April 29th, 2014 is a day that will live
forever in the lore of the National Basketball Association. It was the day that
a newly minted commissioner Adam Silver stood at the podium, before a room
filled with reporters, and the sounds of cameras clicking away. Obviously nervous,
as it showed in his quaking voice, Silver lowered the boom heard around the
world. Donald Sterling, the owner of the Los Angeles Clippers a franchise known
more for failed draft picks and being at the bottom of the standings, was banned
for life. No going to the office, no attending games, nothing. The only way
Donald Sterling could watch a NBA game was to turn on the TV, or watch it
online. And not that it mattered to
multi-millionaire Sterling, he was fined $2.5 million dollars, the max an owner
or a player could be fined.
The sad part of this tale is that it’s been well documented
that Sterling embraces outdated racist views. Sterling was sued twice over
apartments he owned. He steadfast refused to rent to blacks (“They are Lazy and
smell bad.” Sterling quipped, according to the testimony of a former employee
of his rental company) and Latinos (“They don’t work; they sit around all day
and drink.”) Sterling also refused to rent to people receiving government
assistance. Sterling, according to the two lawsuits would recruit employees to
give these renters surprise inspections, refuse to make repairs, and destroy
checks made for rent payment in order to evict them. Sterling also settled in a
lawsuit from Elgin Baylor, a legendary NBA player who worked in the front
office.
I’ve seen plenty of viewpoints saying that V, the
woman who secretly recorded Sterling in the phone conversation, and leaked it
to TMZ, is bitter, a gold-digger, and a hussy. They say she did it for money.
Well, let’s look at the failed logic of that line of thinking. Why would she
cost Sterling millions and millions of dollars? She knew that there was going
to be serious fallout, maybe not this bad, but she something was going to come
of this. It wouldn’t make sense for her to record him and release the tape to
the media.
However, the NBA has long been aware of Sterling,
and has done zip, nothing to deal with him. It took Sterling’s mistress, it
took a player revolt, and it took sponsors jumping the goddamn ship for the
league to do a goddamn thing. The league didn’t care when Sterling, going on
the cheap, demanded that his coaching staff learn how to tape ankles so he
could relieve much of the training staff of their duties. The league did
nothing when the stories of Sterling being discriminative in his rental
policies came to light via lawsuits. The league let a legend like Baylor twist
in the wind in order to not let the world know that one of its owners was a
racist.
This is an actual Sterling quote: “I Support them
and give them food, give them clothes and cars, and houses. Who gives it to
them?” This was in response to how he could own an NBA team and have such
racist views. They only comments that were more out of step with the times was
when that tax evading scumbag Cliven Bundy said that blacks were better off as
slaves.
There is no clearer villain in this than Donald
Sterling. The NBA owners are just minor players who sat silent. Sterling is the
one that is a racist. Sterling is the one who walked all over the poor and
needy. Sterling has become the most vile owner since the late Marge Schott of
the Cincinnati Reds. Schott used a very racist way to describe Dave Parker and
Eric Davis (a word I won’t print here) and Schott also infamously said “Hitler
wasn’t a bad guy, he just went too far.”
Congrats Sterling, you are now in the same class as
a woman who praised Adolf Hitler. The NBA in the end did what it needed to do.
It ran Donald Sterling and his vile, racist views out of the league. Donald
Sterling’s name will always be connected to racism. The league in the end,
saved itself, avoided alienating its fan base, an avoided a full out player
revolt. I applaud the decision, and I applaud the strong stance Adam Silver
took. Now if only the NFL could convince
Daniel Snyder to change the name of the Redskins, and if Major League Baseball
could finally remove Cap Anson and Kennesaw Mountain Landis, two other vile
racist, out of the hall of fame.
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