Joey Crawford's Most Dispicable Moment

I urge you - if you ever need a good laugh - to head over and visit the guys at The Sports Pickle. Among other hilarious activities they partake in over there, one thing they do is put together a weekly poll. This week's question is: What is Joey Crawford's most despicable moment from his 31-year NBA officiating career?

These are obviously not real... but enjoy these humorous results:

NBA Weekend Roundup:

Over the weekend, the first round of the NBA's marathon playoff season began. Here are a few of the officiating issues being discussed:

Shaq was not happy about the officiating... via fanhouse:

"My intention was to come out and be myself, until Eddie Rush derailed me," O'Neal said after fouling out.

He accused the Bulls of flopping and said they had "a lot of help out there."
Apparently Shaq wasn't paying attention last year when the Heat seemed to be getting all the calls.

Did Tim Duncan and the Spurs get shafted by the refs sticking up for the buddy Joey Crawford?

Winning the turnover battle has the recap:

-The Spurs averaged 24.1 FTA per game during the regular season.
-In Game 1, the Spurs shot only 10 FTs, including only 6 in the first 44 minutes of the contest
-The Spurs lowest number of FTAs during the regular season: 11
-The Spurs' opponents averaged 21.2 PFs during the regular season
-In Game 1, the Nuggets were called for 13 PFs
-In the two team's three regular season games the Spurs had 21,21, and 27 FTA respectively, and the Nuggets were called for 21,19, and 24 PFs respectively.

Sure, this is only game 1... and due to the NBA's draaawn out playoff schedule, we will have to wait until Wednesday night to see if this continues for the rest of the series.

Steve Nash Shoots with One Hand, Pushes off with the Other

This picture was on NBA.com's home page for the recap of the Lakers/Suns game. Do you see anything wrong with this picture? I watched a grand total of about 10 minutes of yesterday's Lakers/Suns game and I bet a saw Nash push off with his off hand at least 2 or 3 times - mostly while driving the lane or attempting to go around a defender. I realize that he is the 2 time reigning MVP, but I'm sorry - It might just be me - but I hate the fact that veteran/star players get better treatment (well, all but Tim Duncan) then other players. It's the double standard that bugs me and in my opinion takes away some of the NBA's credibility. I hope this is the type of activity D-Stern is referring to as zero-tolerance (see below). I don't see why reigning MVP's get better treatment then rookies. What is this, the WWE? Are they trying to set up Summer Slam in Dallas? Well, apparently they need to let the refs down there know because they forgot to let Dallas win yesterday. In all reality - it sounds like the Suns deserved to win because of the clutch play by Leandro Barbosa - and I'm not taking anything away from Steve Nash's mad skills - I mean, he can shoot lights out. However, I do think he routinely gets away with pushing off - as shown in the picture above.

The NBA's Zero Tolerance Policy

Found in SI's truth and rumors section was this little tidbit:

The league, privately, has told a few folks that referee Joey Crawford was working under a zero-tolerance policy. Referees have been feeling they've been working under similar conditions for years, with Crawford being the latest example. What they intend to do about it remains to be seen. -- Philadelphia Inquirer

Listen, if this is true - and David Stern wants to create the impression that his ref's are being held to strict guidelines and must call the game by the rules and will be held responsible for any bad calls they make, then this is good. So what if their credibility is taken away. One of their top dogs just ruined it for the rest of the refs by trying to be a showboater and be bigger than the game. It's like the old saying - one bad apple can ruin it for the whole bunch. Thanks Joseph - the rest of your referee fraternity graciously thanks you.

Doug Eddings thinks that David Wells eats to much

After being ejected from the game, David Wells had some interesting things to say about umpire Doug Eddings.

As seen at the fanhouse:

the umpire "rubbed his belly" as if to call Wells "fat."

Said Wells: "I thought (Thompson's) foot was on (the bag). Replay shows it did and that's where the frustration comes out ... I understand they're trying to do their job as well. You get riled up. I got riled up. I said, 'You didn't miss one, you missed two.' Things started heating up and he was over there chirping and chirping and he tossed me out. Then he made a gesture ... that to me is stepping over the line. I take it personally."

"That's false. I would never ..." Eddings told the Associated Press.

First of all, David Wells should expect people to call him fat, secondly... Maybe DW should contact Angel fans and invest in one of these shirts:











photo credits: firedougeddings.com

# 738

Last night... just before i went to bed, i decided to watch Bonds hit one last time. I didn't see any of his first 3 at bats. I checked gameday and saw he was due up 2nd in the order to lead off the 8th inning. I was tired, but figured oh well - this could be part of history, so I loaded up the mlb.tv just in time to see Rich Aurilia strike out to start the inning. Cardinals relief pitcher Ryan Franklin quickly got the count to 2-2 on Bonds, and it was at that time that I remembered my one experience of going to a Giants game. August 31st 2001, with the Giants losing 5-0 in the bottom of the 8th, my cousin and I decided to take a stroll around the park. That day, I made a mistake by taking my eye off the action once the count got to 0-2 on Bonds. As I stood just above McCovey Cove, my eyes scanned the beauty that is known as Pacific Bell Park. The next thing I heard was a loud crack of the bat and everyone around me started going crazy. I looked up! I couldn't see anything! But then there it was, a white spot in the sky whizzing straight towards me. Immediately I scrambled trying to get into position to perhaps grab a piece of history. I kept my eye on the laser like object as it soared directly over my head, splashing into the Cove behind me. The many kayakers quickly paddled towards the ball, and one lucky man (pictured below, with net in hand) fished out Barry's 57th home run of that year. Last night as Franklin, who became the 437th pitcher to serve up a long ball to Mr Bonds, was set to deliver the 2-2 pitch, I thought to myself, I'm keeping my eye on this one just in case Bonds decides to do it again. Bonds sent the very next offering on a high speed delivery directly into the McCovey Cove for the 33th time in his career - racking up his home run total to a whopping 738. He is now just 17 homers shy of Hammerin' Hank. Although some may say that no one really cares about Barry Bonds and the soon to be broken Home-Run record, I was glad I stayed up for that one. To me, there's just something about history, whether it's got an asterisks beside it or not, that keeps me interested.



photo credit: jdg, aka... my cousin

Philadelphia schools are not doing a good job at teaching safe sex

On Sunday, May 13, the Philadelphia Phillies will honor all Mothers... young and old. The official announcment:

Motrin IB Mother's Appreciation Day
Motrin IB and the Phillies are hosting a special, heartfelt pre-game tribute dedicated to all mothers.



Chase Utley Fleece Blanket
40" x 60" fleece blanket featuring the Phillies second baseman.

Women 15 and older

Wait a second? Did that say 15 and older?

MLB Honors Froemming

Via mlb.com:

Last night, Bruce Froemming was honored for setting the record for the most consecutive years of service by an active umpire in baseball history.

"I congratulate Bruce on this terrific achievement," said Baseball Commissioner Allan H. (Bud) Selig. "Bruce has not only worked longer than any active umpire in the history of baseball, but has worked with great skill and with great passion. He has had a remarkable career that is appreciated by all of us in baseball."

Bill Klem is the only umpire with more games worked than Froemming. The Hall of Famer was on the field for 5,374 games in his career.

My favorite Bruce Froemming story comes via this interview by Bruce Amspacher with pitcher Milt Pappas, who in 1972 had a perfect game with two outs in the 9th with Froemming behind the plate:

BA: On September 2, 1964 you nearly pitched a no-hitter, taking it into the eighth inning against Minnesota. Eight years later to the day, September 2, 1972 you pitched one of the greatest games in history. What happened in the ninth inning?

Pappas: I was pitching for the Cubs at Wrigley Field against the San Diego Padres. I retired the first 26 batters in the game and I needed one more for a perfect game. There had only been seven perfect games [in the 20th century] up to that time.

Larry Stahl was sent up to pinch-hit and I got two strikes on him immediately. Randy Hundley [the Cubs' catcher] called for a slider. Ball one. Slider. Ball two. Slider. Ball three. Slider. Ball four. Stahl walks and the perfect game is gone.

BA: Were any of the last four pitches strikes?

Pappas: Any one of the four could've been called a strike and the last two were definitely strikes. [Umpire Bruce] Froemming came out to the mound after Stahl walked and I called him every name that I knew in the English language. When I ran out of names in English I started calling him names in Greek.

BA: Weren't you afraid of getting kicked out of the game?

Pappas: There's no way in hell that he was going to kick me out of the game. Not that game. Not if he wanted to get out of Wrigley Field alive. Everybody was too mad at him. The players, the fans -- everyone. So I went back to pitching and got the final out on a pop-up to second base to preserve the no-hitter.

BA: Then what happened?

Pappas: Believe it or not, the next day Froemming comes over to me and asks me to autograph a baseball for him. So I autographed it for him and then made a suggestion as where he might want to put it. He was incredulous. "You're not still angry at me, are you?" he asked.

"You have no idea what you did," I told him. "You blew it! You had a chance to call one of the few perfect games in the history of baseball and you blew it."

"Show me an umpire who ever called a game without making a mistake," he answered.

I couldn't believe he said that! He missed the point.

Then I ran into Larry Stahl. Stahl said that he wanted me to get the perfect game so after he got two strikes on him he decided not to swing anymore. "Why didn't you say something?! Why didn't you back out of the box and give me a wink or something?!" I asked him. I would've been happy to give him a fastball down the middle if I knew that he wasn't going to swing at it.

BruceFroemming.com says this was Froemming's first year and he needed to assert himself as "the boss" and there was no way he was going to let pitches that were clearly strikes get in the way of Froemming's "claim to fame".

In 2001, he was suspended for 10 games for calling an Umpiring Administrator a "stupid Jew B-t-h". I have a feeling he'd get a little more than 10 days if he said that today.

Froemming who was once asked about his eyesight said, "The sun is 93 million miles away, and I can see that." Uh... yeah, so can I Bruce, any my eyesight sucks.

Anyway... from all of us here at AO. We say, "Heckuva career Bruce... at least you didn't toss anyone for laughing at you."