Donald Sterling: Where wealth and stupidity collide
Billionaire basketball team owner Donald Sterling hasnt been convicted of anything except in the court of public opinion where, in addition to showing himself to…
FILE – In this Monday, Dec. 19, 2011 photo, Los Angeles Clippers owner Donald Sterling watches the second half of an NBA preseason basketball game between the Los Angeles Clippers and the Los Angeles Lakers in Los Angeles. (AP Photo/Danny Moloshok)
Billionaire basketball team owner Donald Sterling hasnt been convicted of anything except in the court of public opinion where, in addition to showing himself to be a racist, he now has proven to be the stupidest attorney to ever practice law.
Keep your mouth shut.
If you have ever been in criminal trouble, thats the first thing a smart lawyer will advise you to do.
For good reason. An overwhelming number of criminal defendants ultimately wind up convicting themselves by opening their mouths by trying to explain their actions. Inevitably that works against you.
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In the real world, too.
Exhibit 1: Donald Sterlings interview with CNNs Anderson Cooper that aired Monday night in which the owner of the Los Angeles Clippers inexplicably thought he could explain the taped racist rant that got him banned for life by the NBA in the first place.
Speaking publicly for the first time since the banishment and the NBA move to take away his team, Sterling set out to contritely apologize for his racist remarks and to insist that he is not a racist.
Instead he came off defiant and creating more furor by defaming basketball legend Magic Johnson so vilely that Adam Silver, the new commissioner of the league the man who banned Sterling for life two weeks ago called the comments “a malicious and personal attack” and found it necessary to call Magic and apologize for the Clippers owner.
Its almost attacking Mt. Rushmore, civil rights activist and commentator Earl Ofari Hutchinson said of Sterlings attack on Johnson.
Political leaders were equally quick to denounce Sterling and step up demands that the Clippers be taken away from him permanently.
Hes in a hole and he won’t quit digging, said Los Angeles City Council President Herb Wesson.
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In this photo taken on Friday, Oct. 25, 2013, Los Angeles Clippers owner Donald Sterling, right, and Vanessa Stiviano, left, watch the Clippers play the Sacramento Kings during the first half of an NBA basketball game in Los Angeles.
But perhaps we should come back to Donald Sterling, the lawyer, and wonder if he hasnt somehow orchestrated one of the slickest gambits for maintaining ownership of the Clippers, albeit through his wife Shelly who has told ABC’s Barbara Walters that she believes her 80-year-old husband is afflicted with early dementia.
Sports Illustrated reported Tuesday that there were several odd responses to Anderson which, when coupled with his wife’s suspicions, may cause the NBA anxiety.
Did Sterling pull off a fast one, knowing the law just enough to understand that if he is not of sound mind, the NBAs task of forcing the sale of the team becomes more complicated than it already is?
Did the so-called feeble-minded Sterling have just enough wits about him to do what old Mafia dons have been known to do when trying to avoid prison and develop enough mental and physical illness symptoms to keep justice at bay?
As unpleasant as the thought may be, its worth considering. How else can anyone explain why Sterling in this situation on national television would lash into the beloved Magic Johnson’s sex life and his contraction of the HIV virus, not to mention claiming he has never done anything for African Americans?
Here is a man who is I don’t know if I (should) say this. He acts so holy, said Sterling. I mean, he made love to every girl in every city in America. And he had AIDS.
What does he do for the black people? He doesn’t do anything Can you tell me, big Magic Johnson, what has he done?
How can anyone explain how any rational individual who happens to be Jewish could get himself into a public diatribe about what Jews do for mankind as opposed to African Americans?
Jews, when they get successful, they will help their people, said Sterling. And some of the African Americans maybe I will get in trouble again they don’t want to help anybody.
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What billionaire sports owner or businessman under the duress Sterling has experienced in the last few weeks go into an important interview like this without legal counsel and public relations advisers?
Exhibit No. 2: Donald Sterling, who claimed he was going against the advice he had gotten during this crisis that he not say anything from someone he felt he couldnt trust.
I think he wanted me just to do nothing, so he could buy the team, said Sterling. He thought maybe the whole thing would be resolved in two weeks.
Who had given Sterling the advice that he keep his mouth shut?
Magic Johnson.
