Kudos to my colleague Chris Sheridan. He called it. Sheridan wrote in the immediate aftermath of Sunday's scenes in Dallas that referee Joey Crawford would be suspended for the rest of the season. I certainly expected the league to suspend him and even make the punishment public this time, as opposed to the usual Cone of Silence lowered over any dose of ref discipline, but I honestly didn't anticipate such a punitive step. I get the sense that the Spurs and Tim Duncan didn't expect it, either. But now? Informed sources say Crawford's NBA career is likely over. The terms of his indefinite suspension call for Crawford, a 31-year veteran who has refereed 38 NBA Finals games, to meet with league officials at season's end to assess his future. But Crawford made it clear to NBA executive vice president Stu Jackson on Tuesday that he would eject Duncan again if the circumstances were the same. Crawford likewise informed superiors (including NBA commissioner David Stern) and fellow referees via e-mail Tuesday that "if my employer does not think that was acceptable, I have a problem" reffing in the future. Crawford has maintained from the start that Duncan deserved two technicals for what he deemed to be disrespecting the game by "laughing [at] and mocking the officials." Crawford also blasted fellow referee Dick Bavetta in the e-mail obtained by ESPN.com, hinting at divisions among referees between those who do and don't support Bavetta and writing that maybe Bavetta will wind up as the crew chief in Game 7 of the NBA "which is a travesty in itself you even being in the finals." Stern, in an appearance on Tuesday's "Pardon The Interruption" on ESPN, acknowledged Crawford's discontent, telling co-hosts Tony Kornheiser and Michael Wilbon: "In fairness, I would say that [Crawford] doesn't think he did anything wrong and probably doesn't wish to work in the NBA any more." Crawford's father (Shag Crawford) and brother (Jerry Crawford) were/are longtime baseball umpires. No referee in the NBA is more put off by being shown up than Joey Crawford. But that has always been the knock on an official that the NBA, in its press release to announce the suspension, felt compelled to remind us "is consistently rated as one of our top referees." More than a few times in his three decades with a whistle, obviously, Crawford's calls and game management have overshadowed the actual game. The league does and will always have big problems with that approach, as it stressed to Crawford in a heated meeting after the 2003 playoffs. That's when Crawford ejected then-Mavs coach Don Nelson from a Western Conference finals game in San Antonio for refusing Crawford's order to return to the bench and standing defiantly at midcourt. Crawford was sternly warned that any repeat offenses would be dealt with severely. Stern obviously wasn't kidding. The Commish gave referees license to call more technical fouls this season, in the league's ongoing attempt to improve its image, but clearly doesn't equate anything that happened after Duncan's first technical Sunday with being tougher on the players. Hitting Duncan with a second T for laughter on the bench? Inviting him to fight, whether it was a literal or figurative invitation? On PTI, Stern said: "Joey knows our view on, shall I say, his loss of control. You just can't keep doing that." Crawford, meanwhile, seemed to be saying goodbye in his message to bosses and colleagues, writing: "Please do not be sad for me [as] I have had a great run and a great career and NOBODY will ever take that from me." He also likened his situation to longtime ref Jake O'Donnell, who was barred by the league from working the 1995 NBA Finals after a well-chronicled chilly relationship with Clyde Drexler and a controversial ejection of Houston's Drexler from a '95 playoff game. O'Donnell never refereed in the league again.