Joey Crawford

I feel like it's my job to talk about officiating news, but I've been loath to address Joey Crawford's probably-permanent suspension.

The main reason I've been quiet is that I'm not sure what actually happened. Did Duncan cuss Crawford out? If so, when? To me, that's critical...the timing of the second technical is the most important detail that I don't know (and likely never will).

But here's the thing. Whenever a league goes public to back up its officials (like after Super Bowl XL, for instance), I use it as evidence that the officials were right. I can't have a double standard. Since the NBA is throwing the book at Crawford, I have to assume he's done something very, very wrong. And I'd say challenging a player to a fight is certainly that.

I just hope that Crawford is remembered as much for his 31 years of service as he is for his hot-tempered career-ender. I hope...but I know better.