@Lash,
Lash wrote:
This was my first opinion, aidan. I agree with you so far.
Sterling's feelings and what he thought were private comments were disgusting. So what? Since when do we light torches and round people up because of private comments and hateful feelings?
I'm still learning about the laws and NBA constitution. This is a fascinating example of free speech at its most heinous. I'll be watching and reading to see if this is justified or not.
No one is being rounded up and burned at the stake. This isn't an issue of "free speech" the First Amendment protects people from the government punishing or preventing free expression. It doesn't protect people from the economic consequences of their speech.
Sterling isn't being punished by the State for what he said, he is being punished by a private organization that he wished to join, and which required he agree to certain terms if he was allowed to. Anyone with money doesn't get to buy a NBA team.
No matter what anyone thinks about what he said, it has, clearly, had a major impact on the prestige, and therefore finances, of the league. It is in the of all owners, including Sterling, that the league take steps to preserve the value of their investments.
It also doesn't matter that the evidence was obtained illegally. The NBA commissioner is not a judge, his deliberations weren't part of the US justice system. There is no applicable concept of "fruit from the poisoned tree."
If Sterling is thinking the league and his fellow owners are "stabbing him in the back," as has been suggested, he's a naive idiot, and no one becomes a billionaire being a naive idiot in business matters. There's no indication, so far, (by the way) that he believes his "friends" in the NBA have betrayed him, but if he does...tough sh*t.
All the other owners are thinking is "How might this affect me?"
Mark Cuban, the most likely owner to get himself in trouble with his big mouth, initially worried that this would set a precedent that might eventually be used to bite him. The he weighed all the factors and, rightly, figured that his financial and personal interests as a NBA Owner trumped any hypothetical paranoia he might have. He declared himself 100% behind the decision of the Commish.
There is nothing wrong with this picture.
Sterling is, obviously, a strange, possibly demented, bigot. Regardless of how this became known and featured in the public sphere, it did. Whether or not black basketball players and other Americans should care what a demented old bigot thinks or says is also immaterial, they obviously do. If the NBA had followed a suicidal path of arguing that Sterling was entitled to his private opinion, and/or the reaction to that opinion is over-blown, the value of every team in the league would now be plummeting.
Silver's response was superb, and I am quite sure the Owners will unanimously vote to force Sterling to sell.
I have no problem with this.
If you agree to a deal that says you can't wear an orange shirt, don't whine when you get f*cked for wearing an orange shirt.
Two additional points:
I'm no less forgiving of any whiners, arguing that their deal wasn't "fair," and this encompasses a wide variety of situations that liberals would argue otherwise.
What really frosts me on this subject is the Media hounds white and black (mostly sports guys right now) who refuse to stop worrying the bone. "What happens if Sterling refuses to sell and sues? Doc Rivers should resign!" "The Clipper players should force free agency!"
I haven't yet (quite surprisingly) seen Race Hucksters like Sharpton and Jackson enter the fray, but I can only imagine that this has been moving too fast for them.
I do get it that these sports guys have a living to make and pushing a controversial subject improves their earning capacity, but it sickens me to see these clueless clown get all high and mighty on the topic.
This is the sad commentary on the issue: Sanctimony sells, and since there is no shortage of people who embrace sanctimony free of charge, now that it can turn a profit we are doomed to be inundated with it.
