"Haha, call the game balanced... that's fresh."
I made myself a promise before both NBA Conference Finals series began – do not get caught up in the officiating blame game. Right off the bat, with the Boston Celtics down 2-0 to the Miami Heat, I had a daunting task of getting through hundreds of Tweets and Facebook statuses during each game, as people blamed the officials for bad plays and terrible calls. My refuge was the incredible Western Conference Finals, of which I expected solid, entertaining basketball to define the series.
For the most part, that was true. But even last night, as the Oklahoma City Thunder procured the misery of Seattle sports fans with the Western Conference title, the refs couldn’t escape the blame, which is sad because this series was an instant classic. Most notably, it was that unlovable old curmudgeon Joey Crawford who once again set the gold standard. If you’re unfamiliar with Crawford, he is, more than likely, the worst official in all of sports.
That’s a bold claim, I know, because I watch baseball more than anything and Joe West is horrendous. But you can’t watch a single game that Crawford officiates without throwing your hands in the air and saying, “What the f*ck!” at least once. And if the NBA wanted to shed the stigma of being a rigged league with the dirtiest refs, David Stern would fire Crawford. It's not like Stern hasn't recognized how awful Crawford is in the past.
In the meantime, I want to celebrate the absolute worst thing about a sport that I love so much with this small sampling of his finest/most horrendous career moments. (Add your favorite omissions in the comments because God knows there are hundreds more.)
![[avatar]](http://p.uproxxcdn.com/photo/1110/thumb)
![[image]](http://cdn.wl.uproxx.com/wp-content/thumbnails/130/110/2013/05/Stephen-A.-Smith-McDs-180x180.jpg)
![[image]](http://cdn.wl.uproxx.com/wp-content/thumbnails/130/110/2013/05/conan-octopus-taking-selfies-180x180.png)
![[image]](http://cdn.wl.uproxx.com/wp-content/thumbnails/130/110/2013/05/lebron-james-game-winner-180x180.png)
![[image]](http://cdn.wl.uproxx.com/wp-content/thumbnails/130/110/2013/05/grizzlies-suck-at-lay-ups-180x180.png)
Joe Crawford is the fucking worst.
I’m at #2 so far, and I honestly have a hard time imagining how there could possibly be 8 calls worse than the imaginary foul on Camby.
These are in no particular order. I probably watch the Camby foul once a month just because it’s so amazingly terrible.
Yeah, I figured that out once I got through the rest of them. I only just recently discovered the Tim Duncan ejection, which I’d probably have as my #2.
The worst thing about the Camby call is that there is no foul whatsoever on the play. Roy never comes near Nash and the other Suns player (can’t tell who it is) isn’t even touched by Camby.
It’s almost like Crawford accidentally blew his whistle and instead of just re-doing the inbounds, he realizes he needs to cover his fuck up by calling a foul.
This guy grew up around Philly with my Dad. The first time I ever heard the word C**t was my dad talking about him.
You gotta expect a ref to make a bad call once in a while, but this guy is pure shit. Small dick syndrome putting the professionals in their place.
This guy is more crooked than the pro Italian Russian and Turkish soccer leagues combined!
The players and tv announcers must(!) get more vocal about this. David Stern also needs to go for allowing this crap to happen. That’s unreal. The Tim Duncan clip was just mind boggingly unreal and blatantly obvious that the ref had money on the game.
Perhaps it’s time for Vegas and the NBA to partner up and see if they can weed out corrupt officials.
On an unrelated note, WOOOO! Go Kevin Durrant!
Just give Crawford and Stern both a pair of cement shoes and lets be done with them.
How is that for a hack reference to killing someone?
I don’t know about killing them but that sure would make walking around a lot harder!