Jordan responds to Ball’s claims

finally issued his response to

bravado. “I don't think he could beat me if I was one-legged,” Jordan said.

Ball, the outspoken father of Los Angeles Lakers rookie

previously said he would beat Jordan in a game of 1-on-1 back in his prime. Jordan, a six-time NBA champion and considered by many the greatest player ever, had held his tongue on a response — at least for a while.

BayAreaHQ.com posted a video Monday of Jordan talking to campers at his summer youth-basketball camp in Santa Barbara, Calif.

“You've got to understand the source,” Jordan said when asked about Ball. “He played, I think, college. Maybe? He averaged 2.2 points per game. Really?”

Ball played one season at Washington State. what he could control — the substance, not the sideshow.

It's no wonder the respect level for him league-wide trumped even his gaudy resume.

“When I walked on the court, all I demanded from the players was the same respect that I was going to give them,” Crawford said. “I did that my whole career. It was not about me. It was their game. I was out there to manage the game whenever I was needed.”

Before his NBA run began in 1985, Crawford officiated eight years of college games and four in the Continental Basketball Association. That's a lot of calls. That's a lot of commitment.

“I wanted to leave healthy. I wanted to leave on top of my game,” Crawford said. “And we have such a young staff. People started saying, ‘Are you the most senior guy on the staff?' My answer to that was, ‘Yeah, I guess I am.’ And I didn't like that title.

“It's a physical sport. And the pace of the game has changed — oh, my gosh — tremendously since I first came on board. Kids are getting younger and faster. And I'm getting older and slower. So we got a problem.”

With that, Crawford laughed. He knows how blessed he has been.

“I went into the start of last season telling myself I was going to retire,” he said. “But I was going to go through the whole season to try to talk myself out of it. And I couldn't talk myself out of it.

“Referees have a tendency to get so locked in that we don’t notice the external stuff around us. All we’re concerned with is the court. I made a point to go into the season and be a lot more aware of my surroundings and feel the energy in the buildings. And I felt it all. And it's a wonderful feeling.”