Nothing At All Sterling, This One

 

This whole Donald Sterling situation is:

A.  Irrelevant.

B.  Sickening.

C.  Comical.

D.  All of the above.

Answer is D.

I am no great fan of Donald Sterling, and don't really care one way or the other how he fares in any of his business deals that do not concern me.  I cannot say that his being banned for life from the NBA is particularly unjust.

What bothers me about this entire Sterling and the Los Angeles Clippers affair (which will not be linked to in this posting)?

While I do not in any way endorse or identify with the contentious comments that came from his mouth and were recorded for posterity, there is some concern about the right of free speech some might see as having been abridged.  On the other hand, he is an accomplished businessman, and all of the proceedings with the NBA seem to be pursuant to one or more contracts into which Mr. Sterling knowingly entered.  So this aspect doesn't bother me.

Does the apparent pandering by the NBA to the b-l-a-c-k community (if indeed such a group exists in anything resembling a monolithic form) bother me?  Denial of this would constitute something less than candor on my part.

Yes, this apparent race-pandering does, to some residual extent, offend my sense of propriety and justice.

What bothers me and offends me exponentially more, however, is the NBA assuming the position of an exemplar and arbiter of ethics and morality.   Since when is the NBA's ethical and moral standard so sterling?