NBA referee not helping image

by Cody Barron, staff writer

 

In the last issue, I threw in my two cents about the sliding image of the National Basketball Association. 

In that article, I targeted players as the source of the league’s problems.  However, NBA referee Joe Crawford only added to the unprofessional image of the most popular professional basketball league in the world.

Crawford, who has worked more postseason games than any other active NBA referee, engaged in a verbal confrontation with Tim Duncan of the San Antonio Spurs during an April 15 game in Dallas.  Duncan was ejected from the game after receiving two technical fouls late in the third quarter of the game.  Crawford spotted Duncan laughing on the bench after in what he interpreted to be a taunting manner after the first technical foul.  According to Duncan, Crawford then looked over at Duncan and asked, “Do you want to fight? Do you want to fight?”

“He came into the game with a personal vendetta against me,” Duncan said of the incident.   Duncan also added that he had been very quiet and cooperative throughout the game.  Crawford fired back, saying that Duncan was “complaining the whole game,” and used an explicit remark toward the referee as he was walking off the court.

NBA Commissioner David Stern issued Duncan a $25,000 fine for his remark, while Crawford was suspended at least through the NBA Finals.  Stern handed out the suspension in the wake of what he cited as “improper conduct.”  Stern also added that Crawford “failed to meet the standards of professionalism and game management we expect of NBA referees."

The NBA needs to do something about this problem that has been destroying the league’s integrity during the past several years.  Most people expect players to be a little rough around the edges, but the referees are held to a higher standard.  The referees’ job simply is to enforce the rules of the game, but ultimately to keep control of the game as well.  When referees are challenging players to fights during a game, it is time for something to happen.

I think that Stern is doing a good job by getting stricter with his fines, but there is still a lot of room for improvement.  Let’s hope that this problem gets fixed sometime soon, so the league can restore the awesome image it once portrayed.