Joey Crawford may've made you scream at your TV from time-to-time, but pretty much everybody, even those he 'T'd up with a hair trigger, agreed he was a damn good ref.
This season was supposed to be his farewell tour after a 39-year career. However, he's been MIA from NBA courts since November due to both arthritis and a meniscus tear in his right knee. The injuries were likely caused by being 64 and still trying to run up-and-down the floor with world-class athletes in their prime.
Crawford had been aiming for a March 1 return after undergoing surgery in December, but his bum leg just hasn't healed with the speed of somebody in, say, their mid-fifties, and because of that he's retiring from the association, effective immediately.
Crawford ends his career having officiated the second most regular season games in league history (2,561, just 74 behind Dick Bavetta) in addition to 374 playoff contests, and 50 Finals game.
Still he'll likely be remembered more for his theatrics, like this:
And this:
And this:
And that time he tossed a benched (and confused) Tim Duncan in 2007 because he thought he was laughing at him:
Definitely the end of an era. He had been with the league since breaking in all the way back in the 1977-78 season.
[via NBA.com]
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