Taken out of a 1995 Championship souvenier book...I wanted to know if anyone else had more info on O'Donnell and Drexler. JAKED 1995 NBA Playoffs - 2nd Round - Western Conference - Rockets @ Suns - Game 1 Veteran referee Jake O'Donnell became the lignting rod for the rockets' protestations when - with just over 10 minutes left in the 2nd quarter - he qhistled Clyde Drexler for a "clear path" foul against Dan Majerle on a fastbreak, meaning he had interfered with a sure basket. When Drexler turned to protest, O'Donnell whacked Drexler with a technical foul and then almost immediately bit hijm with another technical and ejected him from the game. The ejection sent the usually-unflappable Drexler into a volcanic eruption of outrage and he had to be secorted off the court by several assistant coaches and teammates. It was a shocking scene, considering the magnitude of the game and the principals involved. O'Donnell claimed after the game that he called the first technical foul because Drexler used abusive language and the second "T' because Drexler charged him. But video replays showed that Drexler had only charged the official after his ejection. What's more, the tapes showed that O'Donnell had refused to shake hands with Drexler during the pre-game meeting of captains at mid-court. Rockets officials promised to pursue justice through the proper channels in the NBA office, and eventually it was granted. Drexler's fine for the ejection was rescinded and - in an unprecedented move - O'Donnell was suspended by the league from the remainder of the 1995 playoffs.
Come on guys...I know all of you guys are rabid fans. Pry yourself away from those New Uni/JVGsaid/Eddie Trade Bait/NBA Draft threads and fill me in on any other info you know.
Spike Lee, from his memoir "Best Seat in the House": I really like to talk to the refs. I have trouble remembering their names, keeping them all straight, but they're fun to talk to. In a line going back to Mendy Rudolph, Darrell Garretson, Earl Strom, up through Jake O'Donnell, now with the likes of Joey Crawford, Dick Bavetta, Hugh Evans, Hue Hollins, Jess Kersey, Danny Crawford, Ed T. Rush, Ron Nunn, Mike Mathis, Steve Javie, Bill Oakes, Garretson's son, Ronnie, the whole lot. They do talk back to me, you know. I may yell, "How can you call that?" They might say, "Don't ask if you don't know." I'm ready for one of them to say, "If you don't know, you better ax somebody." During one game, a ref made a call, offensive zone, some crazy call. I said, "Whoever heard of that?" He said, "I've gotta call it once a year, and this is it." And they do mess up. They'll miss one. And sometimes you get a makeup call. There was one game during the time, a Knicks-Pacers playoff war. It was late in the game, the Pacers had the ball, and the ref thought they called time out. The Knicks double-teamed, had one of the Pacers trapped, but, incredibly, Steve Javie called time out for him, I guess out of a sudden pity. The Knicks were apoplectic. Very quickly, Javie called the ball boy over: "Bring that towel here. Wipe up this wet spot." I was apoplectic now. "But there's no wet spot on the floor! There is no wet spot on the floor." All on television and everything. I was screaming, "You made a mistake. There is no wet spot here!" He just calmly told the ball boy, "Wipe that up." "Wipe what up? This floor is as dry as a bone. What are you talking about?" He looked at me, smiled, and said, "Easy, easy." He knew what he was doing. And it was really smart on his part, an experienced ref's move. He was thinking on his feet. He called time out in a critical part of a crucial game when no time had been called. "Why don't you just admit it?" I hollered. He was like, Play on. I find them amazing, the refs. Growing up you think that refs and umpires are robots. But they're human. They make mistakes. They have vendettas. Jake O'Donnell was famous for one he carried against Clyde Drexler. One NBA ref, Derrick Stafford, graduated from Morehouse in the same class with me. It's always good to see one of the brothers do well. I'm also on him if he makes a bad call. The guy who is a real pain to me is Ronnie Garretson. His father, Darrell, is the NBA supervisor of referees. He was a longtime ref himself, never quite as good as the late Earl Strom, or O'Donnell. His son is like the warden's son. He has a chip on his shoulder, and he is probably one of the least-admired refs in the league. He's the one that Nick Van Exel sent flying last year. No one should ever touch a ref, but with Ronnie, I almost understood Nick.
During one of last years game Calvin & Bill were talking about bad officiating. That terrible Drexler call came up. They said that O'Donnell he no longer officiated after that call.
http://www.alleyoop.com/ftb/121401.htm Cuban's keeping track of the officials' tendencies begs the question of whether the league is, and if so how thorough a job they're doing. It certainly could have helped in seasons past if someone pointed out to Steve Javie that he'd given 28 times as many technical fouls as any other official, or if they showed statistics to Jake O'Donnell indicating the strength of his bias against the Trail Blazers.
