NBA Player X wrote:I was asked the other day what I think of the referees this season. My answer: I hate the referees.

I was only kidding, kind of.

Lately, the refs have treated me and my teammates OK, but there was a point earlier this season when they were acting like they were bigger than the game. Joey Crawford, especially. That guy. You can't even ask him a question; he won't even look at you. Did you see what happened a few years ago when he challenged Tim Duncan, of all people, to a fight during a game? Ridiculous. The guy is a hothead, and players around the league know that whenever he refs a game there is gonna be some drama. More foul calls, more technicals, more delays. If you're watching a game and see Joey Crawford as one of the refs, expect controversy. It's a shame but it's true.


I always say that you can tell the difference between a young ref and a veteran guy. Generally speaking, players like young refs better because they don't tend to favor coaches or individual players, they just call the game as they see it. The problem is they are constantly being overruled by older refs. They'll make the right call and then an older ref will come running in and say, "Are you sure that's the right call?" Then the young guy will be like, "Well, what did you see?" They don't want to show the older guy up so they defer to him, and he's most likely biased. That's right, you'd think that the veteran referees would be more mature and balanced about their calls, but really they just carry more baggage onto the court.

Of course, the refs, young and old, are always getting worked over during the game by players and coaches. We played Charlotte earlier this season and Larry Brown completely controlled the whistle. The same thing happens with Gregg Popovich, Phil Jackson and George Karl -- they're considered the greatest coaches in the league so it's easy for them to get the refs to do their bidding. I guess it's no surprise that refs favor winners. Let's say you're a great team and you're on a fast break and someone fouls you. A ref won't call it right away, he'll let you dunk, then call the foul so you get the three-point play. But if you're on a bad team they'll call a ticky-tack foul right away. No dunk for you.

Me, I always try to chat up the younger refs during the game. I'm a pretty calm guy, so I usually start with "Excuse me, sir. Can you explain to me what just happened?" Then I'll ask him to check the call at halftime because I think he missed it. My favorite response -- and this is what they usually say -- is, "That wasn't my call. Ask him." I get that a lot. Maybe I'm not one of the refs' favorites like some guys in the league. For instance, Kevin Durant has impressed me with his ability to get a whistle at such a young age. He had 15 free throws the other night! LeBron always gets calls, obviously. Kobe gets fewer than you'd think because he travels all the time. But the guy who gets the most calls by far is Dwyane Wade, even though he carries the ball a lot and is always falling down. The refs like his personality, I guess. He never met a ref he didn't like.

Chris Paul gets away with the most talking. There have been times when I've seen him curse a ref out like, "What the f--- are you looking at you ---hole?! Learn how to call a f------ game!!" The ref will be like, "My bad, I'll get you next time." What?!! If that had been me I'd have been T'd up and thrown out. You can't curse at a ref without getting a technical or at least a stern warning. Unless you're Chris Paul, who can say whatever he wants.

Money Morrow wrote:I'm glad they give them an anonymous outlet, but now I'm trying to figure out who it is...

pretty sure he's not on Charlotte, San Antonio, LA, Denver, Oklahoma, Cleveland, Miami or New Orleans...


I'm thinking Boston or Orlando

Mr. Crackerz wrote:

Money Morrow wrote:I'm glad they give them an anonymous outlet, but now I'm trying to figure out who it is...

pretty sure he's not on Charlotte, San Antonio, LA, Denver, Oklahoma, Cleveland, Miami or New Orleans...


I'm thinking Boston or Orlando

well all these responses are about the west... like read this guy, all he talks about are western teams... but the dwayne wade and free throw comments, makes you believe maybe boston or orlando, so i see that.

How about Grant Hill. He plays for the Suns, and use to play in orlando. He seems like a player who is well respected, polite to refs, a vet who knows the west. I thought steve nash was a possibility.

When he (player x) was talking about the groupies, he talked about how someone was traded because he shared the same girlfriend with a teammate. He also claims that 2 players share a girlfriend today (Jason Kidd back in the day perhaps), but don't know about it... some crazy ****.

But yeah, my prediction is Hill. He called out a game where Charlotte got its way. The bobcats beat the suns in overtime earlier this year. bobcats had double the FT's than the suns. maybe thats the game he is referring to. I wish i had detective skills.

Money Morrow wrote:

Mr. Crackerz wrote:

Money Morrow wrote:I'm glad they give them an anonymous outlet, but now I'm trying to figure out who it is...

pretty sure he's not on Charlotte, San Antonio, LA, Denver, Oklahoma, Cleveland, Miami or New Orleans...


I'm thinking Boston or Orlando

well all these responses are about the west... like read this guy, all he talks about are western teams... but the dwayne wade and free throw comments, makes you believe maybe boston or orlando, so i see that.

How about Grant Hill. He plays for the Suns, and use to play in orlando. He seems like a player who is well respected, polite to refs, a vet who knows the west. I thought steve nash was a possibility.

When he (player x) was talking about the groupies, he talked about how someone was traded because he shared the same girlfriend with a teammate. He also claims that 2 players share a girlfriend today (Jason Kidd back in the day perhaps), but don't know about it... some crazy ****.

But yeah, my prediction is Hill. He called out a game where Charlotte got its way. The bobcats beat the suns in overtime earlier this year. bobcats had double the FT's than the suns. maybe thats the game he is referring to. I wish i had detective skills.

last I checked.. Charlotte, Miami and Cleveland are in the East...

Mr. Crackerz wrote:

Money Morrow wrote:

Mr. Crackerz wrote:

Money Morrow wrote:I'm glad they give them an anonymous outlet, but now I'm trying to figure out who it is...

pretty sure he's not on Charlotte, San Antonio, LA, Denver, Oklahoma, Cleveland, Miami or New Orleans...


I'm thinking Boston or Orlando

well all these responses are about the west... like read this guy, all he talks about are western teams... but the dwayne wade and free throw comments, makes you believe maybe boston or orlando, so i see that.

How about Grant Hill. He plays for the Suns, and use to play in orlando. He seems like a player who is well respected, polite to refs, a vet who knows the west. I thought steve nash was a possibility.

When he (player x) was talking about the groupies, he talked about how someone was traded because he shared the same girlfriend with a teammate. He also claims that 2 players share a girlfriend today (Jason Kidd back in the day perhaps), but don't know about it... some crazy ****.

But yeah, my prediction is Hill. He called out a game where Charlotte got its way. The bobcats beat the suns in overtime earlier this year. bobcats had double the FT's than the suns. maybe thats the game he is referring to. I wish i had detective skills.

last I checked.. Charlotte, Miami and Cleveland are in the East...

well look at the pattern of responses from his previous 6 responses. I can post them so you can read them. You will notice that he heavily focuses on the West.

BE CAREFUL WITH GROUPIES - Player X

This story appears in the April 5 issue of ESPN The Magazine.

Not that long ago, The Mag's NFL Player X (whoever he is) estimated that 30 percent of married NFL players cheat on their wives. I was surprised to hear it was that low. In the NBA, I think it's closer to 60 percent. When you get a bunch of young, rich guys together, infidelity can be contagious. It's like high school -- the young guys watch the older players to see how things are done.

Respected vets like Kevin Ollie or Derek Fisher set good examples, though, for guys across the NBA. There are a lot of players who stick in this league for way longer than they should because they're family men who keep rookies in check. They'll call you out on your dumb mistakes. I know the vets I played with early on helped keep me straight. They'd warn me off the groupies who'd been going after NBA players for years.


I've had girls approach me at the hardware store and act like they didn't know who I was. I've been followed at the mall. There are groupies who hang around my neighborhood trying to bump into me on the street. They don't care if I'm married or not.

The whole thing seems innocent but most often it's not. We're talking about strangers here, who are following us. Fall in love with the wrong one, and you can end up trapped, with a child you never expected or a wife you weren't ready for. People ask me all the time how many of the women I meet are looking for a ring. I have to assume it's all of them, because I've never met a groupie who was in it just to have fun. Those girls take the long view, and it's not always about love.

Look at what happened with Dirk last year. He fell for a groupie, gave the girl an engagement ring, only to find out she was a criminal. The situation blew up right during the playoffs, so his teammates ended up answering questions about the woman when they were trying to focus on the Nuggets. It's not good when those problems trickle into the locker room.

Trades have been arranged because one woman is involved with two guys on the same team. That's what happened in Dallas some years ago. And right now I know of one girl who is dating two NBA players. One makes her car payments, and the other pays her rent. They don't know about each other, but they do share a money manager who's writing both checks. It's bound to blow up at some point.

Truth is, NBA players are easy targets. We're not like most guys, who can meet a nice girl at work or at a barbecue. We are recognized and treated differently pretty much everywhere we go. Most of us have grown up in an environment where we've been given whatever we wanted, so a woman approaching us suggestively seems normal. Sadly, all you usually have to do to get an NBA guy for a night is smile and make it clear you're willing to go home with him. Especially if he's single.

As for the married guys, it's not that hard for a groupie to get with one of them, either. They're like regular dudes in corporate America who travel a lot, except they have more money and more opportunities to cheat. They don't get caught because they keep it on the road, calling their wives all the time to check in. (It doesn't always go smoothly. I've overheard plenty of dudes fight with their wives over the phone about their activities.) It gets to the point where you see teammates doing it so much that young guys assume having a woman on the road and a wife at home is just part of the NBA lifestyle.

In fact, I would guess that 50 percent of NBA wives actually started out as groupies. And a lot of those women are realistic about the scene their spouses are in. They take a "don't ask, don't tell" approach. They will say something like, "Don't embarrass me by getting caught." It's not that they like the situation, but they understand the circumstances. After all, it wasn't that long ago that they were in those same clubs looking to get with a professional athlete, no matter how many tries it took.

Honestly, with all the pitfalls and temptation, sometimes I wonder why young players even get married. They should follow Derek Jeter's example. No one criticizes his lifestyle because he doesn't have a wife at home wondering what he's up to. He's just a young, rich pro who enjoys being the king of New York. He'll settle down when the time is right. NBA guys should take note.

DON'T CROSS DAVID STERN - Player X

This story appears in the March 8 issue of ESPN The Magazine.

Since the trade deadline just passed, some of you are probably wondering why your team shipped a guy out of town. Money is one reason guys get traded. So is talent. But there's a quicker way to be kicked to the curb in the NBA: getting blackballed.

I see it a lot. Take T.J. Ford, for example. He might be on his way, through no fault of his own. The guy had a career year last year, yet he was on the bench for a month -- and he wasn't injured. Players have been buzzing about him lately, wondering why one of the best guys on the Pacers isn't playing much. It could be anything. I know of a situation in which a starter got benched because the owner's son is friends with the guy who replaced him.

Stuff like that happens all the time, and it's not always the coaches making the decision. Sometimes it comes from above. I'm pretty sure, for example, that Javaris Crittenton will be blackballed after his gun incident with Gilbert Arenas. Gilbert is a former All-Star with a big contract. He'll play again. But most players think Javaris is done, that GMs won't touch him. That's just wrong.

On the plane just the other day we were talking about how guys disappear: How Antoine Walker, Stephon Marbury, Bonzi Wells and Steve Francis were franchise players one day, out of the league the next. You never know where it comes from. It could be owners getting together to decide no one is going to offer a guy a contract (yes, it happens). Or it could come down from the commissioner. David Stern is not a man you want to cross.

Stern is not a man you want to cross.

The main thing that gets you blackballed in the NBA is being a bad influence on young players -- bad-mouthing the coach or refusing to listen to him, living the high life. If you're a veteran pulling young guys into that world, your days are numbered. GMs are wary of guys like that. They do all kinds of research before signing you, like talking to your high school coach and grade school teachers. The model organization is San Antonio. They hardly ever sign a guy who gets in trouble. And if they do, the guy shapes right up. If a GM thinks you're taking young guys out, getting them drunk and hooking them up with women, he'll drop you. And he'll tell other league GMs why.

Some guys who've been run out of the NBA, like Bonzi, are doing whatever they can for another shot. Bonzi is better than a lot of guys in the league but won't get a second chance because of his rep as a bad locker room guy. The NBA doesn't have a team like the Bengals that gives bad-rep guys another chance.

Sad thing is, you see some of these guys who are out of the league -- like Francis, Antoine or Steph -- and they still act as if they're stars. They're still like, "I'm the man. It's never gonna go away." They dress the same and spend money like they're still making it. I hear a lot of guys are working out in Chicago, waiting for the phone to ring. But the NBA doesn't really give you a second shot once you've been blackballed. Stern has the power to say a guy is not welcome anymore. You also have GMs with jobs on the line who don't want to take a risk. Look at what happened when Isiah Thomas signed bad locker room guys like Zach Randolph. The Knicks imploded, and Thomas got fired.

I think this Arenas incident scared a lot of players. But I'm not sure if it will change much. The phone number the NBA gives us to call if we're struggling with alcohol and other things isn't going to start ringing off the hook. Thing is, this wasn't the first time Gilbert messed up. The NBA told him to chill a couple years ago, but I don't think he took it seriously. Word around the league is that he's at home freaking out, calling the NBA every five minutes to fix things, afraid it all might disappear.

Funny enough, I haven't heard much about guys acting up this season. The Hawks used to be notorious for partying before they got Joe Johnson and got good. They had guys like Antoine, who would go out to clubs and go wild. It wasn't until they got rid of the bad influences that they started playing well. And you can usually tell who the bad influences are just by looking at how often a guy gets traded. If he's been moved five times, it probably doesn't have anything to do with creating cap room or getting good value. He's got an attitude problem, and his bosses sent him packin'.

TMC wrote:Thanks for posting those articles, Mr. Crackerz. I never heard of this player X before, and even tho he's not saying anything I didn't know (or, more likely, suspect), it's nice to read something so clear and to the point, ignoring all kind of non-written rules that try cover up these stories.


Regarding that Player X, from his articles, I also believe he plays in the west, so... I'm thinking Morris Peterson or James Posey. I know, I know... the way he talks about CP... but still, I've got the feeling it might be one of his teammates at NO. I've also considered Shane Battier as well, but he doesn't look like the kind of guy that would enjoy doing something like this (and I include Grant Hill in that group).

Mr. Crackerz wrote:

TMC wrote:Thanks for posting those articles, Mr. Crackerz. I never heard of this player X before, and even tho he's not saying anything I didn't know (or, more likely, suspect), it's nice to read something so clear and to the point, ignoring all kind of non-written rules that try cover up these stories.


Regarding that Player X, from his articles, I also believe he plays in the west, so... I'm thinking Morris Peterson or James Posey. I know, I know... the way he talks about CP... but still, I've got the feeling it might be one of his teammates at NO. I've also considered Shane Battier as well, but he doesn't look like the kind of guy that would enjoy doing something like this (and I include Grant Hill in that group).

well, posey is interesting as we was teammates with Wade in Miami. So u might have a point there. You might think that someone who is saying "wade never met a ref he didn't like" would have seen wade on several occasions. Hill played for state rival Orlando for several years, so that's why i thought his comments on Wade could be from there. Though, your right, i don't see Hill as one of those players who talks... but you never know (i didn't know Tiger Woods was a big wife cheater, either)

However, the Bobcats have only played the hornets once this season, and the Hornets won. The way this player X was complaining, you'd think it was a lose (plus, most of N.O.'s turnovers were from that game were from steals, while charlette got more human calls). So that's why i dismissed anyone from NO.

bada wrote:also keep in mind it is not always the same person.

bada wrote:also keep in mind it is not always the same person.