LA Clippers NBA - Donald Sterling

[Palehorse]

So it has been splashed all across the media; Donald Sterling's racist world-view and perspectives. I won't reproduce that shite here though.

It now appears the some of the sponsors of the LA Clippers are starting to back away from the team based upon the owners statements.

Given that many communities across this nation continue to sponsor the construction and upkeep of this nations stadiums, with our tax dollars paying for the bulk of these venues, just how much do the personal views of the various teams owners play into this?

Do owners of professional sports teams have a moral responsibility to conduct themselves within acceptable limits, just as they do their employees?

Does a failure to do so constitute a violation of the moral and civil code so egregious that their ownership of the team becomes invalid?

For those of you who repeatedly advocate the "its my business and I can do what I want with it" approach; where do you stand with the incident surrounding Mr. Sterling?

Are Mr. Sterlings comments made in private, and recorded apparently without his knowledge or approval, legally actionable? Should they be?

Certainly in this case there are several slippery slopes upon which this incident resides, among the most germane of them is the fact that almost every single sporting team in this nation is a privately owned business being subsidized by tax dollars, and in my mind, as such it is legally obligated to operate within the laws of the land, local, state, and federal; which includes non-discriminatory practices.

Is what Mr. Sterling said any worse than what Paula Deen was accused of?

[Palehorse]

LMAO!

I just saw this on the network news. This is a photo I took of my television screen. This guy is a law professor at a university whose name I did not catch because of what this guy looks like. . .

He looks like he goes to Don King's barber for cripes sake!    (And I put it in this topic because he was talking about the Clippers situation)

[The Troll]

  I really don't care what the asshole thinks about but when he can use his money and his position to control it, that's the final spike in his black heart and in his coffin.     But at his age that isn't to far away.     

[Locutus]

Banned from the NBA for LIFE!

[Henry Hawk]

Banned from the NBA for LIFE!

and fined $2.5 million

[Locutus]

It was the right thing to do.

[Henry Hawk]

Yep, 

[Henry Hawk]

From what I have been reading, EVERYBODY knew this guy was racist for a long time now. 

[Locutus]

I'm not 100% positive about this but wasn't his mistress half black herself?

[Palehorse]

I'm not 100% positive about this but wasn't his mistress half black herself?

Yes. 

[Palehorse]

Banned from the NBA for LIFE!

and fined $2.5 million

And instructing the board of directors to force the sale of the team forthwith.

Now, some might find this draconian punishment. Some but not me. In fact, this asshat is going to make more than a half a billion dollars above and beyond what he bought the team for in 1981. (12 million verses 575 million today).

Some punishment. The IRS will take more of his profit than the NBA did. That fine is chump change to him.

[Y]

I'm going to be somewhat of a devil's advocate here.

Does Sterling own the team or does the NBA own the team? - now that question totally ignores my position that the citizens SHOULD be legally entitled to at least part, if not full, ownership.

Now I don't claim to know the contractual machinations of the NBA/owners, but if Sterling owns the team - which should include the facilities, or at least has contractual access - just how does anyone, including the NBA, do anything to force Sterling to accede to their will?

Is Sterling a racist?  It appears so, but there are racists all across America - even 'closet' ones here on this board - and no matter how despicable his speech might be, as long as he doesn't put it into practice in certain areas, Sterling has the constitutionally guaranteed right to spew his distaste of blacks and other minorities in his conversations - and that's not even going into the privacy issue at play in all this.  The bottom line is you can't stop people from being racists.

Now another point I'd like to make here - and I must include the disclaimer that I no longer care for the American version of professional sports.  I find to be corrupt and corrupting, entertainment and not sport, and foully awash with greed and poor folks money. - is that NONE, as in NOT ONE, of those 'incensed' folks making their living from the 'sport', INCLUDING the players, were incensed enough to walk away from the money.  To my eye it's smacks of false indignation and hypocrisy. 

Oh for the days of Rosa Parks, the Freedom Riders, and Martin Luther King.  Those folks had a devotion and the courage of their convictions.  Had they been the players etc., Sterling wouldn't have a team to own.  A far better way to make the point that racism is to be tossed into the dustbin of history.

[Palehorse]

I'm going to be somewhat of a devil's advocate here.

Does Sterling own the team or does the NBA own the team? - now that question totally ignores my position that the citizens SHOULD be legally entitled to at least part, if not full, ownership.

Now I don't claim to know the contractual machinations of the NBA/owners, but if Sterling owns the team - which should include the facilities, or at least has contractual access - just how does anyone, including the NBA, do anything to force Sterling to accede to their will?

Is Sterling a racist?  It appears so, but there are racists all across America - even 'closet' ones here on this board - and no matter how despicable his speech might be, as long as he doesn't put it into practice in certain areas, Sterling has the constitutionally guaranteed right to spew his distaste of blacks and other minorities in his conversations - and that's not even going into the privacy issue at play in all this.  The bottom line is you can't stop people from being racists.

Now another point I'd like to make here - and I must include the disclaimer that I no longer care for the American version of professional sports.  I find to be corrupt and corrupting, entertainment and not sport, and foully awash with greed and poor folks money. - is that NONE, as in NOT ONE, of those 'incensed' folks making their living from the 'sport', INCLUDING the players, were incensed enough to walk away from the money.  To my eye it's smacks of false indignation and hypocrisy. 

Oh for the days of Rosa Parks, the Freedom Riders, and Martin Luther King.  Those folks had a devotion and the courage of their convictions.  Had they been the players etc., Sterling wouldn't have a team to own.  A far better way to make the point that racism is to be tossed into the dustbin of history.

I began running that issue through my processor on the first day I heard about this. Almost immediately I ran into that stingy term "franchise", which basically places the owner of any professional sport team into the indentured slavery category in my mind. Puts them right alongside McDonalds, Burger King, etc.

The owners are subject to the whims of their "employers" just as any one of us are. You have to follow the rules, you have to fulfill your obligations to the "almighty board of owners / the NBA, NFL, NHL, MLB," etc.

Moreover, in my mind, because so many, if not all of these sporting venues, (read:palaces), are subsidized by the cities in which they are built, this subjects the team/owner to further obligations surrounding those who pay for their palaces; placing them squarely into the realm of the public eye. Additionally, because of the nature of what they do for pay, they enjoy a high level of publicity and public attention; both of which the almighty league, and Grand Poobah of the Franchises, has rules about.

Celebrity is a double-edged sword, which lots of money seems to be very capable of making its earners forget. When you are a member of a franchise, whether you are its "owner", front office flunky, or star player, you represent the franchise and the league in all aspects of your life. (Much as us normal folks do and are told when we work for other private enterprises for a lot less money). Do or say something that goes against the basic rules or philosophy of the company/franchise/league and you will be subject to disciplinary action up to, and including separation, if that action results in a news story, a social media frenzy, or some other action that places it into a high profile viewing.

And the rub is, unless you are a member of a bargaining unit with specific contractual obligations, or can prove that the "corrective action" undertaken was a direct result of the violation of some federal law surrounding, race, creed, sexual orientation, or age, you are SOL surrounding legal recourse toward your former "employers; be they a league, administrators of a franchise, or just Joe's garage where you turned wrenches for minimum wage. And good luck proving a violation of any of those "protected class" laws, because the bar is high surrounding  proof. Way too high for 99% of the population.

And forget about the constitutionally guaranteed right to freedom of speech, and the sanctity of a man's home, blah, blah, blah. None of that applies to businesses, corporations, etc. They can restrict your speech, forbid you to say anything they want to, and there isn't a damn thing you can legally do about it.

Sterling owns the team, but the team has a franchise with the NBA; and without it they cannot legally participate in the league. (A situation that brought about the National League and American League in Baseball, and the NFL / AFL in football, among others. "Franchisees" back in the day became disgruntled with the league and struck out on their own. Something that would be next to impossible to do today given the clout and propaganda machines that are NBA/NFL/NHL/MLB.)

No franchise = No team = No League Play = a 12 million dollar original investment not worth the price of toilet paper.

It's one of the main reasons the players in every league have rightfully formed "Players Associations" and Unions, just to be able to maintain some level of security within their careers and dealings with the owners and the leagues.


MLK and Rosa Parks would be stepped upon with as much consideration as an ant gets today. The enemy has grown and become increasingly complex over the decades, and corporations now harbor and abet these miscreants via an impenetrable blanket of policies and laws, and a phalanx of lawyers to administer to them.

[Palehorse]

Ol' Marge Schott got her own lesson in all of this a while back. That racist hag had to give up her controlling ownership of the Cincinnati Reds because of her racism. . .

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marge_Schott

[The Troll]

Ol' Marge Schott got her own lesson in all of this a while back. That racist hag had to give up her controlling ownership of the Cincinnati Reds because of her racism. . .

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marge_Schott

  I just wonder how hard and hard work the NBA will have to do to collect the $2.5 Million.