NBA Charges Donald Sterling

LA Clippers vs. Phoenix Suns, NBA game at Staples Center (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Los Angeles Clippers secondary logo (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

The National Basketball Association today hand delivered charges against Donald Sterling, the beleaguered owner of the Los Angeles Clippers. Last week, Sterling refused to pay the 2.5 million dollar fine issued by Commissioner Adam Silver and threatened court action if the NBA did not stop action designed to force him to sell the team. In short, Donald Sterling gave the NBA the proverbial finger and they did not like it!

Are we in danger of losing sight of the realities here? Amidst endless black people of questionable expertise, especially in the arena of race relations, constantly being interviewed on CNN and MSNBC ad nauseam, and endless replays of an interview of Donald Sterling by CNN's Anderson Cooper, not to mention heated debate among basketball fans and non fans alike...I feel we are losing sight of just what happened here!

Yes, Donald Sterling owns the LA Clippers which he acquired for some 12.5 million dollars. The team went through some rough times and only lately has become a team of championship caliber. Some place the current value of the Clippers north of a billion dollars today. All in all, a sound business investment, a source of great pride to the Sterling family and a handsome legacy to the Sterling children, the city of Los Angeles and basketball fans everywhere. So what's the rub?

Well, Donald and Shelly Sterling have been estranged for the past few years, Shelly appears confused...at one moment she is shocked and abhorred by her husband's racial attitudes and in the next moment staunchly defends him after an amicable dinner out at one of LA's popular restaurants. Donald admits to being a philanderer with an eye for young, light-skinned girls of mixed race but has consistently expressed some tender feelings for his estranged wife. Complicated??? You bet! But most relationships are complicated at the very least!

Let us remember though that at the time Donald Sterling allegedly make the comments that the NBA so disapproved of, he was at home, in his own private space with the utmost expectation (according to my reading of the law) of privacy. V. Stiviano, a young woman who was using Sterling to feather her own nest, taped him illegally and then released the tapes albeit via a third party, to TMZ. She has no moral high ground to stand on, in California or anywhere else on the planet. A scheming, conniving whore by any other name stinks like dead fish no matter who or where she is!

So what is the chrome-domed head of the NBA charging Donald Sterling with? For starters, Sterling is alleged to have undermined the NBA's position on diversity and inclusion. Does that mean that we can expect to see a whole lot more white, bisexual, Laplanders who can't jump recruited into the NBA soon? Additionally, Sterling is said to have ignited animus on the part of players and damaged relationships with fans and sponsors. Those must be the players who got undergraduate degrees in basketballology and who cannot pronounce the word ASK!

 As for racial issues and tensions in America, well I can say that I am surprised at the commentary this has ignited in the sphere of social media. Almost everyone, black, white, hispanic and small, green extra-terrestrials is that Sterling should pay the fine and search his couch for misplaced change should he have any liquidity problems. Roughly, three in four people do not believe he should lose his team as he was expressing private thoughts within the privacy of his own home.

Litigator Maxwell M. Blecher who is representing Sterling, last week stated that his client has been denied due process and had done nothing wrong. Today, he states he was reviewing the voluminous charges and above that he has, "No comment."

Apart from the allegations listed above, Sterling has violated some "good behavior" type covenants that he and other owners signed throughout the years.

What should Donald Sterling's next move be? Should he sell the Clippers and enjoy his immense wealth for whatever time he has left? Some folks think so. Most think he should fight the NBA on principle, in a real courtroom and in a real court. This is something he knows a great deal about. He is extremely wealthy and well connected in legal circles and appears to enjoy a good fight. As for the rumors that he has prostate cancer...take it from an old nurse...Donald Sterling has a better chance of being hit by a train, attacked by rabid wolves or being abducted by Martians then he has of dying of prostate cancer. This man lives to overcome adversity. His girlfriend is gone. Shelly is filing a strategic divorce. He loves basketball and takes pride in the Clippers. He has nothing to lose and may in fact, be instrumental in defining once and for all the meaning of privacy and where as members of society we may expect our right to privacy to be respected.