General

[quote=SomeJello]Yeah I know about the racist stuff, but what were his exact comments? I can't think of anything that someone could say to have this big of a consequence o.o[/quote]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rK1IgqTNV1M

[quote=BoredAF]@mitarumetaro: Yes. If he was a part of the NBA franchise as a player, coach, cheerleader, mascot etc he would be facing the same consequences. Though I do not agree that the consequences are fitting for the crime personally.[/quote]

there's no way in hell if lebron james made those comments he would be facing a life time ban or even michael jordan for that matter.

How is it going to work, he owns the team.

Are they going to buy him out or something?

Or can he continue to own the team even though he can't participate in anything?

2.5 mil is nothing to him really

i also feel like this punishment is very harsh... he isnt a trash employee waterboy for the nba, hes an owner so why should he be banned for having an unpopular opinion... really... yes a public apology is needed but this is too much

I think they're taking it a bit too far.. You have to consider that the guy was not raised in this generation. Today, people are being raised being taught that racism is bad and is frown upon, but he wasn't. Everyone has flaws, his is just he's racist. Racism is not something that will go away overnight, otherwise he never would've been racist.

[quote=BoredAF]@mitarumetaro: Your understanding of this situation, lacks.[/quote]

so what you are saying is that Sterling would be facing these same consequences if he was not the owner of a franchise? Is that what you are saying?

[quote=BoredAF]@mitarumetaro: I don't understand your point. Why does it matter if someone owns the teams of not. We're speaking about racism in the NBA, not racism of team owners only.[/quote]

....it matters because he isn't some random guy that happened to also be racist

this entire situation revolves around Sterling being the owner of a franchise

[quote=BoredAF]@IImaplers: Well then I think the majority of black players (and other races) in the nba need to be fined as well. Do you really think growing up on the street and playing ball among different races and friends that racist comments weren't made? If he had his phone tapped, then so should every other member of the NBA franchise. If you want blood, take blood from everyone who deserves it, don't just seek it out on one person.[/quote]

I'm quite with you on this one.

[quote=BoredAF]@IImaplers: Well then I think the majority of black players (and other races) in the nba need to be fined as well. Do you really think growing up on the street and playing ball among different races and friends that racist comments weren't made? If he had his phone tapped, then so should every other member of the NBA franchise. If you want blood, take blood from everyone who deserves it, don't just seek it out on one person.[/quote]

I'm at least 29% sure that "the majority of black players (and other races) in the nba" don't own nba teams

[quote=BoredAF]Do you know how many times in my life, I've heard a race that was not white say, ' look at that (maybe cuss) white boy...'. Now that may not seem racist but the way in which it is said, makes it so. Everyone is racist in some form or another. Black people are probably the most racist people that I've ever met, the majority of my family members are black or mixed. Even playing ball on the street with blacks and whites, black people will say, 'common white boy, is that all you've got?'. Now if a white person said, ' Hey black boy is that all you've got?' well he'd get a beating. Some things are racist and are just more acceptable than others in today's society.[/quote]

Just because something is common and is turned a blind eye to doesn't make it right or acceptable.

[quote=DemonFool]Please understand no ones freedom of speech was taken away. The first amendment applies to the goverment taking away what you can say. Example: being jailed for saying we have a terrible president or our goverment system sucks. That would be a violation of the first amendment. Companys so not have freedom of speech policies. The nba has a right to do what they want with this racist.[/quote]

The NBA does have a right to do what they want here, that is true. But I don't think they did the right thing here. Company policies are encompassed by the State and Federal policies though, and so this is a broader issue than it seems, to me. They banned this guy on the pretext that he said something racist more so than on the pretext that he did something racist. That's what bothers me more than anything else. The fact that simply saying something can receive this much backlash worries me.

And another thing which bothers me is that no clippers employees admitted to being an obvious hypocrite for ignoring criminal discrimination which this guy was sued for back in 2006 afaik; but just now screaming cries of racism/discrimination instead of doing it years ago. Offensive remarks can and do cause damage, but not like offensive tangible actions can.

sterling is a racist, there's no doubt about that given his history... and yet, players/coaches/staff still chose to work for him this guy has been the owner of the clippers for like 30 years already, and NOW they're suddenly being "o my gosh? he's a racist? no wai!" the franchise is obviously doing much better since he bought it for 12m and now it's worth 500m. and now he's getting punished because his PRIVATE conversation was leaked... PRIVATE CONVERSATION. i know for a fact that everybody have talked sheet behind someone's back when you're at home or something. it's not like sterling was paying black people less or discriminating against hiring black people... i'm pretty sure the person who recorded the conversation was the mistress. sterling's wife was suing her, so she probably wanted to blackmail sterling or something. and somehow, i think magic johnson might be involved in all this too. everybody knows he wanted to buy the lakers, but that idea was shot down by the buss family (owner of the lakers). so, instead of trying to get the lakers, he turned his head toward trying to get the clippers instead.

[quote=MegGriffin]You actually think a black basketball player will play for a white, racist, c*unt?[/quote]
But you see that it was public knowledge that Mr. Sterling was a "white racist c*unt" years and years before this whole issue was bought up last week. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Donald_Sterling#Accusations_of_discrimination

Clippers players, coaches, and other employees knew about it already but still chose to work for this guy. Hypocrisy is abundant.

Nobody cares about free speech in this situation. You actually think a black basketball player will play for a white, racist, c*unt? No, he had to go or the Clippers franchise would PLUMMET and the only players they could sign would be D-League scrubs. Not fair to the Clippers fans.

Https://www.xkcd.com/1357 Free speech did not take a hit

The GF can be prosecuted. The media has the right to report anything newsworthy that is given to them. Thus, no freedom of speech issue, just an idiot who talked to the wrong person.

@mitarumetaro: Don't accuse me of things I didn't state nor imply. If you actually read the entire thread (which it doesn't seem like you did or just didn't bother trying to understand it) you would see that I do not condone racism. Again you miss the point that simply stating something (however offensive it is) in private is not worthy of a punishment such as this.

@Liam: Agreed. And I think the comissioner of the NBA did this because, first and foremost, keeping Mr. Sterling around would be bad for business. It's more about business than it is about keeping integrity. If that wasn't the case, Sterling would be out of the NBA years ago.

[quote=IImaplers]I'm not more concerned with that. I'm just playing devil's advocate here. The mistress is guilty of baiting him. Why do you think she did this, other than for money? Both he and the mistress are equally guilty for cheating on his wife.

But you fail to miss the main point that being a racist doesn't necessarily make you guilty of any crime if going by the principals of the US constitution.[/quote]

No they aren't equally guilty of cheating on his wife. SHE ISN'T MARRIED TO HIS WIFE. If YOU have a girlfriend, and YOU cheat with another girl, the girl you are cheating with isn't responsible for YOUR cheating. Unless you are some diagnosed sex addict, with the mental competence of a 4 year old, the decision to cheat is all on you.

Maybe his mistress, seeing as she is (if I recall correctly) biracial was upset that we had a racist billionaire running an NBA team? Maybe her motivations are the same as ABSOLUTELY EVERYONE INVOLVED WITH THE NBA?
And, to play devil's advocate, even if she was motivated 100% by money, and did this just to spite him or w/e, THAT WOULDN'T CHANGE THE FACT THAT HE WAS CHEATING ON HIS WIFE, NOR WOULD IT CHANGE THE FACT THAT HE IS A RACIST. That is ALL on Sterling.

As far as I'm aware, Sterling has not been charged as a criminal (for this particular matter), so I'm not sure why it matters if he is guilty of a crime according to the US constitution. He hasn't been arrested. He hasn't been charged with any crime. He has not been convicted of any crime.

[quote=mitarumetaro]I love how @IImaplers is more concerned with the fact that Sterling's mistress was sleeping with him than he is with the fact that STERLING IS CHEATING ON HIS WIFE or that STERLING IS A RACIST[/quote]

I'm not more concerned with that. I'm just playing devil's advocate here. The mistress is guilty of baiting him. Why do you think she did this, other than for money? Both he and the mistress are equally guilty for cheating on his wife.

But you fail to miss the main point that being a racist doesn't necessarily make you guilty of any crime if going by the principals of the US constitution.

[quote=Liam]He really didn't deserve this severe of punishment. Especially since it was just a conversation between him and his girlfriend; not some interview with TMZ. I agree that his bigotry shouldn't go without punishment.. But this is just way over the top for words. They were purely words, not some hate crime.[/quote]

given his history of racism, and actual hate crimes, this conversation just put the nail into his coffin, so to speak. I guess the NBA didn't mind when it was semi-public but now that it's national news, they were basically forced to act upon it to save face.

I love how @IImaplers is more concerned with the fact that Sterling's mistress was sleeping with him than he is with the fact that STERLING IS CHEATING ON HIS WIFE or that STERLING IS A RACIST

edit: Also, I love how this kid thinks that there is any analogue to be drawn between *slurping food loudly* and *making racist remarks*.

edit2: If you guys are looking for a TL;DR of the thread, here it is:
OP doesn't care that Sterling is a racist who is cheating on his wife.

He really didn't deserve this severe of punishment. Especially since it was just a conversation between him and his girlfriend; not some interview with TMZ. I agree that his bigotry shouldn't go without punishment.. But this is just way over the top for words. They were purely words, not some hate crime.

good riddance, how do you expect any one to want to play for him, considering they can get paid millions from 29 other teams, it's just bad for an organization to be owned by such a man. It's just bad for the image of the NBA to have an open racist owning a team that quite frankly, is only relevant because of the African Americans stars.

[quote=SomeJello]I still don't understand what this guy did. Can someone explain it to me without me having to read a ton of stuff?

I literally don't follow basketball at all[/quote]

From what I've been hearing, he said some racist stuff and since the NBA is >99% black people, they got butthurt and sued him.

Everyone is racist, some people are just more open about it than others.