Should racist comments force LA Clippers owner to sell team?

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  • lukin2006lukin2006 Posts: 9,087
    edited April 2014
    So the ultimate punishment might he'll have to sell ... I heard he paid 12 million for the team and he could sell for between 600 million and 1 billion ... So who's getting punished? He won't see it punishment, he may even make more off the sale because of the controversy.
    Post edited by lukin2006 on
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  • hedonisthedonist Posts: 24,524
    norm said:

    3 scenarios of where the clippers might land:

    1 seattle has an owner and (i think) an arena waiting to be built
    2 the nba has long wanted the clippers to move to anaheim
    3 magic/guggenheim, fresh off their purchase of the dodgers, out bids everyone and keeps them in la

    #3! #3!
  • CosmoCosmo Posts: 12,225
    Isn't it the same thing if you own a McDonalds Franchise... and you hang a 'No Negros or Jews Allowed' sign on the door... the McDonalds Corporation can revoke your franchise? You are not an individual hamberger stand. You CAN open an independent hamburger stand and have a 'No Negroes or Jews Allowed' sign on your door and no one can force you to sell... but, you cannot call your business 'McDonalds' and do so.
    The NBA is like the corporation and the Teams are franchised to play in the league. The same way a softball league is set up. The Teams have to abide by the league charter. Like, you can have your team kicked out of the league if you violate the 'No Hot Pants as Uniforms' rule. The NBA probably has an 'ethics' clause that is a blanket item that covers a bunch of shit.
    ...
    But, I do admit... i'm only guessing, here.
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  • normnorm Posts: 31,146
    check out the deadspin link i posted on the previous page, cosmo
  • Jason PJason P Posts: 19,138
    I think part of this ruling was Sterlings inability to ask for mercy and admit his wrongdoing to silver in the past several days. Silver probably realized that Sterling would forever haunt him if he did any other penalty.
  • normnorm Posts: 31,146
    the league should be ashamed that it ignored Sterling's long history of racist and offensive conduct before doing what any right-minded observer knew had to be done as soon as he or she heard the owner unplugged over the weekend.

    And in case you are scoring at home, go ahead and blame Silver's predecessor for that.

    David Stern never had a problem punishing his players for saying or tweeting remarks deemed offensive. When he fined Kobe Bryant $100,000 over his one-and-done use of an anti-gay slur, Stern said the following: "Kobe and everyone associated with the NBA know that insensitive or derogatory comments are not acceptable and have no place in our game."

    Really, David? Donald Sterling had been saying insensitive and derogatory things for years, and what exactly did you do about it?

    Stern fined Heat owner Micky Arison $500,000 for tweeting about a lockout, and Mavericks owner Mark Cuban about $2 million in all for criticizing the refs. He fined Timberwolves owner Glen Taylor $3.5 million, took three of his first-round picks, and suspended him for a year for basketball's answer to Michael Pineda's pine-tar crime: He got caught playing the kind of funny salary-cap games a lot of executives were playing.

    Stern fined then-Rockets coach Jeff Van Gundy $100,000 for saying a league official had warned him that Yao Ming would be targeted by refs for illegal screens, and added that Van Gundy was "not going to continue in this league" if he kept talking. Stern fined Spurs coach Gregg Popovich $250,000 for daring to rest his stars in a regular-season game against the Miami Heat. In a different life, Stern even fined Sterling $25 million for moving his franchise from San Diego to Los Angeles without permission before reducing the penalty to $6 million -- this as a counter to Sterling's choice to sue the league for $100 million.

    But Stern didn't bother to hit the Clippers' owner, or at the very least investigate him, when he gleefully admitted to trading money for sex. Or when he paid a $2.7 million settlement to the U.S. Justice Department after he was accused in a federal discrimination suit of saying that "black tenants smell and attract vermin" and that "Hispanics smoke, drink, and just hang around the building." Or when Elgin Baylor accused Sterling in a wrongful termination suit of establishing "a vision of a Southern plantation-type structure" for the franchise and of wanting a team of "poor black boys from the South" that, of course, would play for a white coach.
    http://espn.go.com/new-york/nba/story/_/id/10857899/shame-david-stern-nba-letting-donald-sterling-stick-around
  • CosmoCosmo Posts: 12,225
    norm said:

    check out the deadspin link i posted on the previous page, cosmo

    ...
    Thanx, Norm.
    That was it. The whole thing falls under the 'Detrimental to the League' clause. Because, it IS detrimental to the Clippers Frnachise. I feel bad for the team and coaching staff... and for the fans. Do you support the team during the play-offs.. knowing that the money you pay are going into Sterling's pocket? In boycotting, you punishe the players and Coach Rivers... that ain't right, either.
    Sterling has been an asshole for a long time. I've been waiting for him to either die or sell the team.
    ...
    And truthfully... I wouldn't mind if the Clippers went to Seattle. I think Seattle got shafted when the Sonics left.
    Allen Fieldhouse, home of the 2008 NCAA men's Basketball Champions! Go Jayhawks!
    Hail, Hail!!!
  • JimmyVJimmyV Posts: 19,172
    That the Clippers are playing a home playoff game tonight certainly impacted the speed of this decision. If they were still on the road or eliminated it would have given Silver more time make up his mind, and I do think cooler heads would have eventually prevailed. Sterling needed to be punished, for sure, but the lifetime ban is the nuclear option. Might be an overreach by a rookie commissioner who was forced to act prematurely.

    But without a punishment tonight's game would have been an internationally televised fiasco.
    ___________________________________________

    "...I changed by not changing at all..."
  • Dead Man WalkingDead Man Walking Posts: 2,762
    edited April 2014
    Not throwing this at anyone here, just thought I'd share.
    image
    Post edited by Dead Man Walking on
  • hedonisthedonist Posts: 24,524
    Hell yeah - I agree with that, Dead Man.
  • normnorm Posts: 31,146
    Clippers Retire Donald Sterling Jersey
    image
  • Lol ^^
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    Another habit says its long overdue
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  • brianluxbrianlux Posts: 42,051
    The guy probably just wanted to cash in and retire and make a big noise on his way out. The echo will fade quickly, Mr. Strerling. Hasta la vista, baby.
    “The fear of death follows from the fear of life. A man [or woman] who lives fully is prepared to die at any time.”
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  • pjhawkspjhawks Posts: 12,529

    pjhawks said:

    The NBA has now set a precedence, now anytime a player says something racist, sexist, or homophobic etc...they should be banned for life. Also, players that have a DWI, assaulted, raped, or murdered someone should be banned as well, considering those crimes are more heinous in comparison.

    exactly. what happens when a black player calls a white guy 'homey' or 'cracker' - what do you do then?

    look not saying he shouldn't have gotten sanctions but a lifetime ban is awfully harsh for his so-called crime in my opinion.
    I don't really agree. Right or wrong, employers and employees are treated very differently.
    i guess it's a good thing Jay-Z had to sell his portion of the Nets to become an agent. using the n-word in most of your songs and admitting you were once a drug dealer might be grounds for being banned for life under this precedent?
  • Last-12-ExitLast-12-Exit Posts: 8,661
    norm said:

    3 scenarios of where the clippers might land:

    1 seattle has an owner and (i think) an arena waiting to be built
    2 the nba has long wanted the clippers to move to anaheim
    3 magic/guggenheim, fresh off their purchase of the dodgers, out bids everyone and keeps them in la

    Your forgetting about the fourth scenario:

    Sterling gives/sells the team to a family member or associate and keeps his fortunes coming.
  • DewieCoxDewieCox Posts: 11,429
    Yes

    This isn't a freedom of speech issue. He's not going to jail for what he said. He's in business with 30 other owners and if they feel he's hurting their bottom line, they are well within their rights to get rid of him.
  • callencallen Posts: 6,388
    DewieCox said:

    Yes

    This isn't a freedom of speech issue. He's not going to jail for what he said. He's in business with 30 other owners and if they feel he's hurting their bottom line, they are well within their rights to get rid of him.

    Good point and he agreed to this rule.
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  • I wonder what would have happened to the bar owner in Pittsburgh who was not going to allow two white people who were lost and wanted to use a phone and have a beer, into their establishment because we were the wrong colour. This shit runs wild in the States and everywhere else on the planet.

    The poison from the poison stream caught up to you ELEVEN years ago and you floated out of here. Sept. 14, 08

  • backseatLover12backseatLover12 Posts: 2,312
    edited April 2014

    A racist who owns (a basketball team) and employs black people? 100%

    Fixed. Don't forget that he has no problem sleeping with black women as well.
    Post edited by backseatLover12 on
  • Jon ChorbaJon Chorba Posts: 268

    Not throwing this at anyone here, just thought I'd share.
    image

    Amen! This is not a freedom of speech issue!



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  • Jason PJason P Posts: 19,138
    After thinking it over, I agree that this is not a 1st ammendment case.

    I don't agree that private conversation should land you in public hot water, but it is what it is. Based on what I'm learning about this guy, he should have been booted long ago.
  • 1st ammendment rights only apply to being punished by the government, not private commerce. NBA doesn't want this guy in their group, they can force him to sell if they want. That d-bag of a girlfriend fucked him over royally. You dump the guy if he's a racist, you don't ruin his fucking life and turn him into enemy #1 in the US.
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  • backseatLover12backseatLover12 Posts: 2,312
    That d-bag of a girlfriend was only looking out for his money, nothing else. Typical gold digger.
  • JimmyVJimmyV Posts: 19,172
    Both the league and the girlfriend knew he was a racist long before now.
    ___________________________________________

    "...I changed by not changing at all..."
  • normnorm Posts: 31,146
    yes, the girlfriend is the real issue here 8-|
  • polaris_xpolaris_x Posts: 13,559
    wow ... this is now going too far ... https://ca.news.yahoo.com/blogs/daily-buzz/l-clippers-owner-donald-sterling-banned-nevada-bunny-162241653.html

    this is probably the harshest of penalties ...
  • hedonisthedonist Posts: 24,524
    polaris_x said:

    wow ... this is now going too far ... https://ca.news.yahoo.com/blogs/daily-buzz/l-clippers-owner-donald-sterling-banned-nevada-bunny-162241653.html

    this is probably the harshest of penalties ...

    I'm pretty sure his hookers weren't actually crying over this.

    Anyway, I was more intrigued by the title of the link midway through the article -
    [ More Buzz: Angry beaver causes traffic chaos in New Brunswick ]
    :D
  • polaris_xpolaris_x Posts: 13,559
    hedonist said:

    polaris_x said:

    wow ... this is now going too far ... https://ca.news.yahoo.com/blogs/daily-buzz/l-clippers-owner-donald-sterling-banned-nevada-bunny-162241653.html

    this is probably the harshest of penalties ...

    I'm pretty sure his hookers weren't actually crying over this.

    Anyway, I was more intrigued by the title of the link midway through the article -
    [ More Buzz: Angry beaver causes traffic chaos in New Brunswick ]
    :D
    angry beaver could do far worse ... haha
  • Jason PJason P Posts: 19,138
    With Larry Ellison wanting to bid on this team, I could see the winning bid reach $1.5B ... which is the equivilent of one of us splurging on a nice lawnmower considering how much money Larry has.

    By the way, Sterling bought the Clippers for $12.5M back in the early eighties.
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