Tag: Donald Sterling

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News The Fly-By

Race and Sexuality In Sports Aren’t New — But Change Is Coming.

I felt like I was at the first crossroads of my life as I knocked on the office door of Fulton (Missouri) High School head basketball Coach Ken Quest. I’d just received the news I’d made the school’s debate team. However, the debate team schedule was in direct conflict with basketball practices and games. As a sophomore point guard, I was eligible to play varsity ball.

To me, it was an agonizing decision. I just knew Coach Quest would feel my pain and would set about to work something out. He was totally silent as I explained my dilemma. Then he leaned forward and said, “Smitty, you probably got a real future in that debate stuff, because you sure don’t have one playing basketball. So long, and turn in your jersey!” At least I could say it was an honest reflection of what the man really felt.

The need to be honest with one’s feelings and the ramifications that come with it have invaded the world of professional sports within the past few weeks. In the cliché-ridden, over-hyped, closed-fraternity, big-money industry sports has become, the intrusion of societal issues such as racism and homosexuality can result in seismic reactions among those who play the games and those who vicariously follow the action. But it’s all part of a generations-long cleansing process of bigotry and prejudice that this nation is still undergoing.

A check of history reveals the racial rants captured by defamed former Los Angeles Clippers owner Donald Sterling are by no means the first time crude and archaic statements have been uttered by sports executives and personalities. The “Hall of Shame” in that regard has a number of infamous entries. Remember former Los Angeles Dodger General Manager Al Campanis on a 1987 edition of Nightline? Goaded by host Ted Koppel into an offhand remark, a live audience was aghast when the earnest 70-year-old said blacks didn’t have the “necessities” to be baseball managers or executives. He was fired two days later. A year after that, CBS sports analyst Jimmy “The Greek” Snyder joined Campanis in the unemployment line — fired for his statement that “blacks were bred through slavery to be better athletes.”

You don’t have to dial too far back to dredge up golfer Fuzzy Zoeller’s racist joke about Masters winner Tiger Woods serving fried chicken at the champions’ dinner. Radio shock-jock Don Imus’ feeble attempt at sports humor ended in an Al Sharpton intervention after Imus called the Rutgers women’s basketball team a bunch of “nappy-headed ho’s.”

The public purgatory these stupid men had to endure was self-inflicted and, except for the near-senile Campanis, well deserved.

Homosexuality in sports has been much more closeted. The late-round selection of openly gay University of Missouri football player Michael Sam has provided us with one memorable video clip of him and his significant other embracing and kissing after he received the draft call from the St. Louis Rams. When Sam made his sexual identity public in February, he was immediately congratulated for doing so by former NFL running back Dave Kopay.

In a 1975 Sports Illustrated cover article, published three years after his retirement, Kopay revealed he’d had an affair with another player who later died of AIDS. In a letter to Sam, Kopay advised him as to what lies ahead: “You need to bring it like you never have brought it before.”

Sam would be smart to heed Kopay’s words. There will be the initial media frenzy. There will be one news conference where he answers all their prying questions. Then the furor will die down, and he becomes a person simply trying to stay employed. We should respect his efforts.

It’s all the reflection of a society in flux. Dinosaurs like Donald Sterling still roam the earth, mired in their own ethical morass. They know their numbers are decreasing. They fear a world where intellect stares bigotry and prejudice in the face and doesn’t blink. They’re scared the good-ole-boy system of race-based locker-room myths will no longer apply to real life. They should be afraid of extinction. Yet, sometimes I still wonder if all those many years ago, Coach Quest was too hasty in accepting my jersey.

Nah — for in life as in sports, “You gotta bring it!”

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Opinion Viewpoint

The Donald Sterling Saga

We all know the story by now. The mistress of Los Angeles Clippers owner Donald Sterling recorded a conversation with Sterling in which he made racist comments. This led the NBA to ban Sterling for life, fine him $2.5 million, and announce efforts to get him to divest from the Clippers. This whirlwind drama has led people to ask a lot of legal questions.

Did the NBA violate Sterling’s First Amendment rights?

No. Public figures have routinely been smacked for making ill-advised comments. And every time a Paula Deen, a Phil Robertson, or a Donald Sterling is dealt consequences for their comments, people argue their right to free speech has been abridged. The First Amendment states that “Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press.” The amendment applies to the government, not to private entities such as the Food Network, A&E, or the NBA.

How can the NBA get rid of an owner?

Until the Sterling brouhaha emerged, the NBA had kept its constitution and by-laws “secret.” However, the league has since made the document public. Relevant to the Sterling situation is Article 13, titled “Termination of Ownership or Membership.” It sets out a number of reasons the league can terminate ownership interests, including an owner’s failure or refusal to fulfill contractual obligations with the league. So, if Sterling breached a contract with the league, then there’d be grounds to terminate his ownership interest.

ESPN reported Sterling signed documents when he acquired the Clippers that include a clause indicating owners cannot take positions that could materially adversely affect a team or the league. Presumably, the NBA will say that Sterling’s comments fall into this category. Is this argument a slam dunk? (Sorry.) Probably not. Sterling will likely claim that a private conversation should not be considered “taking a position.” It was not a public declaration, after all. Will this argument carry the day? Stay tuned.

Does Sterling expose the Clippers to discrimination claims?

I am not going to argue whether or not Sterling is a racist. The recording speaks for itself. Draw your own conclusions. But if Donald Sterling is a racist and if his employees know it, is that a problem?

Well, sure. The Clippers organization employs African Americans and other minorities, and not just those on the court. Apart from the players and coaching staff, there’s marketing, administration, and so on. What, if any, effect does having someone who is publicly deemed to be a racist have on a workplace?

Let’s take the obvious path first. If Sterling were to fire Clippers Coach Doc Rivers (who is African American), could Rivers allege he was terminated due to his race and file a claim under Title VII of the Civil Rights Act or state law? Sure, he could. Part of the evidence could include that the man who fired him had demonstrated racial animus and that whatever reason he gave for the termination was a pretext for discrimination. Does this mean he’d win the case? Not necessarily. But it could make defending it more difficult.

But let’s say that Sterling didn’t fire anyone and has never said a racist word to any Clippers employees. Could an employee somehow claim that Sterling has created a “hostile work environment” due to his private comments?

To establish a claim of a racially based hostile work environment, a plaintiff must show, among other things, that race-based harassment unreasonably interfered with an individual’s work performance by creating an intimidating, hostile, or offensive work environment.

So could the mere fact that a known racist is in charge lead to an actionable claim? As long as the individual leaves their racism at home and doesn’t spread those thoughts in a work setting, absent action, liability seems unlikely. Is every employment decision Sterling made in relation to an African American now subject to attack based on his comments? Possibly.

The key take-away here is that if you own a business or work in management, it’s probably a good idea to avoid spouting racist comments, even privately. You never know who is recording you and when. After all, if you can’t count on your mistress who is about a half-century younger than you to be discreet, who can you trust?

R. Joseph Leibovich is a member of the law firm of Shuttleworth Williams, PLLC.

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Letter From The Editor Opinion

Letter From The Editor: No Country for Old Men

“It’s a mess, ain’t it Sheriff?

“If it ain’t, it’ll do till a mess gets here.”

— Cormac McCarthy, No Country for Old Men

What is it with all these racist old guys? First it was Nevada welfare cowboy Cliven Bundy spouting off about “the negro” being better off under slavery, then doubling down by invoking Dr. Martin Luther King. Finally, completing a trifecta of tastelessness, he compared himself to Rosa Parks.

Let’s see … Rosa Parks boarded a Birmingham bus unarmed, sat in the “whites only” section, faced down a hostile bus driver, was arrested, went to jail, appealed her arrest, and changed civil rights forever. Cliven Bundy refused to pay cattle grazing fees, falsely claimed he had legacy rights to ignore U.S. law, and surrounded himself with armed “militia” who threatened to shoot federal agents who were attempting to do their job. Yup, that’s exactly like Rosa Parks.

All of it was so offensive and egregious that even his former fluffer, Fox News’ Sean Hannity, aka “the caucasian,” had to denounce him. “I meant Al Bundy,” Hannity sputtered. “He was so good in Married With Children.” Props to Sean for making the right Bundy counter-move. At least he didn’t go with Ted.

Next, it was Los Angeles Clippers owner Donald Sterling’s turn. He was outed by his 30-year-old girlfriend via a secret tape-recording that revealed that the 81-year-old ladies man doesn’t like black people very much and would prefer that his girlfriend not hang around with them. We’re not yet sure how Sterling’s wife feels about her husband’s racial views, but give it time.

It’s so sad when true love goes wrong. After having a four-year public affair, you’d think some trust would have been built up between Donald and his mistress, what’s her name. Or a trust fund. Something. But no. She was upset with him and outed him as a racist. In their next game, the Clippers players protested, turning their sweatsuits inside out and dumping them at center court. Then they went out and got beat by 20 points, pulling off the NBA’s first-ever full-court flop.

On Tuesday, NBA Commissioner Adam Silver banned Sterling for life from any league activities and from any managerial role with his team and fined him $2.5 million. Silver and the other NBA owners know better than anyone that if Sterling remains with his team, the Clippers might as well join a Salt Lake City church league.

Increasingly, it appears we are becoming “no country for old men,” as one codger after another decides to vent a lifetime of stored ignorance. Hateful homophobe Fred Phelps, went to his just reward a few months back. No tears were shed except, presumably, by his family. Phelps’ legacy of bigotry is secure and permanent. Donald Sterling and Cliven Bundy aren’t dead yet, but barring some miraculous change of heart, their legacies are also set in stone.

Bruce VanWyngarden

brucev@memphisflyer.com