Steve Ballmer Bids $1.6 Billion for Clippers

Be or think? Does behavior always follow thought or do we exercise self-control?

By the same token, is it okay to be a sexist? What are the chances of most men keeping their jobs predicated on never making a sexist comment?

 

Oooooo, you are some philosophical, aren't you! I like the effort and analogy.

Dude's a scumbag. He got caught. It became public. He got kicked out of his club. End of story. Now, in classic Americano style, he is making over a billion ($1,000,000,000) in profit. That's not just a word, it's ten figures. Shelley, et al, can all relish in the reality of this fortuitous misfortune.

And, apparently he is demented. Dementia??? Boy, that medical word is getting thrown around like "wheezing". Everybody thinks their child who is congested and stuffy is wheezing, and now Donald Sterling is clearly demented. The guy can answer questions w/reasonably coherent, rational answers, but the choice of words and his timing is questioned, thus he suffers from dementia. Dementia = someone who is completely incoherent, consistently irrational, and non-sensical. DS is just a bit old, has been caught, and is all of a sudden being described as demented, as if that is an excuse for his thoughts and behaviors. He's not demented, he just grew up in a time when the mindset was different, narrow, and it became public. His thoughts are shared, and defended by many who are not considered to suffer from dementia. Sadly.

 

Philosophy? Racism and sexism are, or should be, on the same footing. They aren't. Racially inspired slavery was ended a long time ago. Young girls and women are still being kidnapped today for a global sex slavery purpose.

The world is filled with scumbags. He made millionaires out of a whole lotta people. They knew who he was when they took his money. Situational. I do believe he has racist thoughts and behaviors. Once I saw his apology interview with Anderson Cooper where he went after Magic, I knew he was also batshit crazy. Alzheimers.

 

Yeah, I'm not so sure. He may "seem" batshit crazy, thus the desire to label it. I think that interview is reflective of two things, his warped views combined with an anger response. He was suddenly attacked by the entire media, ostracized by his business partners, and was the subject of blogs, and talk shows. He was angry, spoke out, and you got more insight into his lifelong evolution of bitterness and racism. I don't equate that with Alzheimers or dementia. Sure, he is old, and probably makes some non-sensical comments, but the recorded conversation on the tape, and the interview do not support those labels. By the way, when I was commenting on the dementia word, I did so b/c of what I keep hearing and reading by others. It was not in response to your post, just to clarify. I just keep seeing references that he is demented, and wanted to share my thoughts about that.

 

You are surely free to call it as you see it. My point is simply this, if he isn't such a racist then he never makes those comments and there is nothing for Spock's niece to record. Was it wrong for her to do so? It was dirty pool at the least but my point is still valid. If you are going to be out in front of such a high profile organization then you'd better have your shit together.

 

I disagree. I think people who are not racist or sexist or anti-gay sometimes make comments that smack of those very topics. Do you remember this story?

"Rev. Jesse Jackson referred to Jews as "Hymies" and to New York City as "Hymietown" in January 1984 during a conversation with a black Washington Post reporter, Milton Coleman. Jackson had assumed the references would not be printed because of his racial bond with Coleman, but several weeks later Coleman permitted the slurs to be included far down in an article by another Post reporter on Jackson's rocky relations with American Jews.

A storm of protest erupted, and Jackson at first denied the remarks, then accused Jews of conspiring to defeat him."

Now, did Jesse have to sell anything? Did he get fired or condemned by anyone other than the Jewish community? (Sterling is Jewish BTW). Didn't President Clinton bring him to the WH in the middle of Monica-gate to help heal the wounds of the blue dress (Jesse brought his pregnant mistress along too)? How does that happen?

Again, would you keep your job, your personal relationship, your friends, if they heard every thing you ever said in private conversation? And let's say you not only lost your job, but had to sell your home or your car based on a private conversation. How does that go?

Having your shit together doesn't include having a private conversation with the expectation of it becoming public. Look, I haven't lost any sleep over the man and I don't feel bad what's happened to him. He's an asshole and always has been. It's not about him. It's about a citizen being forced to sell his business based on his personal, private thoughts. That is a problem IMO. It's a scary precedent.

 

I understand your point USC and agree that the hypocrisy of many is of those condemning Sterling is pretty sad. However Sterling has a position as an owner in a consortium called the NBA. When the information came out the whole NBA was damaged and I believe this is why they had a means to act. They were saving the NBA. Already the players were talking about striking and sponsors were pulling ads.
The NBA had allowed Sterling to keep his franchise for 30 years knowing who and what he is. His punishment is for damaging the league and within their rights and the franchise documents he signed.

 

The final selling price was $2 Billion. For that amount of money Ballmer could have bought 250 million Microsoft Surface Tablets.

 

Are the Clippers really worth $2B or is Ballmer overpaying? (Not that he can't afford it). I thought $1B was too much. If the Clippers are worth $2B, then the Lakers have to be at least $5B.