Joey Crawford, one of the longest-serving referees in NBA history, will retire at the end of the 2016 season after 39 years officiating games. The 64-year-old, who lives in the Philadelphia suburb of Newtown Square, Pennsylvania, made the announcement in an interview with his localnewspaper, the Delaware County Daily Times. You know what happens' Its not that you lose your passion, Crawford said. I have that. Thats insanity. But it just comes to the point where you say, I dont want to make a fool out of myself. And its been so good that I want to go out on a high note. I dont want to go out on a low note. I want to be in the NBA Finals, and I dont want to be reffing just for the sake of reffing. Passion is one thing Crawford will surely be remembered for -- sometimes to a fault. He was infamously suspended in 2007 for challenging San Antonio Spurs star Tim Duncan to a fight after the two exchanged words during a game. Other angry and dramatic moments in Crawfords refereeing career prompted Deadspin to declare that his seemingly pathological need to make himself a factor in games was so grating that you could make a very sensible case that hes the worst thing about the NBA. (function(){var src_url="https://spshared.5min.com/Scripts/PlayerSeed.js'playList=519023457&height=&width=100&sid=577&origin=SOLR&videoGroupID=155847&relatedNumOfResults=100&responsive=true&ratio=wide&align=center&relatedMode=2&relatedBottomHeight=60&companionPos=&hasCompanion=false&autoStart=false&colorPallet=%23FFEB00&videoControlDisplayColor=%23191919&shuffle=0&isAP=1&pgType=cmsPlugin&pgTypeId=addToPost-top&onVideoDataLoaded=track5min.DL&onTimeUpdate=track5min.TC&onVideoDataLoaded=HPTrack.Vid.DL&onTimeUpdate=HPTrack.Vid.TC";if (typeof(commercial_video) == "object") {src_url += "&siteSection="+commercial_video.site_and_category;if (commercial_video.package) {src_url += "&sponsorship="+commercial_video.package;}}var script = document.createElement("script");script.src = src_url;script.async = true;var placeholder = document.querySelector(".js-fivemin-script");placeholder.parentElement.replaceChild(script, placeholder);})(); The basketball official is also respected for his toughness. "But while no official is immune to bias, nobody else was as willing to call a controversial or unpopular call against the home team," the same critical Deadspin article noted. "As much as he made himself a pariah, he had no problem making tough calls, even if they got entire arenas booing and spitting venom at him." Crawford told The New York Times he oncebroke a finger while giving a player a technical foul -- and he started seeing a sports psychologist soon after. The mixture of resentment and affection many basketball fans feel for Crawford was evident in the reactions to the news of his retirement on Twitter. I know Joey Crawford is polarizing, but there isn't an NBA coach who didn't want him on the whistle in a big playoff game, esp on the road Jeff McDonald (@JMcDonald_SAEN) January 2, 2016 I enjoyed Joey Crawford's career. Always a threat to do something absurd. His love of big games was the best and worst thing about him. 'netw3rk (@netw3rk) January 2, 2016 Joey Crawford retiring is like a really awesome late Xmas present for basketball fans worldwide. KJ_NBA (@KJ_NBA) January 2, 2016 #NeverForget Joey Crawford had moves: https://t.co/QeeWTJNKHJ NBA SKITS (@NBA_Skits) January 2, 2016 Crawford, who is recovering from knee surgery, plans to resume refereeing on March 1, according to the Delaware County Times. He has officiated in more playoff games than any active referee in the league -- 313 of them, to date. Also on HuffPost: -- This feed and its contents are the property of The Huffington Post, and use is subject to our terms. It may be used for personal consumption, but may not be distributed on a website.
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