The "Sterling" Example

By now the diversion of Donald Sterling, the beleaguered owner of the Los Angeles Clippers, shouldn't have escaped too many people's attention even those on the left. What the lefties probably are gnashing their teeth over is that Sterling isn't a conservative Republican. If he was they would have slammed the race card down on the table many times by now. The Lame Stream Media would have had a field day and every race baiter in the nation would be pounding the drums with a fury never seen before.

I'm almost certain they would be burning him in effigy as they did when Clive Bundy made his own innocuous statements which were taken completely out of context and edited in an unbelievable manner but that's another story.

Thankfully it appears that Sterling, the bigoted billionaire, has never given even a red penny to anyone on the right. But note the irony that he has made generous contributions to the NAACP and, until his bubble got burst, was about to be given a second award by that same organization. Five years ago they gave this bigot a lifetime achievement award due to his largess. Money seems to talk even to hypocrites or maybe especially to hypocrites. They were set to give him another gold star on his previous award when his bimbo wanted her 15 minutes of fame and released what appear to be unauthorized recordings.

The conversation she released was ripe with juiciness! Sterling told V. Stiviano (does she have a first name?) that "he didn’t care if she dated a black man, made him dinner, or even slept with him. But he didn’t want her to take a picture with one, or bring one to a Clippers game." Wowser what a set of priorities this octogenarian has! His young hottie can sleep with a black man but no pics and no game times for him?

So who should happen along but a basketball legend himself who knew Donald Sterling. He wrote an op-ed for Time concerning all the finger wagging and moral head nods that were coming his way.

Here's what Kareem Abdul Jabbar had to say about the bimbo and her antics:

"And now the poor guy’s girlfriend (undoubtedly ex-girlfriend now) is on tape cajoling him into revealing his racism. Man, what a winding road she led him down to get all of that out. She was like a sexy nanny playing ‘pin the fried chicken on the Sambo.’ She blindfolded him and spun him around until he was just blathering all sorts of incoherent racist sound bites that had the news media peeing themselves with glee."

The man does have a way with words. He obviously got an education when he attended UCLA back in the day.

So here we sit not knowing "why" she recorded the telephone call. We don't know how TMZ received a copy to air the dirty laundry of a private conversation. Stivano claims she didn't do the deed.. Someone did it because the audio appeared on the infamous gossip show and the parade began with glee! The team's players turned their shirts inside out thereby hiding the team's insignia before Sunday night's playoff game. Other teams aped the Clipper's players. The Clipper's didn't let the distraction prevent them from doing what they are paid to do. That would be to play professional basketball. Advertisers were dodging and ducking along with the coach of the team but they prevailed against the Golden State Warriors and smacked them down in game 5 with a 113-103 score.

The usual race baiters made their obligatory appearances to earn their fees. Reverend Al Sharpton, never one to be camera shy, had to show his mug (well maybe lower than his mug) to perform his usual racial ranting. He demanded that the NBA Commissioner meet with him so that he could give him his sage racist advice in person. But he qualified his meet up stating that he had to go to Washington DC first to pony up with the Congressional Black Caucus. Can you imagine the outrage if a Congressional White Caucus was suddenly formed? Mug for the cameras some more to earn your keep Al.

Michael Jordan, another basketball legend who rarely comments on issues of race, even weighed in as an owner (Charlotte Bobcats) and former player with these comments:

"As an owner, I’m obviously disgusted that a fellow team owner could hold such sickening and offensive views… As a former player, I’m completely outraged. There is no room in the NBA – or anywhere else – for the kind of racism and hatred that Mr. Sterling allegedly expressed."

Michael makes much more sense than grandstand Al Sharpton could ever muster. Of course Michael Jordan is a true legend while Sharpton is just a legend in his own mind.

The ultimate sanction of being banned from the National Basketball Association for life seems to have been handed down by the court of public opinion. That seems to be common these days rather than using the appropriate legal channels. I'm in no way condoning what Sterling said but also not too happy with how illegally taped conversations were spread over the airwaves thereby negating any consideration of due process.

Where this goes now is anyone's guess since Donald Sterling says he won't sell the team. Sounds like "I'll see you in court time." No telling what the legal ramifications are for his bimbo since she violated California law concerning recorded conversations. This is an example of a media circus gone amok with "he said, she said and they said" just confusing the whole situation.

Will I mind if you share these observations with your family and vast array of friends? Not at all.

As Always,

The Frog Prince