The Idiocy of Donald Sterling

[Vincey Greene]

It really is great.

I kinda want someone to make a gif of Silver hitting Sterling with the Stunner.

So if he acquiesces to the NBA's s desire for him to sell the team, does the new owner change the name? Even before this it was awfully tarnished. Many things have been the Clippers of (blank). TNA are the Clippers of wrestling organizations, for example.

[Pete]

I predict the TCOTs, Freepers and Real 'Muricans of the world will take this decision with their typical understatement and well-thought reserve.

[Cristobal]

I predict the TCOTs, Freepers and Real 'Muricans of the world will take this decision with their typical understatement and well-thought reserve.

Oh God I can practically taste the butthurt...

[Josh Mann]

I predict the TCOTs, Freepers and Real 'Muricans of the world will take this decision with their typical understatement and well-thought reserve.

Soda, meet screen.

[jaedmc]

 

 

So, this gets a life time ban, but a lifetime of racism and discrimination gets nothing?  For real, this is minor when compared to everything else he's done. 

While on the surface this looks like a reaction to one 10 minute conversation - I would say banning him for life is covering everything else.

 

I get it, but the conversation for this event and others like the whole Paula Deen thing is going to be, he said something racist and everyone jumped on with outrage.  The conversation should be, these people were evil fucking scumbags who went out of their way to discriminate to people every step of the way.  Somehow the racist things people do are always overshadowed by their much less important racist comments.  I'm sure everyone has said something racist in their life, and while they shouldn't say those things, I'm much more worried about the actions of these people.  Yet, no one else seems to think their actions are that important.  Do you realize how destructive housing discrimination is?  The murder rate in Chicago is ridiculous, but it gets worse when you realize how none of the hospitals in the worst neighborhoods have trauma centers.  So if someone gets shot, they have to go across the city before they can be treated.  How many of those murder victims would have lived if they had a hospital could treat them?  If black people can't get retn or buy houses in better neighborhoods, how can they have access to better schools?  There is a "This American Life" episode about housing discrimination and how George Romney was basically blackballed from American politics because he tried to fight the systematic segregation of neighborhoods.  He was the Governer of Michigan during the racial riots in Detroit in the 60s, and realized that most of the problems that were going on were based on black people not having access to opportunities to improve their lives.  This shit was in the 60s, and most of the major cities in this country are still mostly segregated. So when history tells this story and they say he got banned for life for making racist comments on a phone call, it is once again going to not address the real issue with Donald Sterling.

 

I 100% agree with you. I personally don't like how this has played out at all. I mean, the end result I'm fine with because fuck this guy. But the media has been pretty shitty about digging deeper. For example, they'll report that the NAACP was about to give him a life time achievement award, as though it was just this cosmic joke. And yet no one is investigating how this guy who has a past of being a racist turd long before this phone call gets an award like that. Because then things would get complicated. We're still not good about talking about race in the US. We sort of identify it, and then ostracize people for it so we can avoid talking about it any deeper than "Don't say that."

 

Charles Barkley gets it. He said this is the real racism. Not that name calling stuff ignorant people do. The real racism that Sterling exemplifies is using power and money to hold down a race of people and this is what we should be talking about - not just some vile words he uttered in a phone call.

 

EDIT: I made typos.

[Raziel]

I predict the TCOTs, Freepers and Real 'Muricans of the world will take this decision with their typical understatement and well-thought reserve.

An error occurred

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[Death From Above]

Friend of mine on twitter summed it up perfectly for me.

 

Ryan B. ‏@IAmByks 52s

I just love how the guy who tried to dictate who can and cannot come to games is no longer allowed near the game himself. Poetic justice.

[S.K.o.S.]

So is "the league will attempt to force a sale of the Clippers" just a blustery way of saying "the league will ask Sterling to sell the Clippers" or can they actually force him to sell?  Would it be based on that three-quarters owners vote that was mentioned before?

[JRGoldman]

Supreme, I agree 100% with your sentiment and we should all look at the bigger picture, but I think with time people will (hopefully) look at this as a despicable person being caught and punished for a lifetime of sins and not an overreaction (which it isn't, but I digress) about a phone call. People don't view Al Capone solely as the world's most famous tax dodger, and I think this is a similar situation. Silver clearly saw an opportunity and took it. 

 

Also, I really hate the argument that people are using now for all sorts of similar events: "Last I checked, it's not illegal to be an asshole". Christ almighty. He isn't being convicted of something in a court of law. He was a huge prick, he is disgusting and despicable, he got caught, and now he is suffering consequences. Not legal ones. It's the same bullshit as the Duck Dynasty stuff. Thankfully I haven't seen anyone come and talk about Sterling's first amendment rights yet, but I'm sure it's coming.  

[Cristobal]

So is "the league will attempt to force a sale of the Clippers" just a blustery way of saying "the league will ask Sterling to sell the Clippers" or can they actually force him to sell?  Would it be based on that three-quarters owners vote that was mentioned before?

That last, yes. He said "I will ask the Board of Governors" i.e the owners.

[Ace]

So is "the league will attempt to force a sale of the Clippers" just a blustery way of saying "the league will ask Sterling to sell the Clippers" or can they actually force him to sell?  Would it be based on that three-quarters owners vote that was mentioned before?

 

Yep. Magic Johnson and the Guggenheim Group have already said they wanna buy it.

[ebbie]

Johnson should just buy the team so they can become the Lakers' bench tbh

[AlfredoE]

 

So is "the league will attempt to force a sale of the Clippers" just a blustery way of saying "the league will ask Sterling to sell the Clippers" or can they actually force him to sell?  Would it be based on that three-quarters owners vote that was mentioned before?

 

Yep. Magic Johnson and the Guggenheim Group have already said they wanna buy it.

 

 

Magic killed that rumor yesterday, but I assume they'd buy the team given they've been interested in buying everything in LA.

 

I like jae's idea of Silver finally correcting the wrongs of David Stern and rigging the draft for the Lakers.

[S.K.o.S.]

 

So is "the league will attempt to force a sale of the Clippers" just a blustery way of saying "the league will ask Sterling to sell the Clippers" or can they actually force him to sell?  Would it be based on that three-quarters owners vote that was mentioned before?

 

Yep. Magic Johnson and the Guggenheim Group have already said they wanna buy it.

 

 

Ha, if Magic Johnson ends up as the new owner, the conspiracy theorists are gonna have a field day.

 

edit: If Alfredo's right, then never mind.

[AlfredoE]

I did say he could change his mind, but here's Magic's tweet from yesterday when everyone started the "Magic wants to buy the Clippers" rumor:

 

@MagicJohnson 

To NBA Fans, I want to put a stop to a rumor. I am not trying to buy the Clippers, they already have an owner.

 

 

I'm sure if they go on sale, he and the Guggenheim group would be interested.

[SirFozzie]

For Silver's next trick, he has to do get the Spirit of StL owners to get up their perpetual cut of the TV money.

 

Stern did that in his final days/

 

http://www.nytimes.com/2014/01/07/sports/basketball/payout-may-come-for-an-aba-team-that-is-long-gone.html?ref=sports&_r=1&

[AlfredoE]

Silver needs to get back up to the podium and ban Stephen A. Smith.  He's getting way more air time than anyone can handle.

[hammerva]

From listening to the last couple hours on the verdict,  I have come to the theory that people who are saying "not that I am defending Donald Sterling but" are really saying "Man I hope nobody hears the racist/sexist shit I say on a daily basis"  

[RIPPA]

I wouldn't be surprised if the new owners have to "overpay" just to get the team but then the NBA reimburses them for the extra cash they shell out just to get it away from Sterling

[Dolfan in NYC]

http://www.nba.com/clippers/one

Apparently this is the Clippers website right now. What the hell that means. . . 

Looks like this is the leaguewide response.  This just popped up on my instagram:

[Kuetsar]

The only thing i really object to is the sense of a runaway press overwhelming any personal liberty. I am not a racist, and Donald Sterling can go fuck himself, but my only second thought is that seems to be unfair. In our society even the most perverse pieces of shit(like Sterling) should get due process.  . . 

[Dolfan in NYC]

"The Clippers are not for sale."

 

[supremebve]

The only thing i really object to is the sense of a runaway press overwhelming any personal liberty. I am not a racist, and Donald Sterling can go fuck himself, but my only second thought is that seems to be unfair. In our society even the most perverse pieces of shit(like Sterling) should get due process.  . . 

This is kind of my point, getting banned now, for this is ultimately kind of petty.  If they banned him when he paid the biggest settlement in history it would mean so much more.  He is essentially being banned for being an asshole in a conversation with some gold digger with a low self esteem.

[Mistah Na1m4rk]

The only thing i really object to is the sense of a runaway press overwhelming any personal liberty. I am not a racist, and Donald Sterling can go fuck himself, but my only second thought is that seems to be unfair. In our society even the most perverse pieces of shit(like Sterling) should get due process.  . . 

 

For my part I'm just glad that anything I say in a private conversation to an intimate won't expose me to public judgement from Snoog Dogg.

[Ace]

I did say he could change his mind, but here's Magic's tweet from yesterday when everyone started the "Magic wants to buy the Clippers" rumor:

 

@MagicJohnson 

To NBA Fans, I want to put a stop to a rumor. I am not trying to buy the Clippers, they already have an owner.

 

 

I'm sure if they go on sale, he and the Guggenheim group would be interested.

 

They want an NBA Team. Magic would prefer it be the Lakers, but Jimmy Buss isn't going to sell at least for a few years.