Crawford Backs Challenges, Defends Superstar Calls
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- Joey Crawford, the former NBA referee who officiated from 1977 to 2016, said new challenge systems across sports are good because they hold officials accountable for missed calls.
- MLB introduced its automated ball-strike (ABS) system this season, allowing batters, pitchers, and catchers to challenge calls through an automated tracking system, with each team permitted two wrong calls before exhausting its challenges.
- The NBA has used a coach's challenge system since 2019, the NHL since 2015 and the NFL since 1999, placing MLB's new ABS among the most recent adoptions.
- Crawford was inducted into the Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame on Saturday and continues to work for the NBA in a role supporting current officials.
- Crawford said late-game blown calls haunted him personally, recalling nights "going back to the hotel, dreading it" after missing a crucial play.
- Crawford rejected the long-running criticism that he favored superstars, arguing the best player naturally has the ball in the final seconds, so any mistake a ref makes will appear to involve the star.
Why it matters: Crawford's endorsement from a Hall of Fame stage gives a veteran insider's weight to the league-wide push for officiating accountability at a moment when MLB has just joined the trend. His defense of the so-called superstar whistle — blaming it on the structure of late-game basketball rather than referee bias — offers the clearest rebuttal yet to a critique that has followed star-driven officiating for decades.
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