Tuesday, April 29, 2014

bomani jones spits the unvarnished in public and on the air



WaPo | At this point, it does appear likely that Sterling’s time as an owner is finally coming to a close, and not just because of the public outcry. Rather, the comments in the recording are starting to impact the one thing that we know actually gets leagues and owners to take decisive action: money. So far, Virgin America, CarMax, State Farm and Kia have all announced they are ending sponsorships of the Clippers, with others likely to follow. (State Farm runs those omnipresent Cliff Paul ads that feature Chris Paul, the star point guard for the Clippers and the president of the National Basketball Players Association; Blake Griffin, the other star Clipper, has an endorsement deal with Kia.)

These announcements seem to mark the beginning of the end for Sterling. We saw this just a few months ago in Arizona, where a controversial bill would have let businesses deny service to gay customers. The bill was roundly criticized by many businesses, and it seemed like it could have endangered the state’s chances of hosting the next Super Bowl, so the bill was vetoed.

It’s unclear right now what the league will do. The NBA says it will make an announcement on Tuesday. Players have said they want the maximum possible punishment for Sterling. NBA commissioner Adam Silver (who took that job in February) referenced “broad powers in place under the NBA’s constitutional bylaws” in discussing what sanctions could follow an investigation.

We don’t know what is actually in these bylaws because they aren’t public (something taxpayers should remember the next time an NBA team asks for millions to upgrade their arena). But Jeffrey Kessler, a sports lawyer who participated in talks during the NBA’s lockout in 2011 (amid some controversy), said he thinks the league could force the team’s sale. (Kessler also said it doesn’t matter if the recording was made illegally, because the NBA “is not a court of law.”) And Michael McCann noted that even though forcibly removing Sterling is unlikely, the NBA could just suspend him indefinitely.

The NBA will hold a news conference on Tuesday at 2 p.m. The Clippers host the Golden State Warriors for Game 5 of their playoff series a little more than eight hours later.  Fist tap Dorcas Dad.

7 comments:

ken said...

Looks like Magic might be taking over...

http://sports.yahoo.com/news/exit-strategy-for-nba--donald-sterling--sell-clippers-to-magic-johnson-073015142.html

"Make no mistake: Magic's Dodgers group is angling for a Southern California sports empire. Magic Johnson and Guggenheim had been aggressive in pursuing a purchase of the Los Angeles Lakers – only to have the Buss family make clear to them the franchise isn't for sale, sources told Yahoo Sports.

Nevertheless, this is business and Magic's willing to change colors and make himself a Clipper. Between the Dodgers and Clippers, Magic Johnson could be the face of two championship contenders.

Magic could have it all.

“This is 100 percent Magic’s plan,” a league official intimately involved in the buying and selling of franchises told Yahoo Sports.

As an exit strategy, Sterling could walk away with a $1 billion-plus sales price for his franchise, and a final act of goodwill to soften his exile into the sports netherworld. Sterling will be reviled forever, but he has to understand clearing the way for Magic Johnson and the $200 billion-plus group backing him could be a decent farewell punctuating a most indecent ownership tenure."

Makheru Bradley said...

Bro. Jones breaks down the sensationalism over the comments of a white supremacist oligarch, and places the focus squarely where it belongs--on institutionalized white supremacy.

DD said...

I heard him saying that nobody, black, white, rich, poor, say 'boo,' about Donald Sterling until he opened up Pandora's Box of the Vapors. And that nobody now, black, white, rich or poor gives two shits about the larger issue, only the cathartic release of having old Donny ride the rail.


But maybe I'm projecting...

CNu said...

"What's the funny in this?"

"Dood, this man can't keep his lady friends under control!"

This is the only opportunity a lot of people will have to stand against racism cause when the next time comes and it's real racism....,

"This is how the real things go with the rich people I hang out with and the rich people I hang out with don't want their circle hanging out with black people."

Bomani delivered a dose of bitter rhetorical medicine with a liberally heaping spoonful of comedy sugar.

Nobody dropped it straight-faced in public over the airwaves like Uncle Pookie did on the Kwaku Net http://subrealism.blogspot.com/2014/04/from-kwaku-net-pookies-very-last-day-on.html

Vic78 said...

http://www.counterpunch.org/2014/05/02/racism-in-sports/

CNu said...

That's it? That's all Ajamu Baraka's got? Marshall has gained infamy for his intractable opposition to having African-Americans on his roster. According to professor Charles Ross, "For 24 years Marshall was identified as the leading racist in the NFL".[3] Though the league had previously had a sprinkling of black players, blacks were excluded from all NFL teams just one year after the then-Boston Braves entered the league.

While the rest of the league began signing individual blacks in 1946 and actually drafting blacks in 1949, Marshall held out until 1962 before signing a black player. Along with his own personal views, Marshall refused to sign African-American players because of a desire to appeal to Southern markets, which lacked an NFL team until Dallas entered the league in 1960.[4] His intractability was routinely mocked in Washington Post columns by legendary writer Shirley Povich, who sarcastically used terms from the civil rights movement and related court cases to describe games: for instance, he once wrote that Jim Brown "integrated" the end zone, making the score "separate but unequal".

Finally, in 1962, Interior Secretary Stewart Udall and Attorney General Robert F. Kennedy issued an ultimatum — unless Marshall signed a black player, the government would revoke the Redskins' 30-year lease on the year-old D.C. Stadium (now Robert F. Kennedy Memorial Stadium), which had been paid for by government money and was owned by the Washington city government (which, then and now, is formally an arm of the federal government). Marshall's chief response was to make Ernie Davis, Syracuse's all-American running back, his number-one draft choice for 1962. Davis, however, demanded a trade, saying, "I won't play for that S.O.B."[citation needed] He got his wish, as the team sent him to Cleveland for All-Pro Bobby Mitchell. Mitchell was the first African American football player to play a game for the Redskins, and he played with the team for several years, initially at running back, but he made his biggest impact at wide receiver.http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/George_Preston_Marshall The Redskins were THE embodiment of Dixie by design. But that period came and went, was roundly mocked, presidentially boycotted, and blah, blah, blah, blah, blah....,

Vic78 said...

Someone had to say "white supremacy permeates..." It's not a race talk unless someone says that.

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