Donald Sterling: Not the only dummy in the NBA.

So we’ve all read about the assclown who currently owns the Los Angeles Clippers. He’s clearly an idiot who has the opinions of a KKK Grand Wizard, and the things he said about African-Americans are indefensible and reprehensible. Listen, nobody hates ignorant racists more than I do, and as a man who taught for 30-years it was great to see the change in student opinions regarding race over the years.

That said, I have a few problems with the way the situation went down out on the left coast. Apologies in advance to those about to be offended, but as Popeye once said, “I yam what I yam.”

First off, everyone in the NBA has known for decades that Donald Sterling was a bigot. If he’s tried to hide it he’s done an extremely poor job. Hell, I knew. He’s been sued for discrimination regarding his apartment buildings and there have been several articles written about his bigotry over the years. Still, athletes have been accepting multi-million dollar checks signed by this man for decades without complaint. The same goes for their African-American coach, Doc Rivers. It wasn’t until Sterling’s “girlfriend” secretly recorded his offensive remarks and they became public that the everyone became so indignant and outraged.

That’s a little hypocritical, don’t you think?

And then we have the game last night. You’d have thought some terrible tragedy had befallen the poor fans of the L.A. Clippers and their team. There were signs saying “Clipper Nation Stay Strong” and “Together We’ll Get Through This.” A few of the players even looked as if they were ready to cry. Everyone was acting as if they’d survived some horrific event. I guess I shouldn’t have been surprised, though. The day Sterling’s remarks became public the Clippers lost their playoff game to the Warriors 118-97 because they were so distraught and emotionally damaged.

And all this happened because some narrow-minded idiot told his girlfriend she shouldn’t hang out with African-Americans?  Were the players that devastated and hurt by the remarks of a man they knew to be a racist anyway? His words hurt them that much? What am I missing here? An 81-year old racist said some stupid things, plain and simple. Are we really that thin-skinned?

And now comes the news that the Clippers may actually change their name to the Americans. Supposedly having a diverse and multi-cultural basketball team called the Americans will point out to people that the United States is, you know, diverse and multi-cultural.

Brilliant.

Thankfully, yesterday the right thing was done by N.B.A. Commissioner Adam Silver, as he banned Donald Sterling for life. He will be forced to sell his team, and when he does our long national nightmare will be over.

On a related note, if I was paid Doc Rivers’ 3-year, 21-million dollar salary to coach basketball I’d let somebody call me a honky cracker jackass every day of the week.

But hey, that’s just me.