Clippers Owner Don Sterling Really Screws Up

[ChitHappens]

He gave the NAACP cash to make himself look good. Let me clean up my racist image by getting endorsed by the NAACP. Not a stupid move at all by Sterling. However, the NAACP...

[London]

Ah, Thanks And... ugh I should have put that together.

[Eric83]

I am LOVING how all these haters are seething about the decision. It reminds me how much of a mental illness racism is.

[Khan]

I love it, too! That's why they called him "Magic," lol!

(Thanks, marceline!)

[Vee]

Magic Johnson is many things, but he is not Tywin Lannister.

That being said, I'd love it if he'd buy the team. And then bring back his lousy talk show for no reason. The Magic Hour! I liked it.

[Nate4]

YES, please

[xtr]

ITA with quatermainefan about Sterling crossing a threshold. He definitely crossed the threshold in the Sports world and needed to be dealt with. Sometimes people can get away with stuff in certain places, (like unfortunately the court of law). But sometimes in other places people can't away with stuff as easily. Sterling was just not going to get away with this reveal of him talking about black people like this in a league where over 70% of the players are black. In addition to being the owner of a team in a city like Los Angeles. I had read that the Clippers lost/had sponsorships suspended from companies like Mercedes-Benz, CarMax, State Farm, Kia, etc.... Sterling's racist views and actions has cost the team and league money and if they hadn't done something right away would have cost them even more money.

He's a racist who's bad for race relations and business in general and something needed to be done about him. I think that Silver did the right thing. I think that he did the best that he could, and I'm sorry that he inherited this mess from David Stern. David Stern knew about the terrible things that Donald Sterling has done for years, and turned an eye to it. (He even gave Donald Sterling the Chris Paul Trade, which really helped turn the Clippers around, and helped make them a real contender for the championship). Something should have definitely been done with David Sterling a long time ago.

I think that the punishment he received is appropriate and fair. He's not going to jail or anything and he'll still be rich and probably get a whole lot richer. I've heard people estimate the team's worth at around at least 700/800 million dollars. Some of the analysts think that Sterling could get like 500 million for the team, if he sells it. I think that he needed to go, there shouldn't be a place for someone who feels like him in the NBA. There may be more like him in the NBA but they aren't the ones on tape. I also read from TMZ sports that he knew that his girlfriend was taping him and that she taped several of their conversations. If true, he should have thought about the risk of allowing her to tape him like that.

[quartermainefan]

I don't see any downside to any of this. The fact that racism is now bad for business is something to celebrate, not dwell on the fact that it is about business. I will mention Marge Schott for a third time in this thread. Maybe I am the only one who remembers her and her and how she talked about the N----rs and the jews...and she only got a two year suspension 20 years ago. It was when she said Hitler had the right idea but went too far that baseball finally decided it had had enough. Compared to her, this guy is just a harmless old fool and yet today he is banned for life. From a certain point of view that is progress.

I could believe they threw a game in protest, and I think the entire league should have staged a one day walkout.

[Mathewson]

Sterling got what was coming to him. He was a piece of filth. Took too long for people to put a stop to him, but other vocal celebrities (Al Sharpton, Paula Deen) who are blatantly racist should also answer for their bigotry.

I may be a snotty bitch but I would never ever hate someone for being black, hispanic, chinese, mexican, anything! That's like hating someone for having green eyes. Wow!