NBA ref sues AP writer over critical tweet

 

It is a truth universally acknowledged that NBA officiating is terrible. However, the ways we learn that fact are changing: writers and fans debate bad calls on Twitter and Facebook, DVR allows everyone to watch the call in question as many times as they wish, and YouTube ensures that we'll all be able to view the play for years and years, or at least until the NBA flags the video as an example of copyright infringement. Pretty soon you'll be able to check in to a certain referee decision on Foursquare or order it at a discount on Groupon. Please note that I have no idea how those two sites work. The point here is that we now operate within mediums we don't fully understand yet, in part because their ethical limits have not yet been drawn.
If this all sounds a little broad to you right now, then read this story about NBA referee Bill Spooner suing Associated Press writer Jon Krawczynski (who does not play Jim Halpert on "The Office") for a particularly controversial tweet. The details, as reported on ESPN.com:

Bill Spooner, a 22-year veteran NBA official, is suing Minnesota Timberwolves beat reporter Jon Krawczynski for tweeting during a game that Spooner promised coach Kurt Rambis that he'd get the Wolves two points in the form of a make-up call, the Minneapolis-St. Paul Business Journal reports.
According to Spooner's suit, Rambis took umbrage with a foul called against his team in the second quarter of a Jan. 24 game against the Houston Rockets. Spooner then told an upset Rambis that he'd review the call at halftime.
Rambis asked how his team was supposed to get the two points back. While Spooner's suit claims he didn't respond to the Minnesota coach's question, Krawczynski tweeted otherwise.
"Ref Bill Spooner told Rambis he'd 'get it back' after a bad call," Krawczynski tweeted. "Then he made an even worse call on Rockets. That's NBA officiating folks."
Spooner's suit seeks over $75,000 in damages along with both an unpublishing and retraction of the statement on the grounds that the tweet is a defamatory accusation.

At the risk of bringing on another lawsuit, I must say that Bill Spooner has momentarily lost his mind, or at least doesn't understand Twitter very well. Krawczynski has 2,072 followers as of this writing, and the tweet in question received a mere 14 retweets, none of which came from anyone with more followers than the author. At most, this tweet reached a few thousand people.