Another day gone by, and no denial that donald sterling, owner of the National Basketball Association (NBA)s Los Angeles Clippers, made the overtly racist comments that were reported by TMZ two days ago.
Saying things like “I am not a racist and those are not my true feelings” do not stuff the genie back in the bottle.
Now: suppose you are a player for The Clippers. Your success is sterling\’s success, you win and he benefits. What about that?
Do you play as hard? Can you play as hard if your heart isn\’t in it? How do you reconcile a lesser effort with the fact that the fans – who didn\’t say what sterling did – paid full price and expect full effort?
What about the end of the year? Do you demand a trade?
If you are a free agent, do you negotiate to re-sign with the Clippers? If you are a free agent from another team, would you consider playing for the Clippers?
Suppose you are Adam Silver, Commissioner of the NBA: What do you do? Do you keep quiet about this, and come across as tacitly condoning/accepting what happened? Do you condemn sterling, maybe demand he sell the team…and, by so doing, almost certainly cause a significant drop in the value of the franchise…which affects not just Sterling but the ability to pay players as well? Who are you hurting then?
Suppose you are a Clippers fan? Do you show your disgust by no longer attending the games, which – if enough fans do so – will hurt not only the players, but the many workers in areas which rely on the team\’s success (i.e. food service, merchandising, etc)? How many of them will lose their jobs because of this?
And what if you are a supporter of what sterling apparently said (don\’t doubt that there are, and plenty of them)? Will you come to the games with a sign saying “Right On, Donald”, or “Sterling Was Right” – possibly in the hope that another fan will clobber you and you can then file a lawsuit?
This is a mess. An impossibly huge mess, directly brought on by the stupid, racist comments on that tape…which, let me again remind you, sterling has yet to deny making.
I hope he\’s proud of himself.
