With the NBA playoffs being in full swing now, the league should be thriving with ratings and positive publicity since the product has been great so far. Even a diehard fan such as myself has been surprised with the blowouts, buzzer beaters, clutchness, and overall play of every team from seeds 1-8. It's a great time to be following the NBA. That is, until yesterday, when Los Angeles Clippers owner Donald Sterling made many racist comments recorded on tape about minorities, how he didn't want them at games, thought of them as animals, etc. I'm giving the lighter version of it since I can't sum it up with the phone message being so long, and listening to this guy speak is just sickening.
Usually, I wait for all the facts to come out when I judge a person, but I won't this time because Donald Sterling has a history of being a bigot. Ask former players like Elgin Baylor and Baron Davis who used to play for him what type of person he is, and they'll tell you how they used to get scrutinized. In the year 2014, I know that racism is alive and it still exists, but I like to think that we've made some progress from the past, when racism was running rampant. The NBA markets itself as a global game for everyone, and I think they do a good job when you see all the different types of players in their game today. They've come a long way since then, which is why it's a shame what Donald Sterling said came to public since it makes the league look bad. Not to mention, his comments make it seem as though he views minorities as animals, saying you can "feed them" or "sleep with them", but not bring them to games. What an ignoramus if that is how he truly feels! We're all human beings! And even though the Clippers players are all mixed in terms of race and ethnicity, I'm glad they're all outraged because it shows how strongly they feel, and shows that racism has no place in sports. It might be a few days until we figure out what the penalty is for Donald Sterling, but hopefully the penalty is severe, or as another Donald says, "YOU'RE FIRED"!
One last thing I want to interject (which is my own opinion) is everyone disses baseball for there being a lack of African-American players, but you never see stuff like what happened with Donald Sterling happen in baseball. I'm not denying it doesn't happen; I mean, look at Marge Schott or how often the race card was played whenever Barry Bonds was questioned. It exists, but I feel like the culture in baseball doesn't promote as much discrimination currently. Look at the NBA and NFL, the race card is played all the time, they say the N-word like it's nothing, and there's gang affiliations. I'm not saying having those things makes sports worse because I still love those sports, but I think when a sport has all those things, we shouldn't be surprised of anything anymore. Racism shouldn't have a place in sports, but Donald Sterling isn't the only one who feels the way he does. And sadly, it still exists in the world, which I don't think will ever change.
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