Joey Crawford was one of the most recognizable officials across American sports. Whether you knew him because you didn’t like calls that he made against your team, or for his attention-grabbing gestures in calling fouls, he was easy to recognize.
He’s probably best known for being the official who ejected, of all people, Tim Duncan back in 2007 for laughing at him from the bench. Crawford retired immediately this season, his last game being November 5, 2015.
In an interview with ESPN, Crawford opened up about the Duncan ejection, saying it was a situation he regretted:
There are situations that you regret. The Duncan thing is always a big thing, I regret that. There are numerous interactions that you have with players and coaches, that you get back into the hotel and say, “Why did I say that to him? Why did I do that? That was dumb! Stupid!” Those kind of things wore on me. My last nine to 10 years was a lot better because I wasn’t going through the inner turmoil. … After I went to a sports psychologist, I knew when I screwed up and I tried not to do it again, and even if I did screw up, I would apologize immediately. … As bad or as hard as that was to go through in 2007, it was something I did, I learned from it. I was lucky that Stern gave me my job back and I moved on. I tried to use it as a positive. It was hard to use it as a positive because there was so much negative that came out of it.
His response to being asked what he would say to Duncan if the two were to talk about what happened was pretty good as well, and also appeared that it was something Crawford may or may not have thought about before:
I would talk to him tomorrow. … I have not reached out to him and he has not reached out to me. What would I say to him? Great question! I would just say to him that it cost me more money than it cost you if we went by percentages of salary. No, you know what? I would just say to him, if we got down to it, the nitty gritty, we are sitting there having a couple of beers, I would say, “Hey, I made a mistake.” But you know what, in reality, I can’t go anywhere without somebody asking me about Tim Duncan. He is known for his great stellar career. I don’t know what I am known for. I guess it’s throwing out Tim Duncan. What are you going to do? It is part of my career. I don’t hold anything against him. It is just part of what happened.
Crawford’s famous foul call on Chris Duhon was also a point of discussion, as Crawford had often received criticism for his foul calls that had a little spunk to them.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UdMMYz0fKpI
He admittedly says that he screwed up the call on the Chris Duhon play, and says he was just trying something new:
The one that I hit on social media, the one with Chris Duhon, I screwed the play up. I am calling a block and it was an offensive foul from here to Poughkeepsie. And I should have called an offensive foul, and I get surprised by the play and I said to myself, “Well I am going to try this.” And I start going ba-boom! Ba-boom! Ba-boom! I am skipping out all the way to midcourt and maybe I can sell it this way and the next day, I get a phone call from the office: “Joe, we don’t want you doing that.”
He’s also been known to strangely block some free throw attempts, especially in more recent times.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G9nI4zlEW2A
Crawford attributed that to making sure he knew everything that was going on, as well as acknowledging mistakes in doing so. He seems to have a good sense of humor in the age of social media, which others haven’t had quite as good of a time adapting to:
I was taught that if the team fouls are wrong, you don’t want Coach A to say he thinks he’s got three and there’s [really] four, and now he tells the guy to foul and it’s the fourth and now we are getting into the penalty. So I go out there and block [a foul] shot and I shouldn’t have. It was Kevin Durant and he misses the [free throw]. But to Kevin Durant’s credit, he could have buried me, but he didn’t … so I think that kind of stuff, especially today where everything is blown up. … Last year, I was having trouble with my knee and I kept falling. Now I am on social media, they got the sniper taking me down. It was hysterical stuff. Do you think I am falling on purpose?
Certain aspects of Crawford will be missed by many NBA fans, while others are glad to see him go. No matter what side of the argument you are on, it’s hard to say that he wasn’t a good entertainer. To spend 39 years as an NBA referee, you also can’t be too bad at your job.
[ESPN]
