Stern as commissioner earlier this year upon Stern’s retirement, came down hard on Sterling, and that’s exactly what he should’ve done.
There’s no place in any professional or amateur sports league for the ignorant, racist attitude and comments that Sterling displayed, especially in a league that’s made up of more than 75 percent AfricanAmerican players as is the case in the NBA.
Sterling deserved to
Looking at Sterling decision from both sides
Los Angeles Clippers owner Donald Sterling was banned for life from the NBA and fined $2.5 million by NBA Commissioner Adam Silver for racist comments made on a taped conversation that came out to the public over the weekend.
Sterling can remain owner of the team for now, but the rest of the owners will hold a vote soon and with three-fourths of the vote, they can force him out of ownership of the team.
There’s been some debate since the decision came out, many in favor of it and some not so much, and I can see the merit of both arguments. I’ll give you the reasons why both sides have good points.
First, there was a strong positive response to Silver’s decision from many current and former players, current and former coaches, other owners and many fans. Silver, who replaced David be gone, not just for this one incident, but for a pattern of mistreating black employees and players during his tenure as Clippers’ owner. Silver made a strong statement early in his time as commissioner that this attitude of racism will not be tolerated in his league.
On the other end of the spectrum, there’s people who say that Sterling should’ve been punished, but to simply remove his ability to be involved with the team he paid for and has been a part of for close to 30 years, is way too harsh.
I can see where this side of the debate has some good points. I mean, the man made a mistake, there’s no doubt about that. But to ban Sterling for life for an attitude or something he said, does that fit the crime?
There’s been players and coaches with drug problems, guns and violence arrests, spousal abuse and so many other legal issues, and they’ve been given small suspensions and a chance to make up for their wrongs. Now, we’re going to ban a man for life and most likely force him out of ownership for words that came out of his mouth. How does that add up.
And on top of that, there seems to be the elephant in the room of the superiority of black players over white players. There’s tongue-incheek comments made with regularity that basically discount and disparage white players in the NBA. Will this now be dealt with with the same harshness that Sterling was? It’s racism just the same. No matter how minor the offense is, it’s still racism.
Like I said, both sides have valid arguments. Racism should be not be tolerated. I tend to lean more toward the positive reaction to Sterling’s punishment. No matter if the decision was made or not, Sterling would’ve been gone soon anyway. There are no players that were going to want to play for him after this incident. What Silver did was basically put Sterling out of his misery earlier than it would’ve played out naturally.
Hawks giving us something
we can get behind
I’ve always been an Atlanta Hawks fan. I’ve been nowhere near as diehard about it as the Braves and Falcons, but at the end of the day, my favorite NBA team is the Hawks.
I’ve never really been passionate about my support for the Hawks because they’ve never done anything in my lifetime for me to get passionate about. They’ve been about as mediocre as it can get in the NBA, and that’s something I cannot stand in life is mediocrity.
But over the past couple weeks, my love for the Hawks has grown immensely. I’ve hung on every second of their playoff series against Indiana.
There’s something different about this team and franchise now. Just good enough isn’t going to be good enough anymore. You can tell that under the new leadership of general manager Danny Ferry and head coach Mike Budenholzer, that there are very good things to come in the future for the Hawks.
The team now plays a brand of basketball that a lot more casual Hawks fans can get behind. Defense is a requirement now for the players on this team rather than an option. The offense no longer revolves around one-on-one basketball. It’s now about ball movement and hustle.
This is a team I can get behind now. And I think a lot of casual Hawk fans share that opinion. If they can close out the Pacers and move on to the second round, no matter what happens after that, I can live with it.
They’ve made a statement to the league and fans that this franchise is on its way up. Now, let’s get behind like we have gotten behind the Braves and Falcons.