Ka-Boom!! Adam Silver hammers Sterling

[LegalEagle15]

I agree I doubt a player would get a lifetime ban or even a significant one. Sprewell got banned for a year, and they wanted to terminate his contract but that got overturned. What I was simply referring to is the rule has now been set that you may be punished for things said and recorded in private. Players could now get punished for that action theoretically. 

How much will depend on what protections the CBA gives them as well as what is in their uniform player contract. There are provisions that actions detrimental to the league are subject to sanctions. I could see fines or even brief suspensions, like what we saw with Riley Cooper and the NFL.

I wouldn't be surprised if, depending on the outcome of all this, the owners push back in the next CBA for more stringent rules to be applied to players. How much they get will depend on their bargaining positions when the CBA expires.

[LloydMooresLegs]

2014 is the start of a new the era.   The list of opinions that if held, lead to utter condemnation and ruin, now stands at two. 

Surely, there will be more horrific opinions added as this new process claims more unspeakable opinions. 

And the NSA can really help with this process, too.  Gonna need to examine everyone's personal conversations.

Don't need the NSA to get to such opinions...they are right on Scoop.

[mikekinsellaMVP]

Wow.  Heisenberg, I'm impressed w/ the research.

I expected something along those lines to come out.  Let's face it, lots of billionaires are dirtbags who have made their money in a duplicitous way or been willing to cut corners.  I was addressing your hypothetical about our lives.  I'm sure there has been a case in CA between a divorcing couple with a similar plot -- a tape exposes a jerk for who he/she is.  Difference is, the couple has a net worth south of $1M, so the illegally made tape gets thrown out by a judge rather than being broadcast by TMZ in the court of public opinion.

This is why I've said I'm conflicted about this whole thing.  Anyone who thinks the NBA is doing this purely out of compassion for African-Americans is a fool.  The owners you've listed breathe a sigh of relief; their sins glossed over by their willingness to toss out the darkest of the black hearts.  People are claiming victory and touting lessons about respect for your fellow man.  But sadly, the pragmatic lesson the owners learned is:  always frisk your mistress for a wire.

[GGGG]

Sterling is now a toxic pariah, shunned by everyone who can't be associated with the scarlet R, which, as the citizenry can now see, leads to utter, swift condemnation.    He can't own a team.  Any business that he owns or associated with must divest.  No one can risk being seen in public with him.  

Sure, Sterling will have his $1b sale proceeds.  But he might as well bury it in his back yard.  He won't even be able to give it away, as charities would need to return the check.  His punishment is, roughly, solitary confinement until he dies.  (exaggeration, but with much truth.)

Well....hold a benefit concert for him then.

Because I truly don't care.

[jesmu84]

Wow.  Heisenberg, I'm impressed w/ the research.

I expected something along those lines to come out.  Let's face it, lots of billionaires are dirtbags who have made their money in a duplicitous way or been willing to cut corners.  I was addressing your hypothetical about our lives.  I'm sure there has been a case in CA between a divorcing couple with a similar plot -- a tape exposes a jerk for who he/she is.  Difference is, the couple has a net worth south of $1M, so the illegally made tape gets thrown out by a judge rather than being broadcast by TMZ in the court of public opinion.

This is why I've said I'm conflicted about this whole thing.  Anyone who thinks the NBA is doing this purely out of compassion for African-Americans is a fool.  The owners you've listed breathe a sigh of relief; their sins glossed over by their willingness to toss out the darkest of the black hearts.  People are claiming victory and touting lessons about respect for your fellow man.  But sadly, the pragmatic lesson the owners learned is:  always frisk your mistress for a wire.

I posted this earlier: http://www.nj.com/ledger-dalessandro/index.ssf/2014/04/dalessandro_donald_sterlings_candid_moment_its_business_as_usual_and_nba_business_is_often_ugly.html

[mikekinsellaMVP]

I posted this earlier: http://www.nj.com/ledger-dalessandro/index.ssf/2014/04/dalessandro_donald_sterlings_candid_moment_its_business_as_usual_and_nba_business_is_often_ugly.html

Apologies.  Good find.

[Tugg Speedman]

Wow.  Heisenberg, I'm impressed w/ the research.

I expected something along those lines to come out.  Let's face it, lots of billionaires are dirtbags who have made their money in a duplicitous way or been willing to cut corners.  I was addressing your hypothetical about our lives.  I'm sure there has been a case in CA between a divorcing couple with a similar plot -- a tape exposes a jerk for who he/she is.  Difference is, the couple has a net worth south of $1M, so the illegally made tape gets thrown out by a judge rather than being broadcast by TMZ in the court of public opinion.

This is why I've said I'm conflicted about this whole thing.  Anyone who thinks the NBA is doing this purely out of compassion for African-Americans is a fool.  The owners you've listed breathe a sigh of relief; their sins glossed over by their willingness to toss out the darkest of the black hearts.  People are claiming victory and touting lessons about respect for your fellow man.  But sadly, the pragmatic lesson the owners learned is:  always frisk your mistress for a wire.

Not dirtbags.  

But when you run an organization of tens of thousands people under you they are going to do things that get the organization sued and make you look bad.  So Herb Simon did not make racial slurs to his Latino janitors any more than Sterling personally directed no renting to blacks.  Those come out of the organization.  Look at the organizations you work for, should we judge you bu their lawsuit record?  Should we judge our MU degrees by the sexual assault in 2011, Jeffrey Dahmer or Senator Joe McCarthy?

If you want to paint an person and his organization in a bad light, it's not hard to do when you're talking about a billionaire with organizations that employs tens of thousands.

[ChicosBailBonds]

Sounds like Silver's hammer was really the players.  All 6 teams in playoffs yesterday gave word they were not going to play unless that lifetime ban was issued, he had no choice.

[ChicosBailBonds]

I do not disagree with you, but it still takes just one guy to show how big his wiener is or compensate for how small it is to get crazy dollars.

Here are those already mentioned in the LA Times as having public interest

David Geffen
Magic Johnson + Guggenheim group
Floyd Mayweather
Oscar De La Hoya
Patrick Soon-Shiong

That's some crazy $$ with most of those guys.

Add

Henry Samueli (Ducks owner)
Larry Ellenson (Oracle)
Chris Hanson (Seattle)

[Tugg Speedman]

I do not disagree with you, but it still takes just one guy to show how big his wiener is or compensate for how small it is to get crazy dollars.

Here are those already mentioned in the LA Times as having public interest

David Geffen
Magic Johnson + Guggenheim group
Floyd Mayweather
Oscar De La Hoya
Patrick Soon-Shiong

That's some crazy $$ with most of those guys.

Steve Ballmer and Oprah

Also I thought I read that Magic was backing out of the Guggenheim group.  If correct, I think he realizes that Sterling will never sell to him.

[Tugg Speedman]

Here is the out ... he's going to transfer ownership to his wife ... and Doc will bless it!!

Clippers coach Doc Rivers shows support for Donald Sterling's wife Shelly

http://sports.yahoo.com/news/clippers-coach-doc-rivers-shows-support-for-donald-sterling-s-wife-shelly-092602210.html

While Clippers fans rejoiced in their team's first victory sans a banned Donald Sterling, perhaps the biggest Clippers fan of them all departed Staples Center in silence, dressed in black and flanked by several bodyguards.

"It's a tough one for Shelly [Sterling], really," Clippers coach Doc Rivers said following a 113-103 Game 5 victory over the Golden State Warriors on Tuesday. "She didn't do anything wrong either. You have compassion for her. I kept hearing about the girlfriend. I kept thinking, 'Shelly is the wife.' You know what I mean? I talked to her [Tuesday] and she has been through as much as anyone as well."

The NBA banned Donald Sterling from the league on Tuesday while also fining him $2.5 million and stating plans to force him to sell the Clippers. The suspension came in aftermath of an audiotape surfacing in which Sterling was heard telling a former girlfriend that she should not have pictures with black people shown publicly nor should she take them to Clippers games.

While the NBA is attempting to push Sterling out as owner, it's uncertain if his wife or any other family member could take over the franchise. National Basketball Players Association vice-president Roger Mason Jr., however, told Yahoo Sports that the players want completely new ownership and not a family member connected to Sterling. A source said that Shelly Sterling would like for her son-in-law, Eric Miller, the Clippers' director of basketball administration, to take over the franchise.

"We're looking for a change in ownership. A complete change," Mason said.

Rivers didn't think the Sterlings could keep the Clippers in the family in the midst of the ban.

"It doesn't sound like it, to be honest," said Rivers, about the possibility of Shelly Sterling owning the Clippers. "And I think she knows that. But she still wanted to be [at Game 5]. I don't know if it's right or wrong, but to me it was right."

Clippers guard Chris Paul, who is president of the NBPA, said: "Luckily that's not up to us."

The day after the Donald Sterling news broke on TMZ Sports, Shelly Sterling attended Game 4 of the Clippers' first-round series against the Warriors in Oakland. The weary Clippers lost 118-97. She was decked out in all black and sat courtside across from the Clippers' bench. She watched Game 5 hidden in a suite instead of her usual courtside seat at Staples Center.

"For us, it's tough," Paul said. "But I can't imagine how tough it is for that family. So we will continue let them get through that."

Rivers said he convinced Shelly Sterling to attend Game 5 and passed on a message from her to the players.

"She asked if she could come, which I thought was a very nice gesture," Rivers said. "And she just wanted the players to know, she told me to tell them that she loved them. I thought, 'Why not?'"

[brandx]

Wow.  Heisenberg, I'm impressed w/ the research.

I expected something along those lines to come out.  Let's face it, lots of billionaires are dirtbags who have made their money in a duplicitous way or been willing to cut corners.  I was addressing your hypothetical about our lives.  I'm sure there has been a case in CA between a divorcing couple with a similar plot -- a tape exposes a jerk for who he/she is.  Difference is, the couple has a net worth south of $1M, so the illegally made tape gets thrown out by a judge rather than being broadcast by TMZ in the court of public opinion.

This is why I've said I'm conflicted about this whole thing.  Anyone who thinks the NBA is doing this purely out of compassion for African-Americans is a fool.  The owners you've listed breathe a sigh of relief; their sins glossed over by their willingness to toss out the darkest of the black hearts.  People are claiming victory and touting lessons about respect for your fellow man.  But sadly, the pragmatic lesson the owners learned is:  always frisk your mistress for a wire.

I thought it was that when you give millions to your mistress - consider it the cost of doing business. Don't try to get it back.

[mikekinsellaMVP]

Not dirtbags.  

But when you run an organization of tens of thousands people under you they are going to do things that get the organization sued and make you look bad.  So Herb Simon did not make racial slurs to his Latino janitors any more than Sterling personally directed no renting to blacks.  Those come out of the organization.  Look at the organizations you work for, should we judge you bu their lawsuit record?  Should we judge our MU degrees by the sexual assault in 2011, Jeffrey Dahmer or Senator Joe McCarthy?

If you want to paint an person and his organization in a bad light, it's not hard to do when you're talking about a billionaire with organizations that employs tens of thousands.

People already do.  They roll their eyes when I tell them I work for a government contractor.  They call me a snob when I say I went to MU.  And they ask why I support misogyny and child molestation when I tell them I'm a Catholic.  And then I say and do things that make them eat their words.  It's the beauty of individualism.

Sterling's the same way.  Fine, don't judge him based on his company's discrimination.  Judge him for his refusal to rent to them because he claims they stink and attract vermin.  Judge him for his desire to run the team like a plantation.  When the words come out of his mouth, it's hard to put a 20,000 person buffer in front of him.

[GGGG]

Not dirtbags.  

But when you run an organization of tens of thousands people under you they are going to do things that get the organization sued and make you look bad.  So Herb Simon did not make racial slurs to his Latino janitors any more than Sterling personally directed no renting to blacks.  Those come out of the organization.  Look at the organizations you work for, should we judge you bu their lawsuit record?  Should we judge our MU degrees by the sexual assault in 2011, Jeffrey Dahmer or Senator Joe McCarthy?

If you want to paint an person and his organization in a bad light, it's not hard to do when you're talking about a billionaire with organizations that employs tens of thousands.

Uh....you sure about that?  The past lawsuits have some direct quotes attributed to him that sound like he actively kept blacks and Latinos out of his buildings.

You have a tendency to post stuff as truth (eg, Diamond Stone's family paid for the tickets MU gave him) without actually checking it out to see if it is actually true.

[brandx]

One thing to remember with all of this slippery slope talk.

The league was not after Donald Sterling. His mistress was after him. This is the peripheral damage of screwing (in every sense of the word) the wrong woman.

It was only because of her actions that the NBA had to take steps. It certainly was no mystery (as many posters have stated) how he treated minorities before the tape came out.

[Tugg Speedman]

Uh....you sure about that?  The past lawsuits have some direct quotes attributed to him that sound like he actively kept blacks and Latinos out of his buildings.

You have a tendency to post stuff as truth (eg, Diamond Stone's family paid for the tickets MU gave him) without actually checking it out to see if it is actually true.

http://www.eeoc.gov/eeoc/newsroom/release/11-8-11c.cfm

Simon Property Group To Pay $125,000 To Settle EEOC National Origin Discrimination Lawsuit

Supervisor Harassed Latino Janitors, Federal Agency Charged

LAS VEGAS  — The U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) today announced the $125,000  settlement of a national origin harassment lawsuit it had filed against Simon  Property Group, Inc., which identifies itself as the largest real estate  company in the United States.  The EEOC had charged that Latino  janitors working for the company were subjected to daily verbal attacks because  of their national origin. Simon Property  Group owns and/or manages various shopping malls throughout the country,  including the Forum Shops at Caesars Palace in Las    Vegas, the site where the EEOC said the abuse  occurred.

According to the EEOC’s suit, a housekeeping shift leader, who was white, had  harassed a class of Latino janitors on a daily basis beginning in 2005,  subjecting them to verbal abuse, including slurs. Over a dozen Latino janitors submitted a  written petition that same year complaining about the shift leader, but they  perceived that nothing was done to stop the harassment. The EEOC alleged that the harassment  continued for another year, until the supervisor was finally terminated for  other reasons.

The EEOC originally filed suit  against the company in U.S. District  Court for the District of Nevada (EEOC v. Simon Property Group, Inc., Case  No. 2:09-cv-01178), alleging that the conduct violated Title VII of the Civil  Rights Act of 1964. The parties  entered into a two-year consent decree providing monetary relief for at least five  harassment victims along with injunctive relief designed to prevent and  appropriately deal with future instances of harassment. The consent decree also requires that Simon  Property retain a consultant to monitor and track complaints in Nevada; provide  anti-harassment and anti-discrimination training for staff; and report  compliance efforts to the EEOC.

“We commend Simon Property for  reinforcing measures to prevent future instances of harassment and  discrimination,” said Anna Y. Park, regional attorney for the EEOC’s Los  Angeles District Office, which has jurisdiction over southern Nevada.  “National origin discrimination issues are on the rise and we are  committed to vigorously enforcing federal laws to ensure workplaces free of  harassment and discrimination.”

Adriana Lopez, acting director for  the EEOC’s Las Vegas Local Office, added, “We encourage workers to report  harassment as they did here in this case.  We equally encourage employers to take proactive steps to stop  harassment and to take swift action when it does occur.”

According to its website, Indianapolis-based  Simon Property Group is an S&P 500 company with ownership or property  interest in 392 properties throughout North America, Europe and Asia,  generating annual retail sales in excess of $60 billion in the United States.

The EEOC enforces federal laws  prohibiting employment discrimination.  Further information about the EEOC is available on its web site at www.eeoc.gov.

[ChicosBailBonds]

One thing to remember with all of this slippery slope talk.

The league was not after Donald Sterling. His mistress was after him. This is the peripheral damage of screwing (in every sense of the word) the wrong woman.

It was only because of her actions that the NBA had to take steps. It certainly was no mystery (as many posters have stated) how he treated minorities before the tape came out.

Lots of people want to take down other people, especially high profile folks.  Business deals gone bad, disgruntled employee, mistress, etc.  You get to some of these levels in society and you have ticked off a person or two along the way. 

[ChicosBailBonds]

How are the Dodgers on the outs with the fans? They're leading MLB in attendance so far this season.

http://www.latimes.com/entertainment/envelope/cotown/la-et-ct-mayor-dodger-deals-20140429,0,14756.story#axzz30O6gelMR

[Tugg Speedman]

Uh....you sure about that?  The past lawsuits have some direct quotes attributed to him that sound like he actively kept blacks and Latinos out of his buildings.

Being argumentative ....

Donald Sterling is not a racist, the LA Chapter of the NAACP gave him a life-time achievement award in 2009 and he is such a saint, they were scheduled to give him another one next month.

Two life-time achievement awards in one life-time!  How can this guy be a racist?

[Tugg Speedman]

Now that we have the "Sterling Standard,"  Why is Jay-Z allowed to be an agent?  Why doesn't he get banned for life?




Jay-Z’s bling from ‘whites are devils’ group
The New York Post
April 6, 2014

http://nypost.com/2014/04/06/jay-zs-medallion-bears-logo-of-five-percent-radical-group/

Black people are the fathers and mothers of civilization, white men are the devil, the Christian god is nothing more than a ghost and only a small percentage of people understand the world.

These are just some of the ­beliefs behind the bling — the gaudy Five Percent Nation ­medallions worn by Jay Z and Carmelo Anthony.

Last week, all eyes at the Barclays Center weren’t on Jay Z’s better half, Beyoncé — but on the coaster-size golden pendant swinging from the rapper’s neck as the couple sat courtside. Asked once if the group’s symbol — an eight-pointed star with the number 7 in the middle — held any meaning for him, the rapper shrugged, “A little bit.”

So what exactly do Five Percenters believe?

“The rationale is that the black man is God and created the universe, and is physically stronger and intellectually stronger and more righteous naturally,” says Michael Muhammad Knight, an author of two books on the radical group.

“Whiteness is weak and wicked and inferior — basically just an errant child who needs to be corrected.”

The group was founded in 1964 in Harlem by Clarence Smith, who later changed his name to Allah, a former student of Malcolm X who disagreed with the Nation of Islam over the nature of God.

Smith rejected the notion of a supernatural deity and instead believed that all black men had God in them and that black women were “earths” who took on a complementary yet subordinate role to their gods.

The idea is empowering, Knight says.

“Anytime someone is saying you have to accept your conditions of oppression and slavery and pray to an unseen god — that kind of god is just being used to keep people down and to keep people from looking to themselves as a solution to their problems,” he notes. “If there is a problem, no one will fix it for you, except yourself.”

Five Percenters don’t consider themselves Muslim, but their name comes from the Nation of Islam’s belief that 5 percent of humanity are “poor righteous teachers” who exist to enlighten the masses about the truth of existence.

Members will sometimes refer to themselves as “scientists” to drive home the search for truth. And they face a tall task, because under their belief system, 10 percent of the world’s population controls the other 85 percent by spreading the belief in a “mystery God.”

To show followers the way, members must learn the Supreme Mathematics and Supreme Alphabet — powerful tools to decipher the meaning of the universe. In both, each letter and number represents a concept: for example, 1 is knowledge, 2 is wisdom, while A is Allah and B is be, or born. The number 7 on Jay Z’s pendant stands for God.

Caucasians, meanwhile, don’t enjoy an exalted status in the narrative of the Five Percenters.

“The first lesson I learned from the Five Percent was simple: F–k white people. Seriously. White people are devils,” Knight, 36, who is white and converted to ­Islam as a teenager, once wrote.

He insisted the movement has been welcoming and that he views the controversial sentiment as a statement about power rather than biology.

“For me, it is about who is marked as privileged in the power relations of this society,” he says.

Some followers take exception to those who transform their flag into a fashion accessory.

“Jay Z is not an active member — no one has vouched for him,” Saladin Allah, a representative of the group’s upstate region, told The Post. “It was always understood that you don’t wear the ­regalia if you don’t totally subscribe to the life.”

[ChicosBailBonds]

Now that we have the "Sterling Standard,"  Why is Jay-Z allowed to be an agent?  Why doesn't he get banned for life?

He's an artist and he can't be racist, it is impossible

[brandx]

He's an artist and he can't be racist, it is impossible

I demand that all blacks sign papers saying that racism no longer exists before we allow them to be a part of the NBA - or American life, in general.

What could drive a man to refer to people who owned, tortured and abused blacks as "white devils"? I don't know where this thinking could have come from.

[ChicosBailBonds]

I demand that all blacks sign papers saying that racism no longer exists before we allow them to be a part of the NBA - or American life, in general.

What could drive a man to refer to people who owned, tortured and abused blacks as "white devils"? I don't know where this thinking could have come from.

Interesting logic....so if members of my family were tortured, killed by a certain ethnic group, I would be just if I decided to write songs, speak on the talk show circuits, etc, etc condemning in general terms an entire group of people.  And in doing so, it would be universally accepted as "ok". 

Incidentally, I'm glad to see a man of such high integrity has become an agent for players in leagues that have names like Braves, Redskins, Indians, etc.  You know, White Devils and all.  Must be conflicting for him, but my guess is the team's money is probably still green so he's able to make an exception.

[brandx]

Interesting logic....so if members of my family were tortured, killed by a certain ethnic group, I would be just if I decided to write songs, speak on the talk show circuits, etc, etc condemning in general terms an entire group of people.  And in doing so, it would be universally accepted as "ok". 

Incidentally, I'm glad to see a man of such high integrity has become an agent for players in leagues that have names like Braves, Redskins, Indians, etc.  You know, White Devils and all.  Must be conflicting for him, but my guess is the team's money is probably still green so he's able to make an exception.

Interesting. I wonder if you were introducing a Native American friend to someone and that someone asked what nationality your friend was - would you reply "Oh, he's a redskin".

If you replied that way, I could see your support for the name, otherwise.... Since Snyder owns the team, why doesn't he change the team's name to a word with Jewish connotations comparable to Redskins?

By the way, I have no problem with Warriors, Indians, etc. Those are not derogatory terms.

[LloydMooresLegs]

Uh-oh, here we go again.  Chicos, can you just refer him to arguments you've made in another thread to save space?