[amusedofficial]

The sports station in Boston actually was handing out compliments to the officials. In a game its team lost.

Cornbread Maxwell, the ex-Celtic who is now a color commentator for radio, was high in his praise of the crew in general and Crawford in particular. He said outright "Joey Crawford took control of that game" and spoke of how the officials drew a line, allowing the teams to play physical without letting the game getting out of hand.

He also made the point that the Hinrich Rondo tussle was well handled to the point where it defused a situation that could have plagued the game going forward, and suggested that the trail originally had a Flagrant 2 on Rondo which was knocked down to a Flagrant 1 after they reviewed the tape -- and that the penalties of a F-1 and a T were enough to put the lid on, while a Flagrant 2 might have resulted in festering hostilities (although he also correctedly noted that Dr. Glenn Rivers ripped Rondo a new one during the game delay which made it clear that the team had to avoid being drawn into incidents that could lead to ejection or disqualification.)

It was rather insightful commentary, given NBE standards,and others on the same program joined in showing appreciation for the officials work which, no matter what our prolific pontificators might think about the crew's work, struck me as quite unusual, especially in the losing city.

I wonder what Obama thought.