Joe Crawford tossed Tim Duncan for laughing on Sunday. Now, the NBA is tossing Crawford.
The NBA has suspended Crawford for the rest of the season, including the playoffs. He and NBA commish David Stern will discuss his future sometime after the NBA Finals.
This is the third huge penalty handed down in the sports world in the past few weeks. The NFL suspended Pac-Man Jones for the 2007 season for conduct off the field. Last week, shock jock Don Imus was fired for terming the Rutgers women's basketball team "nappy headed hos".
It appears, like Imus, Crawford may ultimately lose his job. Apparantly, Crawford may exit on his own. From ESPN.com:
In an e-mail to colleagues that was obtained by Bloomberg News, Crawford described his conversation with Stu Jackson, the NBA executive director for basketball operations who oversees referees.
"I told him I would throw Duncan out again if he did what he did," Crawford wrote. "So if my employer does not think that was acceptable, then I have a problem."
Crawford declined to comment on the e-mail to Bloomberg News, as did Jackson.
However, in his e-mail to Bloomberg News, Crawford appeared to imply that he didn't expect to officiate an NBA game again in his career.
"Please do not be sad for me," Crawford wrote to Bloomberg News. "I have had a great run and a great career and nobody will ever take that from me."
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