Tim Duncan; If you don't like it, you can giiittttt out!

Well, that's what Joey Crawford said anyway.

For those of you that haven't seen it, check it out here.

I can see both sides of this argument pretty clearly. Yes, Tim Duncan was laughing at the referee's call - disrespectful - and I believe Crawford when he says that he warned Duncan he would be T'd up again if he made any remarks/gestures from the bench. I can also sympathize with Duncan; getting thrown out of a game for laughing is awfully extreme. And why is it that Horry, who is seen laughing out loud while Duncan is being thrown out, isn't also given a technical? Isn't that just as disrespectful, if not more so?

David Stern claims that he had talked to Crawford before about that rule specifically, and when it was and was not appropriate to make a technical foul call. This was why the punishment; being suspended through the NBA playoffs; was deemed appropriate.

The main thing I take from all this really isn't whether or not the call in the game was fair, nor whether or not the suspension was fair. Those can both be argued. What I respect is that David Stern really is - no pun intended - STERN. Actions speak much louder than words, and time and time again, Stern comes down hard with suspensions and fines. What you and I think is irrelevant; Stern felt that the call was unfair and that Crawford was compromising the fairness of the game, and he took the action he deemed appropriate. Kudos to him.

I wish Bud Selig had Stern's toughness. Maybe then something might actually get done, and baseball would be cleaned up a little bit.