Donald Sterling recorded making some racist comments

[Frozen]

So let the free market determine the next move.

The NBA is not going to sit and their hands and let one of its franchises (especially one that is based in the #2 media market in the US) collapse.

 

[STEVEHOLT]

Mark my words: this chick will be on next season's Dancing With the Stars.

Or the new reality show, "how many STDs can one individual harbor?"

 

[CuseFaninVT]

I have a hard time believing that actually.

I hope they do it for one night. Next Clippers game, have everyone keep their money in their pockets. No merchandise, food sales, parking owned by Sterling. Show the owners the people do have some power and can wield it when necessary.

 

[Frozen]

I hope they do it for one night. Next Clippers game, have everyone keep their money in their pockets. No merchandise, food sales, parking owned by Sterling. Show the owners the people do have some power and can wield it when necessary.

1. The concession stand employees won't care for that.
2. Sterling is already a billionaire. His wallet would not really feel the effect of not making money for one game.

 

[CuseFaninVT]

1. The concession stand employees won't care for that.
2. Sterling is already a billionaire. His wallet would not really feel the effect of not making money for one game.

I doubt the concession stand employees would mind getting paid for doing nothing. I doubt they are commission based sales.

And it's about a message. One that goes beyond Sterling and straight to the league office. The NBA is actually in a good place right now with great players as well as players who abide by the rules of society far more than the other professional leagues. They don't want to regress to the time immediately after the Pistons brawl.

 

[Frozen]

I doubt the concession stand employees would mind getting paid for doing nothing.

I would think that if the concession stands were not operating, the employees would not get paid.

 

[SmilinBob]

The NBA is not going to sit and their hands and let one of its franchises (especially one that is based in the #2 media market in the US) collapse.

They should have thought about that before they let him go about his merry way. I know you're right but Stern knew and Sterling flew.

 

[CuseFaninVT]

I would think that if the concession stands were not operating, the employees would not get paid.

But they will be operating. Maybe a few get sent home early, big deal - I'm pretty sure they all get it and understand. After all, this is bonus money in their minds because this is the playoffs. And I'm only advocating this if Sterling himself gets a cut of the take.

 

[ssbriefcase]

Sterling clearly said some things that are ugly. It looks bad for the NBA.

That said, I'm not sure that the Clippers, despite being owned by a racist, are run in a racist manner. Sterling had a black GM when that was a rarity in all of professional sports. He's obviously employed and given fair contracts to many black players. He currently employs a black head coach, etc.

I don't think there's any doubt that Sterling is a despicable person and has been for a while. Does the NBA differentiate between how Sterling acts as an individual, or do they take into account how his franchise is run? I don't think he has a lot of defense if they assess him as an individual, but that type of assessment taking place is probably frightening to other owners. If they assess his organization I think they're in a massive slippery slope.

I don't see there being any winners here.

I heard someone yesterday say his GM Baylor was paid 3X less than any other person in his position at the time. Haven't checked that so take it for what it's worth.

 

[CusefanATL]

So let the free market determine the next move.

and it already has... i think i read that all corporate sponsor have either frozen or cancelled their sponsorships.

the nba wont even have to step in - the free market will do it for him.

 

[CusefanATL]

I heard someone yesterday say his GM Baylor was paid 3X less than any other person in his position at the time. Haven't checked that so take it for what it's worth.

Doc is the highest paid coach in all of the NBA. so there's that.

i understand what you are saying about the excuse making and the deflection... i dont really disagree with you. but all points have to be put on the table.

i dont think sterling should own the team and i dont think he will own the team at the start of next year.

 

[OttoinGrotto]

I heard someone yesterday say his GM Baylor was paid 3X less than any other person in his position at the time. Haven't checked that so take it for what it's worth.

Slippery slope. If true, and that was a problem, why is it an actionable problem now and wasn't then?

 

[RandygoCuse]

Just who did Rivers think he was signing with? Don't get me wrong. I'd love a mass defection as the Celtics have their pic next year, but as we've mentioned on this board before, Sterling wasn't exactly considered a saint before all of this. And I love Rivers but he didn't have any problem accepting big bucks to coach for this guy.

 

[triplethrea]

A woman I know who is a big sports fan (NYC school teacher, very liberal) posted about Sterling and was surprisingly sympathetic, saying that the gist of the tape recording probably came from his girlfriend, and in it (to hear ears) it was more about his insecurity that his girlfriend was also banging black guys with bigger than him, less than about outright racism. His girlfriend is a minority, I believe.

Do you have a link to her post?

The truth is I have a similar opinion about the tape after I listened to it. Before I did, my opinion was "OMG what a horrible person" and afterwards it was more like "this is an insecure older man clearly in love with his mistress who doesn't want her sleeping around ESPECIALLY with black men". Which is racist sure, but not the dumpster fire everybody wants it to be. And I think that's because most people haven't actually listened to the whole tape. More like his insecurity about the relationship was primary, and the racism was secondary. The issue is, it's pretty obvious how deeply ingrained that racism is. I recognize his form of racism from my experience, and it's an "old guys" form of racism. This episode just seems like years of karma finally getting back to him in one large explosion.

Anyone else notice that no white person can make any sort of comment about Donald Sterling without starting the paragraph off with "Sterling is a despicable person, but...". We're such a weird culture. It's like, if we don't say that, we put ourselves at risk of being labeled a racist or defending Donald Sterling. What does that say about every one, if we're so terrified everybody might turn on us.

 

[Shermthegeneral]

But they will be operating. Maybe a few get sent home early, big deal - I'm pretty sure they all get it and understand. After all, this is bonus money in their minds because this is the playoffs. And I'm only advocating this if Sterling himself gets a cut of the take.

Big Deal? Have you ever seen anybody who works in the concession stand at these big arenas? They are very blue-collar people trying to make ends meet. Yes this is a bonus for these people but the Lakers have made the playoffs for years now and they are they same food service company so I'm sure the playoffs are part of the budget and expectations of the workers. People may not realize this but in a situation like this the people at the bottom will be impacted much more significantly then the owner if they were to boycott the games.

 

[ssbriefcase]

Slippery slope. If true, and that was a problem, why is it an actionable problem now and wasn't then?

It was. Didn't Baylor sue him back then. I don't even know if the outcome has been determined yet?

 

[ssbriefcase]

Do you have a link to her post?

The truth is I have a similar opinion about the tape after I listened to it. Before I did, my opinion was "OMG what a horrible person" and afterwards it was more like "this is an insecure older man clearly in love with his mistress who doesn't want her sleeping around ESPECIALLY with black men". Which is racist sure, but not the dumpster fire everybody wants it to be. And I think that's because most people haven't actually listened to the whole tape. More like his insecurity about the relationship was primary, and the racism was secondary. The issue is, it's pretty obvious how deeply ingrained that racism is. I recognize his form of racism from my experience, and it's an "old guys" form of racism. This episode just seems like years of karma finally getting back to him in one large explosion.

Anyone else notice that no white person can make any sort of comment about Donald Sterling without starting the paragraph off with "Sterling is a despicable person, but...". We're such a weird culture. It's like, if we don't say that, we put ourselves at risk of being labeled a racist or defending Donald Sterling. What does that say about every one, if we're so terrified everybody might turn on us.

I have noticed that. Why do most put the "but" in there? And absolutely I get what you're saying. But it is very self explanatory on this particular and specific incident.

 

[AZOrange]

This is an embarrassment for the league, but it was a private conversation that was taped. It will be his word against hers. She claims he knew and she had permission. But the bottom line is that she committed a crime. He committed poor bigoted decisions by running his mouth. If he is somehow forced or encouraged to sell the team, other owners should be nervous. I'm not saying that others are racist, but everybody has their own secrets. I would go out on a limb and think that other owners have stuff they wouldn't want out there. Sterling was foolish for letting his mistress know his feelings on the race issue. I don't know of many "mistress" situations that turn out well. Somebody gets hurt and he fed her some serious ammunition. What is being lost in the big picture of race in sports is that there is another part owner of a franchise that openly wears a racist medallion. It was brought up in a recent thread that Jay Z wears a 5% Nation medallion. It truly represents hatred for whites. I dealt with many 5% Nation inmates when I worked in the DOJ. They mostly despised me because I was a white man with authority. They literally called me the "blond hair, blue eyed devil". Any normal person would stay away from wearing a medallion like this. I don't care if it is a fashion fad or something. How would it go over if a white owner wore a hat or medallion with a Nazi swastika or a KKK symbol? He would be hung like many want Sterling hung. Why should Jay Z get a free pass? http://nypost.com/2014/04/06/jay-zs-medallion-bears-logo-of-five-percent-radical-group/ That being said, in my opinion Sterling should sell the team and try to move on. It would be a miserable fight and no matter what his defense is, he would always have that cloud over him. He is a bigot, but he should know to trust nobody. Especially a gold digging mistress...

Paraphrasing Cuban yesterday: we live in a society where you have a right to be a moron.

 

[RF2044]

Do you have a link to her post?

The truth is I have a similar opinion about the tape after I listened to it. Before I did, my opinion was "OMG what a horrible person" and afterwards it was more like "this is an insecure older man clearly in love with his mistress who doesn't want her sleeping around ESPECIALLY with black men". Which is racist sure, but not the dumpster fire everybody wants it to be. And I think that's because most people haven't actually listened to the whole tape. More like his insecurity about the relationship was primary, and the racism was secondary. The issue is, it's pretty obvious how deeply ingrained that racism is. I recognize his form of racism from my experience, and it's an "old guys" form of racism. This episode just seems like years of karma finally getting back to him in one large explosion.

Anyone else notice that no white person can make any sort of comment about Donald Sterling without starting the paragraph off with "Sterling is a despicable person, but...". We're such a weird culture. It's like, if we don't say that, we put ourselves at risk of being labeled a racist or defending Donald Sterling. What does that say about every one, if we're so terrified everybody might turn on us.

It's interesting--I just listened to a lengthy segment of the tape on sports radio driving in between appointments this morning. I had a very similar reaction--he sounds like an old fool--a bigoted fool, to be sure--but came across as more of a jealous boyfriend than an overt racist. Some of the stuff he said was clearly racist, but it was also rambling and he was in the middle of an argument. Seemed to me that his main point was kind of what you insinuate above--and that he was tired of hearing about her from people he knows, as opposed to the sh/tstorm some are making it out to be.

No question, he's a racist. But it wasn't like this was a public incident, or him using the "N" word flagrantly, or him doing discriminatory things in terms of how he runs the Clippers. This was him being taped during an argument that got heated.

And I'm not making excuses for Sterling. He's a jackass. I just feel like this automatically turned into a witch hunt because of the subject matter.

 

[AZOrange]

1. The concession stand employees won't care for that. 2. Sterling is already a billionaire. His wallet would not really feel the effect of not making money for one game.

I don't know why but this suggestion reminded me of people planning a "no gas" day to show the greedy oil companies!

 

[jvbj01]

I think there were a lot of excuses in the post. Ok, how about deflection?

I wasn't making any excuses. I am just stating that other than what people affiliated with sterling already knew, (racist) there are other issues. They may be smaller, but there are other issues. I was stating fact as far as what the woman did. Imagine if every conversation you had was taped. I know I have said some silly and stupid stuff in my time.

As far as boycotting the next game, the tickets are already purchased. I would have a hard time eating the cost of playoff tickets. If this was Syracuse and the President or AD made racist remarks, who honestly would abandon the team and not show up? Do concession people work on commission? If not, a small crowd would make their day easier and the would be paid anyhow.

Again, I was not making excuses for Sterling, I was questioning why Jay Z can wear jewelry which represents a racist group and people play it off as fashion.

 

[triplethrea]

I have noticed that. Why do most put the "but" in there? And absolutely I get what you're saying. But it is very self explanatory on this particular and specific incident.

They put the "but" whenever they want to take a position of "they shouldn't take the team away from him", "the media is too aggressive and powerful", etc. Anything that doesn't 100% persecute Sterling, always starts with a "He's an awful person and what he said is awful and there is no place for it BUT...".

It's sort of like, if you don't start the paragraph off by saying "Sterling's horrible", people will assume you are defending him, and thus a racist yourself. Or at the very least, that is what people fear, so that's what they do. This is getting off-topic, but it's a fun/weird/unique/strange/stupid offshoot of America's race relations in 2014.

 

[jvbj01]

I heard someone yesterday say his GM Baylor was paid 3X less than any other person in his position at the time. Haven't checked that so take it for what it's worth.

Donald Sterling was known to be the cheapest owner when Elgin Baylor was the gm. Baylor knew it when he took the job.

 

[triplethrea]

Again, I was not making excuses for Sterling, I was questioning why Jay Z can wear jewelry which represents a racist group and people play it off as fashion.

That's because Jay-Z and Carmelo wear that stuff as a fashion statement, not a political statement. They liked the idea of "black people as Gods" and wore it around their necks like a designer chain. It's more like they probably didn't know or didn't care about the "racist group".

This cuts to a different issue. Black people have more leeway in general on making potentially racist statements, than white people do. This is a way of life in America. So whether Jay-Z knew about the "racism" or not, nobody persecutes them for it because of the past. No matter what you think about it, that's just the way it is. I'm Jewish so I feel some leeway in making derogatory comments towards Germans when I'm drunk. Do I hate Germans? Not really. But I do it because I'm more socially "allowed to" than other groups. In fact, Germans laugh when I do. Just like white people laugh when black comedians make fun of them.

That's the general answer to your question.

 

[jvbj01]

Really? Gotta love posts skirting the main issue and making excuses, "it was a private conversation". It's painfully obvious to most, but there's always people that will ignore the real issue and blame some gold digging mistress, while pointing out everything she did wrong. What expose a racist? How dare someone do that..

Now Jay Z, they should look at that too and deal with it accordingly.. Although equating, the 5%'ers and the KKK and Nazi's. Wow. And yeah, inmates usually love prison guards. Calling a guard, a blond hair blue eyed devil is a term of endearment in there.

Have you ever been around 5% ers? You seem to have a lot of experiences in life. As far as the prison thing, generally it was the NOI and few other inmates using that terminology with staff. I was simply stating that 5% are racist people.