Vicious Rants of an Angry Yellow Man

Well, Donald Sterling deserves a blog post of his own instead of being a comment from the Bundy post.  So here it goes.  I know I always say innocent until proven guilty.  But if he is not the guy in the tape, then why isn't he denying it?  So I think he is the one on the tape and the NBA investigation should not take any time longer than asking Sterling if he has any defensive statement.

I never liked Sterling.  He is one of those guys that tries to buy fame and accolades with money.  At least once a month he takes out a full page ad in the LA Times blowing his own horn about charity giving.  He would "honor" people for their charity work with galas but at the same time implying how much his foundation is helping these people.  Ironically plenty of minorities are featured in these galas including Magic and other black athletes.  So I don't know why Sterling would tell his mistress not to associate with blacks since he associates with them to make himself look good.  Various charities and famous people are happy to be featured in his ads because I believe that he showers them with money.  In a couple of weeks, the NAACP was scheduled to give Sterling a life time achievement award!

As I said before, when someone is successful in business or something else, it does not make him smart or a good person.  You can't buy everything, specially respect.  Old rich guys have trophy wives.  In this case, a trophy mistress.  But like any trophy, if you buy it, it is meaningless.  In fact people laugh behind your back because that young woman is just taking your money and making you look like an old fool.  It is like buying a tennis trophy.  Nobody will think that you are good in tennis, just that you are shameless.

Back to racism.  Sterling had been sued by minorities in the past for not renting his apartments to them.  So he may be a racist.  But then he was sued for racial and age discrimination by former Clipper GM Elgin Baylor.  That suit was tossed and rightly so.  Baylor had like 20 years at the helm and the entire time the Clippers were the laughing stock of the NBA.  Any owner would have fired him a long time ago.  If Sterling is a racist, why was he so loyal to Baylor?  And what about all those black leaders, including NAACP and Magic.  Didn't they have a clue that Sterling was a racist all those years?  Or did money kept these people from saying anything until this episode goes public and all these people had to express shock and outrage?

Finally, why was there even a talk of Clippers boycotting the game yesterday?  How is forfeiting going to help?  These players are paid millions to represent the team and the city, not to represent Sterling.  How would disappointing the fans help?  I was angry at some pundits, mostly white, who said that the Clippers played poorly yesterday because they were distracted or down emotionally.  Come on, if someone in the family died, I can see a player would be affected.  Racist comments from an 80 year old is going to affect a pro player?  I would have used it as a motivation to play better!

The NBA, I don't think, can make Sterling sell the team.  They can suspend him.  But so what?  He is not running the team anyway.  The only thing that can hurt him is to fine him, say a million.  This should be used in a charity to improve race relations.  Money can't buy respect and it won't make people's impression of Sterling any better.   But at least it will get him out of the news.