Modern NBA is a global brand with players from, and fanbase in...all four corners of the planet. Sterling is a pariah to the NBA brand. Silver did what he thought he had to do to protect the brand.The other owners will vote to remove Sterling in the best interest of the league,regardless of their personal feelings toward him or how this has played out.
You hit the nail on the head.
For others to suggest that Sterling's comments were just "gibberish" and didn't hurt anybody is absurd. He clearly and dispassionately expressed his repulsion concerning Blacks attending his team's games and associating with his mistress. The NBA has reached unparalleled global popularity, based in no small measure upon diversity and inclusion. His presence, if Silver allowed it to continue, would damage the league's credibility and marketability.
Who was substantively hurt? Some marketing company somewhere? The league theoretically from some bad PR?
Now compare this to the overt acts like his long standing housing discrimination cases or the public beating of his son (and his later suicide). Or compare it the cast of creeps the NBA employs as players. People are hurt in those cases. Real people. Not marketing companies. Nobody is crying tonight because some old crackpot was recorded with his prostitute.
Drop the moralistic shit. This is about PR. It's not about Jim Crow or racism or real offenses. If it was, they would have done something after the discrimination suits decades ago.
Last edited by LittleNicky; 05/21/1406:32 PM.
Should probably ask Mr. Kierney. I guess if you're Italian, you should be in prison. I've read the RICO Act, and I can tell you it's more appropriate... for some of those guys over in Washington than it is for me or any of my fellas here
