The Sport's Authority

Evidently, Sterling and Silver don't go together - at least not anymore in the NBA. Commissioner Adam Silver harshly handed down an almost unthinkable and absolutely unprecedented punishment to Clippers owner Donald Sterling, who owned up to his repugnant remarks: a lifetime ban from the league, along with a superfluous $2.5 million fine, stopping short of sentencing Sterling to eternal damnation - although we get the sense if Silver had the (higher) power to so, he would have. A suspension would've been seen by some as a slap on the wrist. For Silver, stinging Sterling wouldn't suffice; he sought to scar him.

Beyond being permanent prohibited from any association with The Association, Silver will attempt to force the sale of the franchise, allowable if agreed upon by three-fourths of owners. Silver didn't just throw the book at Sterling, he threw a set of encyclopedias. However, a law library's worth of texts could be consulted before this conflict concludes.

We wonder, if words warranted this severe a sanction - and it's important to point out there wasn't any wrongdoing, only wrongsaying - what step would Silver have taken had Sterling been guilty of an actual discriminatory action as an owner: ordered his execution via a Silver bullet* and then served his head on a Silver platter to placate the pitchfork-possessing public, pissed-off players and pea-brained pundits? Instead, Silver lost his head over the hullabaloo, so Sterling lost his team.

This isn't a defense of Sterling, but we'll side with a dick before we do a dictator. We find it ironic that, for once, a reputed racist was lynched by a mob of minorities. We don't, however, find it justified.

At least Sterling learned a two valuable lessons: 1. Intolerance isn't tolerated under the sovereignty of Silver 2. Never trust a mistress; she may be wearing underwire - and also a wire.

*Silver would surely have shot Marge Schott

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An Awful (Audio) Clip

Donald Sterling has, for decades, had a less than sterling reputation - mostly for penny-pinching, but partly for prejudiced practices. TMZ, which deals in dishing TMI, released a recording in which a man who is supposedly Sterling advises his then-girlfriend not to associate with black people and insists none accompany her to games. The language is clean, the tone is calm, but the directive is decidedly discriminatory. What remains in question is whether it came from the mouth of a man who has received the NAACP's Lifetime Achievement Award and was slated to be bestowed the accolade again in May, yet also lost a lawsuit alleging biased practices in renting his properties. Did we mention his former gal pal is of African-American and Mexican heritage (or that Sterling's wife is suing her for embezzlement*)? Racism isn't always so black and white.

While those comments circulated that Sterling didn't want people of a certain color in the crowd, a crowd with clout - Magic, Kobe, LeBron and Jordan - condemned him. The commissioner was more cautious, but while he preached due process, the team felt they had to do something, so as persons no less prominent than POTUS dressed down Sterling, they undressed. Prior their playoff game Sunday, players, in protest, removed their official Clippers warm-up jackets and left them at center court. If only removing Sterling, the league's longest-tenured owner, were so simple.

*apparently, she digs up dirt and gold easily