The Donald Sterling Thread

[herbshuttles15]

while he will make money, this suspension might send this old man to the grave 

You know how old people hearts give out when they lose something they dearly love. It's going to kill him he can't go to Clippers games like he has been the last 30 years 

Same thing happened to Paterno.

 

[hometownhero]

didn't think he would go this far this soon. expected the 2.5 mill but not the lifetime ban. thought he would hit him with an indefinite suspension. also didn't think he could do everything to force a sale since this was said to sterling's girlfriend and not a team employee. pretty sure he will fight it and while he's fighting, the courts may let him do all that stuff adam said he couldn't do. either way hope he sells. no place for this type of foolishness.

did silver seem nervous to anyone else? i thought he was going to have a panic attack.

 

[rell826]

Sterling isn't the only NBA owner that's scum. There are guys that literally have blood on their hands owning teams.

D'Alessandro: Donald Sterling's candid moment? It's business as usual, and NBA business is often ugly

Adam Silver has a parade of laudable business partners that he inherited from his morally ambiguous predecessor, David Stern.

The new NBA commissioner has a business partner in Washington who doesn’t know the difference between a tax code and "class warfare," who bribes bloggers, slugs fans, bulldozes the neighboring Chinatown population into Virginia so he can help put up more Hooters, and asserts that we should all be grateful for the privilege of subsidizing his team.

He has a business partner in Orlando who is so righteous he has poured millions into anti-gay marriage initiatives, because gays "keep asking for favors" and "special treatment," and marriage is "not vital to them, in my opinion."

He has a business partner in Cleveland that made billions in the mortgage business, many of them by passing subprime loans along to the ultimate thieves, Countrywide, which greased the derivative machine that helped destroy the global economy.

He has a business partner in Oklahoma City who made his billions through fracking, which has been linked to everything from toxic drinking water to earthquakes to climate change, and then screwed landowners out of their royalties when business went bad.

He has a business partner in Brooklyn who is an oligarch, that special kind of patriot who uses political connections to grab billions in state-owned assets for micropennies on the dollar, leaving much of the population to starve in the feudal cesspool left behind.

And yes, he has a business partner in Los Angeles who is a slumlord that refused to rent to minorities because they are "not desirable tenants," and because "black tenants smell and attract vermin," and "Mexicans sit around and drink all day," leading to a humongous settlement of a federal housing lawsuit; and who has some scary attitudes toward women, which has led to harassment suits and yet more settlements.

We’re not here to put Donald Sterling’s racism on a scale with other social sins practiced by Silver’s business partners, which stretch from here to Seattle.

We can only remind you that everyone already knew that Sterling was a despicable human being. If you didn't know it, you simply weren't paying attention, or – like Stern and Silver and everyone else in the NBA – you chose not to care.

Racism is an indelible part of what he is. If he issues a thousand mea-culpas today, nothing changes that. He has stood courtside with a what-me-worry visage for decades, because he is part of a lunatic fraternity that always embraced him as a bit eccentric, but always One of Ours.

So we find this latest example of Sterling spewing his usual vile nonsense not even remotely interesting, or as anything but redundant. This is Donald Sterling we’re talking about. What TMZ captured on tape is not a smoking gun. It is a longstanding business practice.

Yet his remarks have received a ton of attention, because the people who do business with him suddenly cannot overlook the fact that he is a public embarrassment and a risk to their virtuous enterprise.

(Pause here for eye roll.)

Only two things should vex these Men of Basketball.

One: They never denounced Sterling a decade ago, when his odious viewpoints were already a part of the public record — yet the players took his money, his partners shared in his largesse, and the fans subsidized his business.

Two: They don’t seem to care that all this evidence of bigotry was obtained via an egregious invasion of Donald the Clown’s privacy, which is a candor test that absolutely none of these Men of Basketball would be able to pass.

So, better late than never, we go to the torches and pitchforks. Donald has everyone fired up just by being the despicable human being that he is, so expect Silver to punish him for, essentially, free speech. He has the authority to do that within the framework of the NBA constitution — because, you know, Sterling’s latest behavior isn’t in the best interests of the league.

Just let the record show that until Saturday morning, it was just fine.

The public response was outrage, and, sure, mostly proportionate. As for the punishment, most of us scratch our heads like LeBron James, the league’s commercial colossus, who says, "There is no room for Donald Sterling in our league."

Try to keep up, young fella. Clearly, there’s abundant room for all types in your league.

The other primary cash cow, Michael Jordan, was one of the first owners who had the guts to speak up in the first 24 hours. But MJ, not exactly the world’s foremost expert on perspective, concluded his statement with, "In a league where the majority of players are African-American, we cannot and must not tolerate discrimination at any level."

It wouldn’t matter if there was one black player, or two. Discrimination is intolerable, period. Unless one of your business partners is Donald Sterling.

 

[T0INE]

Someone needs to make a gif of Adam Silver turning Super Saiyan.

 

[ThaxbyChamblis]

 

[dmxfury]

Well jeez

 

[darthska]

*throwing my dude under the bus on this one*

"lifetime ban + $2.5 BILLION?!" was because my dude texted me and asked what I thought, and I jumped straight in here and asked you guys. Like I said, I'm at work. He texted me, I was shocked af, I saw you guys giving props to Silver, so I figured "I mean... maybe?!"

Lifetime ban is what's up.

The $2.5 mil is a joke. I understand [now] that it's the most that can be allowed per the NBA constitution. Still, dude had $1.5 for breakfast this morning, on a $2mil table.

 

[brennanizm]

The part everyone seems to forget, Sterling isn't an owner like Mark Cuban.
Cuban has said he only owns the Mavs for fun, not for the income.
Sterling has said since day one, the Clippers organization is strictly business to him.
Do you think forcing Sterling to sell the team will remotely hurt him?
It forces a billionaire to sell a team for a profit of close to a BILLION dollars.
Dude doesn't care about people, or how they perceive him.

 

[senorroboto2k5]

Adrian Wojnarowski ‏@WojYahooNBA 46s

On ownership super majority needed to vote Sterling out, one Board of Governor tells Yahoo: "Adam has the votes - all of them, I believe."

 

[menacin methods]

Did Kevin Johnson just mention Jason Collins name with Muhammad Ali and Jackie Robinson?

 

[you go boy]

as severe as this punishment was there was no other choice... this is basically the only way to save face for the league... because if he got banned 1-5 years it still would look bad for the franchise and league because they are tolerating it... and fans/players didnt want anything to do with the clippers... this was a pr nightmare and they just covered it up with this move... i was caught off guard but i see the reason behind it

 

[shoeking2101]

Did Kevin Johnson just mention Jason Collins name with Muhammad Ali and Jackie Robinson?

 

[darthska]

So this racist, insensitive prick owned the Clippers under Stern's reign for decades w/ no repercussions and without incident.

Under Silver? Few months.

 

[aepps20]

Lol I really respect Adam for this. The irony is too much. Sterling didn't want his girlfriend to bring blacks to his games and now he can't go to his own games.

 

[antidope]

 

[shoeking2101]

here we go

 

[osh kosh bosh]

So this racist, insensitive prick owned the Clippers under Stern's reign for decades w/ no repercussions and without incident.

Under Silver? Few months.

i mean he was the deputy commissioner. So its not like he is some perfect moral pillar.


and really if Sterling didn't goof on tape none of this would be happening.

 

[darthska]

So this racist, insensitive prick owned the Clippers under Stern's reign for decades w/ no repercussions and without incident.

Under Silver? Few months.

i mean he was the deputy commissioner. So its not like he is perfect.


and really if Sterling didn't goof on tape none of this would be happening.

Nah, completely agree.

But I'm saying, I have zero confidence that if Stern were still the commish and this still came forward the way it did, he would do anything more than suspend DS a game or 2.

 

[airuphere23]

Donald Sterling Vs. The NBA

 

[Chester McFloppy]

Of course it's Fox News.

 

[mr marcus]

Stern had all final say so it's unfair to bring that up about Silver. Now that stern is outta here he can now do as he see fit. Not just with this but with other issues too

 

[senorroboto2k5]

Of course it's Fox News.

And of course it's Jim Gray

RT @FoxNews: Jim Gray: Donald #Sterling says #Clippers 'not for sale' http://bit.ly/1kk1z3W

 

[osh kosh bosh]

Nah, completely agree.

But I'm saying, I have zero confidence that if Stern were still the commish and this still came forward the way it did, he would do anything more than suspend DS a game or 2.

see i dont even buy that

Stern by all accounts is a mean, angry, pridefull jerk, IU doubt he would have let his legacy go up in smoke to protect donald sterling.

ehh nobody could stop this avalanche once it hit the main stream media.



This says less about david stern and more about the culture at large, nobody cares about the white racist slum lord untill he starts costing other white people money.

 

[senorroboto2k5]

If Silver gets the 3/4 votes, Silver and the NBA would be controlling the sale of the franchise - not Sterling

 

[lazyj10]

Ain't no way there's an owner who doesn't vote in favor of this...would be a huge PR hit because it would absolutely leak.