Post: #26

(04-29-2014 02:44 PM)DetlefMourning Wrote:  Kareem nailed it. Sterling's a racist idiot, but I don't like Gotcha Culture. It pisses me off to see mainstream commentators white knight for this whore. She committed a crime by illegally recording their conversation. I'm not a racist, but I'm guilty of joking around in a raunchy, anything goes, nothing sacred manner with my friends over text. We've said much worse shit than that than Sterling. I wouldn't want some of my text messages seeing the light of day because "We were just joking around" is no match for liberal grievance culture.

I think there's a difference between telling a politically incorrect joke in private between friends and forbidding your girlfriend from taking a photo with Magic Johnson because he's black. Especially when Magic is a class act and one of the most respected athletes of all time, both on and off the court. It might not even be nearly as big a deal if his business was something outside the NBA. Now if this guy instead owned a soccer team in Russia then maybe his comments wouldn't raise an eyebrow, but the NBA isn't the place for it. I can only imagine how this effects the morale of the mostly black team in the playoffs.

Post: #27

Dude, those remarks are so taken out of context. This type of shit makes me hate the states.

Let's look at this from Sterlings point of view. He owns a team of black guys and he sees that the hottest girls around are on their arms and that all the girls are giddy to meet them. Now there's sterling who is getting old and still wants to be the cock of the block.

If you listen to the conversation he really never says anything bad about blacks, what he says is that HE DOESN'T WANT HER taking pictures with them and posting them all over.

Why? For the same reason any guy with personal pride and is around extremely high value black guys would: To make himself feel like the highest value guys he is around can't get to the girl he cares about.

This has nothing to do with race and is being taken out of context. On top of all that it was a private conversation that his girlfriend set him up with. These are not public statements and he's talking to her. Of course he's not going to say "because I don't feel like I can compare to these black guys and i'm worried that people that see those photos will say the same thing."

If he's racist he's barely racist. Because he pays a shitload of money to the best black coach in the league. He didn't try to go after Phil Jackson or other big name coaches. No.

As a big time NBA fan this is the most disappointed i have been in the league in a long time. This is such a bull shit scandal and shows how backwards the states has become. A jealous boyfriend is lynched by the media for a private conversation with his girlfriend. I'm sure "the comment" that made him talk to his gf about it was something like "i wonder how many guys on your team she has slept with". It has nothing to do with race... it has to do with who the guys of high value are in his gf's world.

Post: #28

20Nation, while the media loves to take comments out of context, or make them sound worse than they are (paging bill bennett lol), this didn't seem to be the case here. I listened to the tape and it pretty much sounded like what the media alleged.

"Now if this guy instead owned a soccer team in Russia then maybe his comments wouldn't raise an eyebrow, but the NBA isn't the place for it. I can only imagine how this effects the morale of the mostly black team in the playoffs."

Agreed. Like I said, I tend to favor letting sleeping dogs lie, but this isn't a purely theoretical issue. This isn't an Alabama truck driver who has a hatred for Chinese people that will never amount to anything, he's an NBA franchise owner. I don't know the NBA's legal structure, but if I had any stake in the NBA I'd want this guy far away from it. And yeah, if I were a Clippers player and black, I can't imagine I'd think anything but "I'll show this asshole."

Post: #29

@20nation

Dude, the reason he is angry about it is BECAUSE the men are black. If she takes photos with whites, it's fine. If Magic Johnson were white it would be okay to take photos with him. This differential treatment is solely due to race and can't be explained any other way. How is this not racist exactly?

Post: #30

(04-29-2014 04:20 PM)speakeasy Wrote:  

(04-29-2014 02:44 PM)DetlefMourning Wrote:  Kareem nailed it. Sterling's a racist idiot, but I don't like Gotcha Culture. It pisses me off to see mainstream commentators white knight for this whore. She committed a crime by illegally recording their conversation. I'm not a racist, but I'm guilty of joking around in a raunchy, anything goes, nothing sacred manner with my friends over text. We've said much worse shit than that than Sterling. I wouldn't want some of my text messages seeing the light of day because "We were just joking around" is no match for liberal grievance culture.

I think there's a difference between telling a politically incorrect joke in private between friends and forbidding your girlfriend from taking a photo with Magic Johnson because he's black. Especially when Magic is a class act and one of the most respected athletes of all time, both on and off the court. It might not even be nearly as big a deal if his business was something outside the NBA. Now if this guy instead owned a soccer team in Russia then maybe his comments wouldn't raise an eyebrow, but the NBA isn't the place for it. I can only imagine how this effects the morale of the mostly black team in the playoffs.

Oh I absolutely agree with you that this guy had it coming and I'm not shedding any tears for him. He was stupid to let this woman into his life and fall for her setup. And even though it was extremely sleazy and unethical the way she set him up, it is a good thing that he is finally getting kicked out of the league.

Post: #31

"Never side with a whore over a man".

Post: #32

If a guy is putting Ferrari's and Bentley's in a broad's garage I can understand why he doesn't want her posting pics of herself with bunches of other guys on her social media.

Post: #33

(04-29-2014 04:37 PM)speakeasy Wrote:  @20nation

Dude, the reason he is angry about it is BECAUSE the men are black. If she takes photos with whites, it's fine. If Magic Johnson were white it would be okay to take photos with him. This differential treatment is solely due to race and can't be explained any other way. How is this not racist exactly?

Yeah because in his world "the basketball world" there are not many men of high sexual value that are white. He's pretty much complimenting black people out of jealously. He's around high value black guys so often, and believes that they are his biggest threat for swiping his girl... not racist... jealous

Post: #34

Can he still sign up for League Pass?

Post: #35

(04-29-2014 04:20 PM)speakeasy Wrote:  

(04-29-2014 02:44 PM)DetlefMourning Wrote:  Kareem nailed it. Sterling's a racist idiot, but I don't like Gotcha Culture. It pisses me off to see mainstream commentators white knight for this whore. She committed a crime by illegally recording their conversation. I'm not a racist, but I'm guilty of joking around in a raunchy, anything goes, nothing sacred manner with my friends over text. We've said much worse shit than that than Sterling. I wouldn't want some of my text messages seeing the light of day because "We were just joking around" is no match for liberal grievance culture.

I think there's a difference between telling a politically incorrect joke in private between friends and forbidding your girlfriend from taking a photo with Magic Johnson because he's black. Especially when Magic is a class act and one of the most respected athletes of all time, both on and off the court. It might not even be nearly as big a deal if his business was something outside the NBA. Now if this guy instead owned a soccer team in Russia then maybe his comments wouldn't raise an eyebrow, but the NBA isn't the place for it. I can only imagine how this effects the morale of the mostly black team in the playoffs.

It shouldn't affect them a jot. If they can allow racist remarks that weren't addressed to them to trivialize the 15-20 years of work and dedication they've all put in to get to this point, the opportunity to immortalize themselves as NBA champions, then I'd seriously question their mental fortitude and character even.

Even if Sterling is a racist, that didn't prevent him from hiring black players, not to mention installing a black man in a position of leadership and paying them millions to bring a title contender to the floor. In other words his racism didn't outweigh his desire to make money, which means that what we're essentially saying in a general sense is that you have to love every single thing about anyone you work for or with or work for you. It's a ridiculous assertion and it's going to boil down to 'if you have an opinion we don't like, you aren't 'fit' to provide value, even if your opinions do not affect your ability to provide value in an economic sense.'

If we're going to be consistent about this, we've got to first establish what opinions are ok to have, and what are not, then we must go through every mode of recordable communication of every working person and check against the list of bad opinions. Then whoever comes up with a match must face sanctions including fines, loss of employment, expulsion from school, etc.

That's the big picture reality. Having reprehensible views from an employment standpoint is inherently damaging, because it potentially prevents you from associating yourself with the best people possible. From what I've seen Sterling didn't let his racism do that necessarily. Who cares if he doesn't like black people, if he is giving them a fair shake for the simple reason that he wants to make money? The only reason Sterling deserved sanctions was because the NBA is a private organization which can do business how it wants. If Sterling has broken some sort of morality clauses then it's fair game. Similarly, sponsors and the like are dropping association with the team, which is also fair game. He's getting punished by the market, as it should be. However it's being made a big deal as a public issue, with the freaking President commenting only because the media has found its Racist of the Week and the mob has essentially forced the NBA to go nuclear on Sterling. That's not a good thing going forward, and it will be interesting to see how consistent people are going to be with this.

Post: #36

(04-29-2014 04:27 PM)20Nation Wrote:  Dude, those remarks are so taken out of context. This type of shit makes me hate the states.

Let's look at this from Sterlings point of view. He owns a team of black guys and he sees that the hottest girls around are on their arms and that all the girls are giddy to meet them. Now there's sterling who is getting old and still wants to be the cock of the block.

If you listen to the conversation he really never says anything bad about blacks, what he says is that HE DOESN'T WANT HER taking pictures with them and posting them all over.

Why? For the same reason any guy with personal pride and is around extremely high value black guys would: To make himself feel like the highest value guys he is around can't get to the girl he cares about.

This has nothing to do with race and is being taken out of context. On top of all that it was a private conversation that his girlfriend set him up with. These are not public statements and he's talking to her. Of course he's not going to say "because I don't feel like I can compare to these black guys and i'm worried that people that see those photos will say the same thing."

If he's racist he's barely racist. Because he pays a shitload of money to the best black coach in the league. He didn't try to go after Phil Jackson or other big name coaches. No.

As a big time NBA fan this is the most disappointed i have been in the league in a long time. This is such a bull shit scandal and shows how backwards the states has become. A jealous boyfriend is lynched by the media for a private conversation with his girlfriend. I'm sure "the comment" that made him talk to his gf about it was something like "i wonder how many guys on your team she has slept with". It has nothing to do with race... it has to do with who the guys of high value are in his gf's world.

" Because he pays a shitload of money to the best black coach in the league"

Also the Los Angeles chapter of the NAACP. He's up for an award May 15th.

Post: #37

(04-29-2014 04:51 PM)Dismal Operator Wrote:  If we're going to be consistent about this, we've got to first establish what opinions are ok to have, and what are not, then we must go through every mode of recordable communication of every working person and check against the list of bad opinions. Then whoever comes up with a match must face sanctions including fines, loss of employment, expulsion from school, etc.

I was thinking the same thing but not as clearly as you wrote it. I'm actually surprised to see a lot of the same people who were defending Mozilla's CEO for opposing gay marriage ready to skewer Sterling. In my mind, they are both private opinions on issue of equality (race, straight/gay) that did not affect their organization as a whole or cause people in the business to be fired, not hired or anything close to that matter.

They're really very similar cases and I'm surprised to see people reacting completely opposite to them each.

Post: #38

Being that RVF has a major 'game' component, did anyone else read that he had bought his GF 2 bentleys, a ferrari, and an apt in manhattan?

Apparently he is not a forum reader.

Post: #39

^ Spot on CEO.

20 Nation I get where you are coming from, but he is still a racist piece of shit.
He doesn't want his gal hanging around black dudes even though he owns a team full of black guys, in a league comprising 80 % black players.
He was a slum lord before and didn't want to rent to Hispanics or Blacks because he thought they attract vermin and are dirty.
I am not defending the girl, I have no animosity towards her. Obviously she was baiting the guy to say those things, her fake I love you dear stuff is hilarious.
Why the fuck would he need to but her all that crap, Ferrari and a Bentley etc.
The girl has Game and you can't tell me there isn't a line of girls waiting to fill her place (seeking arrangement game anyone)

Post: #40

I wonder if Sterling would ever consider buying the Chicago "Blackhawks" franchise.

Post: #41

^^^^ Funny you should say that.

Post: #42

(04-29-2014 05:30 PM)rudebwoy Wrote:  ^ Spot on CEO.

20 Nation I get where you are coming from, but he is still a racist piece of shit.
He doesn't want his gal hanging around black dudes even though he owns a team full of black guys, in a league comprising 80 % black players.
He was a slum lord before and didn't want to rent to Hispanics or Blacks because he thought they attract vermin and are dirty.
I am not defending the girl, I have no animosity towards her. Obviously she was baiting the guy to say those things, her fake I love you dear stuff is hilarious.
Why the fuck would he need to but her all that crap, Ferrari and a Bentley etc.
The girl has Game and you can't tell me there isn't a line of girls waiting to fill her place (seeking arrangement game anyone)

Is not him being a 'racist piece of shit' not his choice?
Should he have to love black guys?
Should he have to rent to Hispanics or Blacks?

Should we force him not to be racist?
Should we force him to rent to blacks and hispanics?

Guy has no game, he's 80, that I agree.

Post: #43

The guy is 80 years old and has seen the changes come about in the USa and I bet he doesn't like them. Thats up to him.

However what I don't like is the very fact a billionaire, a smart guy as he is at his age can be booted out without a chance. Sure he can sue those who have done him wrong and I guarantee that he will but if this guy can be hounded that easily then what can you do as a regular guy or a semi-successful up and coming man?

You posted a meme on facebook 5 years ago? Oh we're going to bring that up because you mentioned [insert race/sexual orientation here] in a bad light recently.

POOF. Job gone, money going down.

Having to watch your every step less you're targeted for some "crime" is impractical.

Post: #44

/thread-22124-page-63.html

Post: #45

(04-29-2014 05:30 PM)rudebwoy Wrote:  ^ Spot on CEO.

20 Nation I get where you are coming from, but he is still a racist piece of shit.
He doesn't want his gal hanging around black dudes even though he owns a team full of black guys, in a league comprising 80 % black players.
He was a slum lord before and didn't want to rent to Hispanics or Blacks because he thought they attract vermin and are dirty.
I am not defending the girl, I have no animosity towards her. Obviously she was baiting the guy to say those things, her fake I love you dear stuff is hilarious.
Why the fuck would he need to but her all that crap, Ferrari and a Bentley etc.
The girl has Game and you can't tell me there isn't a line of girls waiting to fill her place (seeking arrangement game anyone)

Aside from that, he's a stupid fuck. Huge numbers of blacks & minorities are into b-ball. Most of his players are black. Magic is supposed to be a friend of his, but Magic dropped him like a dirty ho. Compare to someone like Richie Incognito who had his teammates speaking up for him. Magic wasn't his fucking friend. Sterling is straight-up fake. He's a stupid rich guy who tries to buy expensive toys, including friends. Yes, the NBA is looking for a way to get rid of him. He's a shitty owner.

I realize this was supposed to be a private convo and his ho set him up (probably over his wife suing her for all the shit he bought the ho). That fucking sucks, but he's a public figure and this was flat out stupid. You think Mark Cuban or Mikhail Prokhorov would get caught up in this shit?

But to what started this thread: fuck yeah, Kareem. He's absolutely right. Sterling's record was suspect to begin with and the NAACP is giving him an award?

Post: #46

(04-29-2014 06:00 PM)bojangles Wrote:  Is not him being a 'racist piece of shit' not his choice?
Should he have to love black guys?
Should he have to rent to Hispanics or Blacks?

Pretty sure it is illegal to say "you cannot rent one of my apartments if you are black or hispanic."

if sterling really is going to be forced into selling the team, I will start going to clippers games. I didn't go because for years he kept his team at the salary cap minimum

http://www.forbes.com/sites/mikeozanian/...-clippers/

Every owner is voting yes to vote him out. Sterling will get 700M for selling the team(he paid 12M to buy the team back in 1981). He is already a billionaire, but don't feel too much sympathy for him.

http://www.basketball-reference.com/teams/LAC/2002.html

up until the past couple of years, sterling kept the team at league minimum for salaries, but has started to spend in recent years.

Post: #47

Interesting comments from non Americans.

All I know is this guy has been doing and saying some inflammatory stuff for a very long time. This is something that couldn't be glossed over with money.

Just goes to show you if the mass wants a change then even the highest will be liable.

Post: #48

Good LA Times Article on Sterling
http://www.latimes.com/business/hiltzik/...z30JYs1jfG

Quote:LOS ANGELES — When Kim Hughes, then an assistant coach for the Los Angeles Clippers, was found to have prostate cancer on the eve of training camp in 2004, he learned what it was like to work in Donald Sterling’s world.

Hughes wanted to postpone surgery. The disease ran in the family, usually slowly. But after Coach Mike Dunleavy encouraged Hughes to get another opinion, the second doctor urged Hughes to have surgery quickly. When Hughes contacted the Clippers about his health insurance coverage, he was told the surgery was not covered. If they made an exception for him, they would have to do so for everyone.

The cost would be $70,000.

Hughes went ahead and had the surgery anyway. Unknown to him, four players — Chris Kaman, Corey Maggette, Elton Brand and Marko Jaric — chipped in to cover Hughes’s cost for the operation.

As the N.B.A. investigates racist remarks that have been attributed to Sterling, the longtime owner of the Clippers, the story of Hughes’s surgery — which was not revealed for more than five years — helps illustrate the reign of a man who has often been described as the worst owner in professional sports.

This time, attention to Sterling’s behavior has transcended the sports world with the release Friday night of an audio recording on which someone, reportedly Sterling, urges a woman identified as his mistress at the time not to appear in public with black people, leading to public pressure on the league to force him to sell the franchise, which he has owned since 1981.

Sterling’s behavior is not exactly a secret. It is a matter of public record.

In 2009, Sterling paid a $2.725 million settlement in a lawsuit brought by the Justice Department accusing him of systematically driving African-Americans, Latinos and families with children out of apartment buildings he owned.

Alexandra Castro, a former mistress of Sterling’s, testified in a lawsuit filed against her by Sterling that he had asked her advice in 2001 on whether to hire Alvin Gentry as coach — he did so — and on which players to award contract extensions to. “It was purely sex for money,” Sterling testified. “I probably didn’t tell my wife.”

Sterling has been sued by the former Clippers general manager Elgin Baylor, who accused him of envisioning “a Southern plantation-type structure” for the Clippers, and by Dunleavy, who accused Sterling of refusing to pay him the balance of his contract after he was fired.

The lawsuit against Castro is similar to one filed in March by Sterling’s wife, Rochelle, against a woman identified as V. Stiviano, a more recent mistress of Sterling’s. The suit is seeking to recover cash, property, cars and other items that the Clippers say were worth $1.8 million.

Joe Safety, a longtime Clippers public relations official who resigned last year, was vigilant around Sterling because of the owner’s unpredictability. It was not uncommon for Safety to aggressively cut off reporters who tried to approach Sterling, who was a regular presence at courtside or in the dining area adjacent to the media work room at Staples Center.

Sterling’s image was protected with similar tenacity. When charitable organizations have honored Sterling with an award, Sterling’s foundation has on multiple occasions taken out a full-page ad in The Los Angeles Times congratulating Sterling. In 2006, an article in The Times said that Sterling would pledge $50 million for construction of a homeless center. It has not yet been built.

Sterling, the son of a produce vendor, moved to Los Angeles from Chicago at a young age, growing up in multiethnic East Los Angeles, where he participated on the Roosevelt High School gymnastics team and worked boxing groceries. He worked his way through law school selling furniture and changed his last name from Tokowitz to Sterling because, as a co-worker once told Los Angeles Magazine, it sounded like success.

Sterling worked as a lawyer and began buying properties in the 1960s, when immigration took off in California and land prices followed. At the same time, a chemistry professor at the University of Southern California made his fortune the same way. His name was Jerry Buss.

The paths of the two young, newly wealthy property owners would cross in 1979 when Buss was short of cash for his $67.5 million purchase of the Los Angeles Lakers, the Los Angeles Kings, the Forum — the arena the teams played in — and a 10-acre ranch. Needing $3 million to close the deal, Buss sold some of his apartment buildings to Sterling. Two years later, with Buss’s encouragement, Sterling bought the San Diego Clippers for
$12.7 million.

Sterling did not take long to establish himself as a target for mockery. Clippers billboards bearing his smiling face dotted the San Diego area. He hired a former model as assistant general manager and celebrated a season-opening win by dashing across the court — shirt unbuttoned, wine glass held high — to hug Coach Paul Silas. By 1984, emboldened by the Raiders’ relocating to Los Angeles without the N.F.L’s approval, Sterling made a similar move with his N.B.A. team.

When N.B.A. Commissioner David Stern fined him $25 million, Sterling sued the league for $100 million. Stern cut the fine to $6 million, taking it out of Sterling’s cut from expansion fees.

The Clippers played in the Los Angeles Memorial Sports Arena, which proved to be an apt home for 15 seasons. The Clippers’ identity in Los Angeles did not take long to forge: A series of bad draft picks, bad trades and injuries led to basketball that was sometimes comically bad.

Center Benoit Benjamin, who overate, overslept and underwhelmed, became symbolic of the Clippers. When Sterling refused to pay top dollar for his players, they often bided their time until free agency; Ron Harper likened his time with the team to a jail sentence. Danny Ferry, the No. 2 overall pick in 1989, did not wait that long. He refused to play for the team from the start.

Sterling rebuffed overtures from people who wanted to buy the Clippers and move them and declined an invitation to relocate to Anaheim because he did not want to drive another 25 miles to watch his team play. It cost so little for the Clippers to play at the Sports Arena that Sterling was not compelled to move. When he did agree to take his team 20 blocks north to Staples Center when it opened in 1999, it was as the building’s third tenant, behind the Lakers and the Kings.

It was that status, as a cartoonish organization operating in the shadow of the Lakers, that left so few taking the Clippers seriously. But in recent years, their image — and Sterling’s — has begun to change. In the last three seasons, the Clippers have been a winning team — something that had happened just twice since Sterling purchased the team 33 years ago — and a marketable one, too.

Last summer, the Clippers hired Doc Rivers, one of the most respected coaches in the league. At the end of his introductory news conference, he was asked one final question. Having played for the Clippers in the early 1990s, was he uncomfortable working for a team still owned by Sterling?

“It’s different now,” Rivers said with a smile.

Post: #49

Even after all this. They are still playing for him.

Post: #50

Some rumors that this was a setup to toss him aside and give the team to Magic Johnson! Don't know about that, but 1 thing for certain is that his dumb girlfriend did not orchestrate this alone. Smell's fishy.