes from The 700 level:
Eskin reportedly asked a number of legit questions but followed them up with more provoking, wise ass type questions. When he asked a question along the lines of, "Don't you think it would help your players if they saw you fired up a bit more?" and Manuel responded with something like, "I think they see me fired up a lot more than you think. You can stop by my office later and I'll show you." After the press conference, Eskin went to his office and Manuel reportedly challenged him to a fight and Milt Thompson had to restrain the coach.
If Crawford vs. Tim Duncan needed an undercard, I think we've got one now. All we need is Don King to promote this and we have an event. Let's get ready to rumble ... Philadelphia style!
The latest details from the again broken-down referee labor negotiation come from ESPN's Chris Sheridan and Howard Beck of the New York Times. Beck reports that the executive board of the refs union initially approved the latest offer from the NBA on Sunday with a 3-2 vote, effectively endorsing the plan for the fuller population of refs.
C'mon, man. Quit complaining about the refs.
As you may have heard about, 
Rumor has it that the NBA is 
Over at ESPN.com, Marc Stein's reporting that 
Weird things happen when expectations are high and results are low. Players get frustrated, coaches get frustrated, and managers challenge radio talk show personalities to fights ... happens all the time.
