Tony Brothers Swallowing His Whistle

By now, you’ve probably seen highlights of Orlando guard Quentin Richardson shoving Charlotte guard Gerald Henderson in the face late in Wednesday night’s Magic win at Charlotte.

But the most fascinating thing about the altercation wasn’t Richardson’s ridiculously effective two-handed mush. It was the way it was allowed to escalate to that point. Standing no more than two feet from Richardson and Henderson as tempers began to flare was none other than referee Tony Brothers, who of course holds a special place in Thunder fans’ hearts.

In the above video, starting at the 1:07 mark, you can clearly see Brothers taking no control of the situation. As the two square off, Brothers sticks his whistle in his mouth…and then swallows it. He does nothing more than stand there like a boxing ref bringing together two welterweights at the start of the fight. What’s more disturbing is how, at the 1:34 mark, exactly when Matt Winer is providing commentary about how “Henderson is just standing there,” you see Brothers still, well, just standing there…doing nothing.

It’s phenomenal stuff.

Brothers left the brunt of the breaking up of the fight to fellow referee Bennett Salvatore and the players, which included our old friend D.J. White.