The
Hidden Agendas of Donald Sterling & Adam Silver
By
Bob Cox
Unless
you've been secluded in an underground bunker in a melting iceberg
somewhere in the Antarctic, chances are you've heard about the
recent scandal involving Los Angeles Clippers owner Donald Sterling
and his racist rant caught on tape. An organization called Deadspin
acquired an extended, 15-minute version of the conversation between
Sterling (DS), a married man of over 50 years and his then-girlfriend
V. Stiviano (V). Here are a few low points of the dialog.
V:
I don't understand, I don't see your views. I wasn't raised the way
you were raised.
DS:
Well then, if you don't feel—don't come to my games. Don't bring
black people, and don't come.
V:
Do you know that you have a whole team that's black that plays for
you?
DS:
You just, do I know? I
support them and give them food, and clothes, and cars, and houses.
Who gives it to them? Does someone else give it to them? Do I know
that I have—who makes the game? Do I make the game, or do they make
the game? Is there 30 owners that created the league?
We've
heard many people speak out against these offensively racist comments
and rightfully so. What we haven’t heard as much about is the
equally disturbing and unacceptable comments Sterling directed
towards all his players, regardless of their ethnicity. Sterling is
living in the delusion that giving is a one way street, flowing down
majestically from his palace among the clouds. What’s he’s failed
to grasp is that if his wasn't for the dedication of all the
players and members of his organization, he wouldn't be a part of
the billionaire club in America. Sterling purchased the Clippers 33
years ago for $12 million and it’s now conservatively valued at
$575 million by Forbes.
Patrick Rishe, a professor of sports business at Webster University,
says that the team is worth at least $750 million and that a bidding
war could quickly take the sales price up to $1 billion or more.
Sterling’s
tyrannical views on how to run a successful sports organization are
nothing new. Sterling’s history of despicable behavior is long and
well documented within his sports organization and also the real
estate he owns. Sterling has been guilty of abusing his financial
power for many years and it finally caught up to him. This type of
exploitation has been going on long before Jackie Robinson
courageously broke the color barrier in Major League Baseball in
1947. From the sweatshops and factories of the industrial revolution
to the southern plantations two centuries ago, an unhealthy
combination of greed and an appalling lack of compassion and empathy
for the common man has existed in the cold-blooded hearts some of the
wealthiest entrepreneurs in the world.
When
Adam Silver, the new commissioner of the N.B.A. fined Sterling the
maximum amount of 2.5 million and banned him for life from all
activities related to the N.B.A. the vast majority of Americans rose
as one and applauded his decision, a decision I wholeheartedly
supported. There is; however, a skeptical part of me that wonders
about the conversation Silver had with other key participants behind
closed doors. How much was Silver’s decision based on a directive
from his heart to do the right thing versus external pressure from
the outside world. I’m pretty sure that a fine and suspension that
was less than the maximum might have created a hornet’s nest of
potential future problems. Would millions of dollars be lost via
massive boycotts, corporate sponsorship cancellations, declining
attendance and fewer television viewers? Even worse, would justice be
served out in the streets of major cities across America (rioting and
looting) if Sterling’s punishment was perceived as a slap on the
wrist?
In
the final analysis, I believe that Adam Silver made the right choice.
Racism, intolerance and blatant disrespect have no place in our
society. But is casting out any member of society, even one as rotten
as Sterling, without the opportunity to rehabilitate and atone for
their grievous ways the enlightened choice? We have accepted a lower
standard of quality among the products we use every day, despite the
fact that we have the technology to create better and longer lasting
goods (another example of appalling greed), so we've grown
accustomed to accepting less and paying more in the long run while
our landfills pile up like monuments of waste. Should we do the same
thing to our people who don’t measure up by permanently casting
them out?
In
the sorted case of Donald Sterling, perhaps, a more fitting decision
would've been a second option: An opportunity to redeem himself and
atone for his transgressions. How? By imposing a combination of
generous financial donations from Sterling that go directly to
organizations that are committed to helping others along with several
thousand hours of community service by Mr. Sterling himself. Doesn't
he truly deserve the opportunity to serve those that he has callously
walked on for years? This, along with the requirement to work many
more hours in each and every position of the employees that he has
regarded as being beneath him. I believe that if anyone is served a
steady diet of humble pie, even the most despicable characters could
have a change of heart. By disparaging, punishing and judging our
fellow man, we not only harden the coldest hearts of those we seek
justice for, we create a colder and less compassionate heart within
ourselves. If the real bottom line question is how do we create a
better world for ourselves and future generations and this becomes
the authentic bottom line (not net profit) that drives us forward,
the real answer is pretty simple: though good deeds that only come
from the heart, we uplift and inspire our fellow man to be the best
possible version of themselves. This is the enlightened choice.
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