Minnesota Timberwolves beat reporter Jon Krawczynski of the Associated Press is being sued by referee Bill Spooner for tweeting something deemed defamatory. During the second quarter of a T-Wolves-Rockets game, Minnesota coach Kurt Rambis complained about a call. Krawczynski tweeted “Ref Bill Spooner told Rambis he’d ‘get it back’ after a bad call. Then he made an even worse call on Rockets. That’s NBA officiating folks.” Here’s that tweet:
The concept of makeup calls isn’t at all new, and it’s something most fans and broadcasters recognize is a part of the game. But writing about it publicly is another story, and Spooner says he never told Rambis he’d make up the call. Here’s the front page of the filing in court:
In the court filing, Spooner says that he told Rambis he would review the call at halftime and get back to him. Spooner says Rambis told him “that’s fine, but how do I get those points back?” The implication is that Krawczynski heard wrong and mixed things up, tweeting something defamatory about Spooner.
At this point the court case will be a he said-she said thing unless there’s audio proof. Microphones around the courts are amazing and able to pick up a lot, but I would be surprised if there’s a record of this anywhere. The case makes several references to Tim Donaghy and how the reputations of refs came into question after his allegations became public. Spooner says in light of Donaghy, any questions to his credibility are magnified.
I understand the concern, but unless there’s proof nothing was said, this seems like a losing cause for Spooner and nothing more than a move to save face and help him clear his reputation.
