A fitting punishment for Sterling

I may be unpopular for saying so, but I disagree with NBA Commissioner Adam Silver’s testosterone-powered knee jerk kick to Donald Sterling’s groin. He may have missed the intended target.

While it may satisfy the need to punish Sterling’s ignorance, banning him for life from any NBA activity and forcing him to sell his team doesn’t serve that end.

While we haven’t heard much from Sterling yet, I’m willing to bet he has just been emboldened to fight back on a first amendment platform. Which by the way, he has every right to stand on even if he is a bigot. In America, you are allowed to be ignorant even if it isn’t popular.

And lets not forget he’s a billionaire, he’s a lawyer and he’s old and probably doesn’t give a rat’s ass what we all think of him.

So while the other Air Jordan hasn’t dropped yet and Sterling digs in the heels of his hand made Berlutis, the NBA actions have just made the Clippers the hottest commodity in the sporting franchise market. Those lining up to get a piece of the action include wealthy celebrities like Oprah Winfrey, Matt Damon, and Floyd Mayweather, hell, even Snoop Dog!

The longer Sterling holds out, the more he will get. That’s working out well isn’t it?

A far more appropriate response would have been to require Sterling to attend every Clippers home game for the rest of his life and sit court side with Reverend Al Sharpton. Lots of photos would be taken of course.

Sadly these cases of blatant public racism are piling up and Sterling is just the latest to be caught speaking his unfiltered mind.  Paula Deen fessed up but swears to be reformed unlike fearless racist folk heroes like Nevada rancher Cliven Bundy and Duck Dynasty’s Phil Robertson. They are the reality. Rather than sweep them under the carpet we should confront them directly.

People like Sterling have no shame and at his age it is hardly likely that he will ever become a reformed racist. But making a public spectacle of his bad behavior instead of paying him off to go away would serve a far greater good.

Lets face it we all have racist tendencies, some more than others. The only way to amend this kind of behavior is to shine the light of day on it.