[JeffTheShark]

I think all races should be on a slightly higher alert for different races...

The most vicious crimes are usually motivated by racial differences between the perpetrator and attacked.

[James D]

In terms of kicking Sterling out... the Charter is not vague at all. In fact that's one of the reasons from the very beginning I said this was a done deal. It gives all the rights to the owners. The charges the NBA has to present to the owners is vague though.
Depends how he sold it. If he didn't want BET because the message it delivers to youths, etc, etc... then maybe he can get away with it. I personally think it would be dumb and there would be backlash, but definitely would come down to his reasons and how he portrays those reasons.

First I want to say I appreciate your taking the time to give me a well written thought out reply. I always try to answer other posters questions so I appreciate the reciprocity. That being said we do disagree on the provisions in the nba charter. I believe legally they are not as strong as you do but time will tell.

The second point about an owner complaining about minority programming, well actually it already happened in utah in 2000. This could be considered extremely racist behavior and nothing happened to the jazz owner.

From 1995 to 2001, KJZZ-TV was a charter UPN affiliate. In October 2000, Miller demanded the right to breach his contract with the network if it increased its "urban/ethnic programming" to more than two hours per week, due to lack of minorities within the Salt Lake Metropolitan.[7] The incident drew nationwide attention, and UPN promptly signed a deal with another station in the Salt Lake City market to carry UPN programming.

This is a pretty entertaining thread, after all. Interwebs is the last "public" places where it is OK to be non-PC. Sure NBA has all the rights to kick Sterling out, according to their "constitution". You guys are also forgetting that Sterling has been despised for ~20 years by his fellows because he was dragging down the NBA product, while making a lot of money off luxury taxes paid by other owners.

However, what I found interesting is that virtually everybody, every media outlet, completely ignored the fact that it was a private, illegally-recorded conversation that was used in this broohaha. In a normal, free-speech society, that sh.t would be contained to tabloids. You need to also ask yourself, how long will it take before you, yourself, will not be free to stray from the party line even in the privacy of your home or risk being fired from your job, especially if your job is worth anything to somebody else. Cuban was the only public figure who tried to say something about that, but he sorta mumbled something and then started to apologize. That was actually pretty funny.

frugal, the sterlings were not despised at all by their fellow owners. Just a few months before this incident david stern retired. At the bi annual owners meetings in NYC the owners had a farewell dinner for david stern. The owners elected SHELLY Sterling (not don) to give the farewell speech to david stern after his 35 years of service. The selection is not done by seniority although I am sure it's a factor to some of the owners. If they were 1/10 as despised as people think why was Shelly the ONLY person chosen to bid farewell to Mr stern with a speech?

as far as the illegally obtained tapes I have to admit I side with the league here. The league is not law enforcement and the damage done by the tapes being released through any avenue, legal or otherwise, does the same damage to the NBA. It is scary as american citizens, i agree with you and share your concerns. However I understand the NBA position in respect to the tapes.

"Illegally obtained" is only a phrase for federal/state courts. The NBA does not have to worry about whether or not the evidence was illegally or legally obtained. In fact in their Constitution they specify that the owners do not have to have proof of evidence and they can take anything in consideration for their decisions.

I agree

[James D]

People can take different things from a comment. I took from this comment that Cuban is saying that every single person has prejudices, but that these prejudices do not necessarily make someone racist, nor is it okay to be flat out racist as Sterling was/is.

The problem with this statement is Sterling said racist things a number of times but in practice I would absolutely argue his policies were not racist. If someone wants to argue about the 18 parties that sued him for racial discrimination I could just as easily argue he has had over 5000 tenants for decades and sometimes lawsuits happen. 18 individuals in a class action suit when you have 5000 tenants is not nearly as egregious behavior as people try to make it seem. The same people that never said a word for 30 years.

His clipper franchise has had a fantastic history of hiring minorities that everyone very intentionally ignores. The longest tenured Black GM of all time was the clippers GM, for 22 years, and he was awful. The clippers black head coach is the highest paid coach in the entire NBA by one million dollars a year over the #2 coach. The #2 coach greg Popovich has four rings and still makes a million less then the clippers doc rivers. Also both the clippers top assistant coaches are black. The clippers payroll is about 75% committed annually to there top three players, all once again black.

[jtoler]

The problem with this statement is Sterling said racist things a number of times but in practice I would absolutely argue his policies were not racist. If someone wants to argue about the 18 parties that sued him for racial discrimination I could just as easily argue he has had over 5000 tenants for decades and sometimes lawsuits happen. 18 individuals in a class action suit when you have 5000 tenants is not nearly as egregious behavior as people try to make it seem. The same people that never said a word for 30 years.

His clipper franchise has had a fantastic history of hiring minorities that everyone very intentionally ignores. The longest tenured Black GM of all time was the clippers GM, for 22 years, and he was awful. The clippers black head coach is the highest paid coach in the entire NBA by one million dollars a year over the #2 coach. The #2 coach greg Popovich has four rings and still makes a million less then the clippers doc rivers. Also both the clippers top assistant coaches are black. The clippers payroll is about 75% committed annually to there top three players, all once again black.

Its not like he was providing free housing, they were paying him, therefore he was making a profit off of them, therefore thats not a valid argument. Just because you hire minorities doesnt mean youre not racist Im sure you know that though.