he is allowed to have his opinion no matter what it is or how distasteful it is to others. people are allowed to associate or refuse to associate with him. what bothers me is all of the vocal critics who are unwilling to get their own hands dirty and boycott him, and would rather have some third-party authority figure dole out punative justice in their name.

It all depends on how much authority the NBA really has here.

I don't support his remarks, nor do I decry the NBA's decision. However is nothing private? No one has ever said anything in confidence that probably shouldn't see the light of day? Should a person be deprived of their property (being forced to sell it is close enough to being deprived) simply because of his opinion. I don't know, something about this bothers me, it seems slimy and underhanded.

“We’re like family and you take showers with each other,” James said in 2007. “We’re on the bus together and we talk about a lot of things and if you’re not trustworthy, like admitting you’re gay, you can’t be trusted. It’s a trust factor.”

Charles Barkley has been on the record public stating that he hates white people.

that's "different." Somehow.


Edit: Actually, I know how.

The remarks of Lebron James or Charles Barkley didn't have the potential to cost the NBA a big pile of money.

I'm not saying that sarcasticly -- pro-sports are a business. They fight the battles that make financial sense to fight, and don't fight battles that will cost the league money.

Neither did Sterling. The NBA gets it's money from it's TV deals, and the fan base isn't going anywhere. This is simply capitulating to a mob of bullies and race baiters because it's politically expedient.

I like how nobody's bothered to consider that owning a team in a sport wildly popular among black people, where 90% of the players are black, might cause problems for you if you hate niggers.

It's only a problem if you get caught.

I like how nobody's bothered to consider that owning a team in a sport wildly popular among black people, where 90% of the players are black, might cause problems for you if you hate niggers.

The potential for lost revenue is much greater because of the mob of bullies and race baiters. They're capitulating because goodwill and reputation and everything else that's tied into "Public Relations" has a real effect on revenue. Nobody cares if Lebron hates fags or Barkley hates crackers, because frankly those are pretty common attitudes among African-Americans in general. Nobody's going to be so oppressed as a black homosexual with a white boyfriend.

Neither did Sterling. The NBA gets it's money from it's TV deals, and the fan base isn't going anywhere. This is simply capitulating to a mob of bullies and race baiters because it's politically expedient.

Eh I'm not so sure about this. "Bullies" is pretty much the only reason why satire of Islam is completely nonexistent in Western media. You can't tell me there's no media outlet that wouldn't make money doing it. Anyone that was going to stop watching South Park due to offensiveness stopped watching 10 years ago, but they still won't let them touch Islam at all.

I agree with the punishment.

The Donald Sterling thing is not about First Amendment rights. The Government is not mandating the sale of the Clippers. Sterling agreed to the bylaws of the NBA that include language to provide for the exact penalty that he is suffering. Under the "Conduct Detrimental to the League" heading, the NBA is legally within their rights to force the sale of the Clippers and ban Sterling from ever having anything to do with the NBA ever again.

The First Amendment only prevents the *Government* from penalizing speech. The NBA is a private organization that can do exactly what they have laid out in their bylaws to excommunicate this bigoted, racist *******. They don't need to worry about the "legality" of the recorded communication because they're not the Government. The recording exists, it was released to the public, Sterling said those things.

He now has to suffer the consequences. As he should.

I said it was slimy and doesn't sit well with me, not that it was illegal. They are different things. If I were an nba owner, I might have to abstain from that vote, but that's me.

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