So you are saying that if a person affiliated with your business says something that can harm your business you shouldn't be allowed to fire them? You should be forced to explore "other options?" They didn't stoop to his level. They squashed the problem.

Like I said before, this is likely just the first step. I would not be shocked if there were legal filings. If there are we will find out if the NBA really has the power do this or not.

So far they haven't taken his team from him. They have banned him for life so he can't attend the games nor can he attend the meetings or have any say in how the league is run, but he still owns the team. The league is looking into seeing if they can force him to sell or not.

we cant see what's in the contract. looks like they are going to take over till its sold.

http://nba.si.com/2014/04/29/donald-...ver-ownership/

http://i2.cdn.turner.com/money/dam/a...17-620x348.jpg

Go Warriors!!!

:stoned

ADG

Silver said today that they can force him to sell with a 75% vote with the 29 other owners. So it's not if they can but when they do..

Yes he will prolly try to fight it in court but I don't see him winning in court.

I'm saying they handled it entirely wrong. I will put it another way-

what would be wrong with trying to deal with this with tolerance and education, reform, teaching, etc?

There is nothing wrong with trying those things if you feel they will help. I have a feeling that the NBA realized the damage had been done. In the end the league is owned and ran by the owners of the teams. If they vote to force him to sell he should do just that.

In professional sports, the most similar case would be Marge Schott, the former owner of the Cincinnati Reds who made insensitive racial remarks and was forced to sell by the MLB. 4 years ago the NBA took over the New Orleans Hornets from George Shinn, who had been arrested for sexual assault and had multiple sexual harassment suits against him and was having trouble making payroll. Also, recently Frank McCourt, the former owner of the Dodgers, was forced to sell his team by MLB because of gross financial mismanagement. The MLB went so far as to block McCourt from signing a very lucrative TV deal that would have saved him financially, because the MLB wanted him out of the league as an owner.

how do you teach a 81 year old that has a long history of racism and breaking laws? This guy is a few years from dying.. But then again maybe not if he can still bang 30 year olds at that age.

I wonder about this also, especially since Donald's reputation over the years is to use his wealth and attorneys to steamroll those who have tried stand up to him. I would think if he wanted he could at the very least draw things out in court over a couple of years. The downside to delaying an inevitable sale is that the Clippers are losing sponsors left and right and his revenue will take a big hit. The upside to selling now is that the Clippers have more talent now under contract than at any time in the history of their organization and that can have a significant impact on their market value during a sale.

Maybe you send the 81-year-old billionaire to sensitivity training. I'm sure he would listen and take it to heart.

your discounting a key point- help. Show leadership by trying to help, not just punishing. ANd it's not necc. me feeling help is good. It would be a great leadership example to start off with a we want to help this person. not shun them. FOr me, the blemish on the NBA here is their knee-jerk reaction to this, not the owner.

Moreover, the NBA is in the public spotlight and in a leadership role and the league does have culpability in this as they've known about his tendencies for years now without so much as an attempt to educate him on his ignorance,
wouldn't you agree that they could have taken a higher road here? training and education is the answer to racism ignorance, not intolerance.

it's a public effort. It's showing that the league does not condone or embrace intolerance. It's not about reforming 1 man, it's about really trying to mold your actions to coincide with the goal of actually doing something about intolerance.

What a bizarro message to send to all the kids that watch the NBA- do not tolerate intolerance. do not try to educate the intolerant. Do not allow those who you've decided are intolerant to be a part of your group. Take away the things that an intolerant has earned because they are intolerant. Look away from situations for years then overreact to them by acting the exact same way as the person you are punishing.

If this was a guy who had a spotless record and just screwed up one day and said some racist things to his girlfriend that became public, I could see how the league might be a great place to make this a teaching situation and to show how they practice tolerance. However, when you start to see the evidence against him, this is not the first time it has happened and it appears he has done far worse than just say a few things. In that kind of situation I think the only option is to let him go.

By letting him go they are making an example that the league will not tolerate this kind of behavior.

I agree in a perfect world, it would be nice if the NBA could offer him an opportunity for transformation before rendering their verdict. However, the individual has to show some contrition and desire to possibly change his outlook. Donald hasn't ever done any of these things despite multiple articles outlining his behavior, lawsuits of racial discrimination and charges from the Justice dept. for discriminatory housing. Sometimes it takes intolerance to illicit change in someone. If Donald had held a press conference on Sunday or Monday and displayed a heartfelt apology and desire to change his thinking, I'd certainly be a lot more inclined to take your position. I just don't understand how you can say that Donald's actions aren't any blemish on the league.

In another real world a team owner would brag about how his coaches and players made him $575 Million over the past few decades.

It all just depends on what world you live in I guess.


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Ya think? Sometimes I think I'm the only white guy on here that has a problem with racism.

I lived in DC at the time and, while there wasn't social media then, pretty much everyone I came across thought Marion Barry got a raw deal. That's part of why he was still electable when he got out.

He has 1 league related race issue, as I mentioned. 1. The other(s) are of zero direct consequence to the league and are not in their jurisdiction. taking a franchise away from it's owner because of something entirely unrelated to the franchise that happened years and years ago is very much overstepping boundaries.

So the 1 offense in 2009 and a trap phone call makes it OK to force this guy out of his own business? come on.

Kareem's on the money. No wonder I admire him.

Because of all the reasons I've mentioned multiple times here. the comments were private, they were recorded surreptiously, the league has known about him for years and done nothing, i.e., why no ban when the DOJ found him guilty? Or a fine? Why no ban when he was found guilty of racist hiring practice?

Those all trump projecting what one person says to be a reflection of the league as a whole.'

But now that I think about it, he is a reflection of the NBA. They are just as intolerant and ignorant as he is,

I think people are discussing the one way street of racism in the US. I've lived all over the world. Everybody can be racist. US is fucked.

Its all about money. The NBA is afraid to lose even a penny in revenue because minorities boycott the league. Sterling has been an ass for years and nobody cares til now. I wonder why his son killed himself.

What I'm saying is it's not about 1 guy. That's why I keep mentioning the nonsense behind fighting intolerance with intolerance.

The goal is to eradicate racism right? Not just to throw your hands up in the air and say we've had enough of this 1 guy. The public is watching the NBA's handling of this, up until now this has not been widely known, now it is, All they are showing is that they can react punitively. that doesn't help anything.

It sounds like he has two league issues. The suit from 2009 and then this recording.

While the other incidents didn't have anything to do with the league they reflect on the league. The league doesn't want a guy with a history of racial issues running a team. Maybe they could have given him the chance to try and change, but as was posted above, he hasn't shown (publicly at least) that he is sorry for what he said or that he wants to change.

To me the league had to weight its options. I don't think they overstepped at all. As I said before, the league is run by the owners and the people that the owners put in place. If they vote to have him sell, so be it.

yup, It's not about racism or Sterling or the opportunity to act like a leader and do the right thing at a crucial juncture.

At this time, in this moment, I don't believe that's the goal at all. I feel like you want ignore the incident at hand and simply focus on the big picture at this time. In time, I hope the NBA will make a more concerted effort to possibly educate those who need it. However, in this moment, this is simply about reprimanding a prominent individual within the NBA whose comments have hurt and offended many within the league, nothing more, nothing less.

Let's look at it from a different point of view. Say there is a guy in your town who owns a popular burger joint. They make a good burger and you will occasionally eat there and have recommended it to some friends. One day we find out he has said some racist things. Since he is a prominent person in your town it makes the news. Then you find out that he is part of racist group and has attended racist gatherings in the past.

Would you still support him by going to his place?

why didn't the league act accordingly when he was convicted of being a slumlord? They have culpability in this escalating.

I'm sure if he wanted with the resources he has, he could tie up the whole thing in litigation so protracted, they'd never get him out. I just don't think at age 81 or whatever, he has the horses.

Again, handling intolerance with intolerance and vindictiveness makes no sense. ESpecially when combined with Sterling's lack of any history of racism within the league, on top of the league not doing anything when the DOJ found him guilty, or when the local courts found him guilty for racist hiring the one time 4 years ago. I don't see how anyone can argue this is not a knee-jerk reaction.

And it does not align with any end goal to make a concerted effort to educate against racism, in fact, it sidetracks that because it's hypocritical. the intolerant can't teach tolerance.

I don't know. Maybe they did have some contact with him about that. Maybe they didn't

In the end it doesn't matter. He said what he said and he has a history of racist stuff. The league decided they were better off without him. I don't have a problem with it.

Look the guy is a fraud,coward,racist. When you are in a position of power you keep your fucking mouth shut. Those same black guys also have made him a shitload of money over the years. Nice to see what your bossman thinks of you while pretending to be something he is not. He opened his big fucking mouth to the wrong person and it bit him in his ass.

No this is not a stupid issue this is a social and political issue and it should be discussed. I live in butt fuck pasco county and in my neighborhood which is a upscale white neighbor hood and all i hear every day hahahahahaha this spic that. They have no problems when the mexicans come in weekly and cut there grass for half the price the white lawn crew does around here. They have no problem go to bitty's bbq stand on the weekends eating his food because his food is good but the have no issue calling him a hahahahahaha behind his back.

Hell half of my neighbors wont even talk or wave to me because i had a Obama sign up in 2012. But what i do is i kill them with kindness so at the end of the day know it burns there balls. Some will say racism is dead but that's far from the truth. Glad to see the younger generation is more acceptable to people of other races. I can say i am truly ashamed of my generation and its moral values

That statement is amazing. He might have lost once to Bruce Lee but he is right now a winner in my book.

I understand that. intolerance is wrong unless the intolerance is right. :winkwink:

You could have kept your mouth shut and everyone here would know exactly what you're thinking. You're so predictable. :1orglaugh

didn't hear this/remember hearing it, but what a fucking whore.

is everyone supposed to walk around thinking like everything they say in a private conversation might be taped? i really don't think this guy would of said what he did with an audience. he was under the assumption it was private between him and her. she obviously set him up and no doubt is getting a lot of money for doing so. if he had said this during a press conference or even a NBA gathering, i might say yeah, its warranted since they can do what they want with their private league but it wasn't.

everyone talks about other people and other groups of people behind their backs...EVERYONE. even you. how many times have you talked about your neighbors behind their backs? oh, you're doing it right now. how many times have you called people in your area trash? how many times have people talked about rich or poor groups behind their backs? um, all the time! people have the right to have their own opinions in private, good or bad. when people want to start turning into the thought police, you know society has really gone to hell.

You know that Bruce Lee cheated in that fight right?
Breaking out the window panes to flood the room with bright light was fucking cheating!

Bruce Lee ran up a flight of stairs and Kareem rebounded his head and snatched his ass back to the ground.

:1orglaugh

I love Bruce Lee and that scene was bad ass!

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Finally... He has no place among NBA owners. Stupid jerk...

I don't see it that way. I figure that anything I say is going to be repeated so I'm never "behind anyone's back".

Saying outrageous things in private and expecting them to never be repeated is like
sending your nude photo to someone and expecting their friends are never going to see it.

Every dude I ever knew that had a nude pic of his gf showed it to me in 2 secs flat.

:1orglaugh

here is an example. i am doing a deal with a guy over the phone. i am polite and everything, the deal closes. i get off the phone and say, damn that guy is a fucking asshole. he never heard it so it doesn't effect the deal or his view of me but its what i am feeling in the moment. should i be punished for saying that?

he told her that people were not welcome based on the color of their skin. you dont see the problem with that???

If you unknowingly said it to a chick that he had made his first date with tonight then yeah you might get punished.

You got that big city mentality going on, try village mentality to understand this.

i didn't list to the whole thing but he seemed to have more of a problem that she was 'broadcasting' that she was hanging out with black people. not that they weren't welcome. either way, he's just a ignorant old man and it was said in private.

i've said many things in private and on this board even that i wouldn't want repeated in my business life or even to certain people in my personal life. everyone does this about one thing or another, some are worse than others but in the end a private conversation was recorded. had it not been recorded no one would of ever known besides her.

punished by the individual perhaps but by the entire business community (in this example) and media? no.

This isn't about punishing him, its about the NBA not wanting to have anything further to do with him, he is bad for business. Saying someone is an asshole and putting down a group of people based on nothing more than the color of their skin are completely two different things.

A few points:

-I am not surprised that a white billionaire is racist, nor should you.

-Sterling should not be allowed to attend games, his ban from the league was just.

-Sterling should NOT be forced to sell the team. That sets an unnerving precedence. Sure, Sterling is a racist shit, but I can't see other owners in the NBA getting together and agreeing to force him out. That will then put them (the other NBA team owners) at risk for any future incidents that may be deemed as inappropriate. Sure, Sterling is a dumb shit, but you can't force someone to sell their business for being a racist twat.

it seems his girlfriend recording the conversation and then selling it to tmz was way worse for business than anything sterling said in private.

Well you are distorting things a bit.
Your scope of influence is what? 20, 30 people?
That determines how "big" a story is to the media sometimes.
Millions if people watch the NBA, that's Sterling's scope of influence.