If there was ever one ref in any professional sport that singularly embodied everything fans hate about refs, it’s longtime NBA official and legendary show stopper Joey Crawford. For those that don’t know, Crawford’s problem wasn’t as much the officiating as it was the consistently obnoxious way he made the calls. Joey was such a supernova of narcissism he could make Game 7 of the NBA Finals about himself.
Here’s a legendary Crawford blocking call that was dripping with so much sauce it left Kobe in shock.
In a recent ESPN interview, Crawford revealed that David Stern forced him to go see a psychiatrist after he ejected Tim Duncan for laughing at him on the bench. Per Crawford:
“Duncan was sitting on the bench laughing. And I threw him. That laugh bothered me. I thought it was incredibly disrespectful. But I knew the minute it happened I was gonna be in trouble.
[The suspension] was a big deal. It really shook me. … I thought there was a good chance my career might be over. Stern orders me to go see a Park Avenue psychiatrist. He tells me to go twice — two hours each session.”
Joey Crawford, you were so easy to hate. Here’s the ejection that led to David stern sending Crawford to a shrink:
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