Donald Sterling

[theoneandonly]

I don't want to turn this into a race discussion but I'm more interested in your views if the "punishment fits the crime" so to speak.

I think the NBA and Adam Silver were in a lose lose situation.

In my personal opinion this isn't really much of a punishment for him. The guy is 80 years old and doesn't appear to be in the best health... It doesn't seem like he has much life left ahead of him. So you're essentially going to fine him $2.5 million bucks and then write him a check for upwards of $1 billion dollars (or at least that is the number I saw). Seems like a pretty good deal for him especially since he bought the team for $12.5 million 33 years ago. Pretty decent investment. I'm sure the beneficiaries of his estate aren't upset either.

Outside of control of the team for the next few years what is he really losing?

I also believe that since he seems to be such a litigious person he won't let this go without filing appeal after appeal and this won't be through the legal system until he is gone.

[konjo78]

Does the Punishment fit the Crime? The 2.5 million dollar fine does but trying to force him to sell his team isn't... Here is a quote from Charles Barkley: “I’m a black man. I use the n-word. I’m going to continue to use the n-word with my black friends, with my white friends, they are my friends. In the locker room and when I’m with my friends, we use racial slurs. … What I do with my black friends is not up to white America to dictate to me, what’s appropriate and inappropriate…”What we say in the locker room should always stay in the locker room. I might add that, also. But the language we use sometimes is homophobic, sometimes racist or sexist. We do that when we’re joking with our teammates. It is nothing personal."

And yet this Owner used the same type of language in his own private time, got recorded and is now going to be punished by being banned? There is a huge double standard with the NBA when it comes to players rights and Everyone else's rights! Remember when Gilbert Arenas was bringing Guns into buildings and showing them off to players and sometimes acting like he would threaten teammates with it? Guess what that wasn't a big enough Red flag to ban him for life. Or Kobe Bryant and his Molestation Case that ended up being Mysteriously dropped didn't stop the NBA to one, Suspend him or two, not advertise him. He still was their face of the NBA and never received any suspension for the case!


The NBA is a mediocrity and it is run by people to cater to players. They just lost a lot of credibility to me today.


Not to mention this now raises the question of Larry Johnson's racist quotes towards white players earlier this year. Will he get the same treatment?

[footballguy99]

I'll start by saying what this guy said is racist and offensive.

That said. What is offensive now? Obviously this is. So, maybe we ask why are other things not offensive? Why can there be musical lyrics talking about women that are horrible or talking about cops in ways that is scary? How can these musicians have sponsors as they talk about smoking pot, taking molly, etc.

Go read the lyrics to the song Talk Dirty. It is a song with a good beat that has been cleaned up for the radio. Read the lyrics to that once. It is currently #3 on the Billboard Top 100. There are a few other songs you can find on that list now that are crazy.

How can the people involved in some of these songs get sponsorship with the things they say?

I do not support Sterling's actions in any way and I'm not making excuses for him. What I'm asking is how is offensive defined today? Racism is bad but now sexism is ok? Aren't they both bad?

Ever watch Two and a Half Men and wonder how that is on evening tv? Yeah, me too. There are a lot of offensive things out there right now. I just hope it somehow gets better before it gets worse and maybe we can start seeing more things as horribly offensive so real positive changes can be made.

I read an article about how Sterling is the microscope right now and at the same time Snoop is on the sidelines and invited there at times while he is calling women hoes and tricks. Snoop even weighed in on what Sterling said in a very NSFW message. I wonder if any women made Instagram messages to send to him about what the way he refers to women?

[Manfred]

For once I am in agreement with Konjo. It ain't a perfect world.

[PLDragons24]

I don't think it was right to ban him for life just because he has terrible views on other people. It's not like he only hires white people or anything like that. He was speaking privately too. That being said I think he should sell the team out of pure respect for the league. It would be the same thing as a congressman resigning for doing something inappropriate.

[footballguy99]

Will anything happen to Shaquille O'Neal?

http://www.ijreview.com/2014/04/133773- ... 14k-likes/

[Nets77]

How can you make a guy pay a $2.5 million fine, if you have banned him from the league? Also, I don't think the NBA will have to force him to sell the team, I think the players will refuse to play if he is the owner.

[Aoki11]

I hate racism just as much as the next and believe me nothing on earth condones what he said but I just have something to put out there: 1. He bought the team, he has ownership of it and he is the face of that organization. They cannot just up and take it from him. As ignorant as his comments were he was still practicing freedom of speech, by law he is allowed to say whatever he wants. What they did would be like me saying what he said and then Chevrolet coming and taking my truck off of me. No, they have no right, he has ownership of that team, they don't take it from him. 2. As for that 3/4 vote by the other Owners, that is the most bullsh** thing I've ever seen. "Yeah let's just get a bunch of guys who are in the same position as sterling, who we just made look like a villain everywhere and vote on his fate" the logic in that Is so stupid I can't even fathom it, basically what they are doing is telling the owners either agree with us and vote for him to be banned or vote against us and look like a racist. Absolutely pointless. 3. The excuse people are making that his age his why he made those comments. Uhm no? If you're the owner and in that professional setting you do not make comments like that, and if your age limits you to meet those standards it is time to give it up.

[theoneandonly]

There are so many inaccuracies in your post but I'll just point out a few.

1. Yes he does own the Clippers but he owns them as a franchise of the NBA. It's not like Mom and Pop owning their little restaurant and they can do as they please. He has to follow specifics of the contract between him and the NBA and apparently their is a clause or clauses that prohibit stuff like this. Here is an example for you... a few years ago a person from my hometown owned a Papa Johns franchise. He tried to cut costs by using non Papa Johns approved ingredients and materials and also advertised in ways they did not allow. Papa Johns caught wind of this and yanked his franchise and forced him to sell it because he didn't follow their rules. Same with the NBA and Sterling.

2. Freedom of speech has absolutely nothing to do with this and it makes my head want to explode every time I see someone use that inaccurately. Donald Sterling... or you or I are free to make comments like he made without being arrested or prosecuted by the United States Government. His freedom of speech rights have not been violated in the least. Again... he owns this team under the NBA and is subject to their rules. If I walk into work tomorrow and tell my boss to go fly a kite I'm going to get fired. I have every "right" afforded to me by the US Constitution to tell him that just like he has every right to fire me. I'm not going to jail for telling him that.

[Aoki11]

He did it in a private setting, in a private conversation and was recorded. So your example of if you walk in tomorrow and say that to your boss has no correlation.