Jayne Kamin-Oncea-USA TODAY Sports
With the Chicago Bulls playing their first round matchup with the Washington Wizards over the past week, you can imagine the amount of focus and work we are doing behind the scenes trying to give you Pippen Peoples all of the analysis and up to date information regarding this series. But this is a subject that needs to be addressed on our website. When I say our website that means ALL OF US around the world. White, African-American, Chinese, Japanese, Hispanic, just to name a few. One of my most proudest moments at Pippen Ain’t Easy was when I got a comment from Japan. This article is dedicated to each and every person from here to forever reading this. This is not about Carlos Boozer. This is not about Tom Thibodeau or anyone in the Bulls organization. This is about ALL OF US!
Over the weekend, an audio recording got released by TMZ.com in which Los Angeles Clippers owner Donald Sterling can allegedly be heard making racist remarks to his girlfriend who by the way just happens to be “black and mexican.” Sterling was cursing the woman out for bringing African-Americans to Clippers games and posting pictures on Instagram. Donald Sterling who just happens to be married for over 50 years was heard allegedly on the tape going off about a photo with Hall of Famer Magic Johnson.
TMZ posted excerpts of the conversation which is about nine minutes long on the internet. Here’s some of the disturbing quotes caught on tape…
“It bothers me a lot that you want to broadcast that you’re associating with black people. Do you have to?”
“You can sleep with . You can bring them in, you can do whatever you want. The little I ask you is not to promote it on that…and not to bring them to my games.”
“Don’t put him (Mr. Earvin Johnson) on an Instagram for the world to have to see so they have to call me. And don’t bring him to my games.”
Since finding out what has happened, Mr. Johnson has stated that he and his wife Cookie will never attend another Clippers game as long as Sterling is the owner. There have been many statements released from Michael Jordan to Lebron James to even Mr. Obama condemning these comments. The Clippers players had a silent protest before their Game four loss to the Golden State Warriors.
We here at Pippen Ain’t Easy represent you the NBA fan. We are a website based to entertain and inform you the reader. This is not an article to point out the egregious actions of Donald Sterling. However this is some advice from Pippen Ain’t Easy to keep in mind for the rest of the NBA playoffs which by the way is the best one going in quite a while. Please read and I really hope that it helps.
Please let NBA Commissioner Adam Silver do his job.
What a way to get acclimated to your new job Mr. Silver. The questions that has been asked over and over again over the weekend is…
What punishment will Sterling get?
How severe will the punishment be?
When will the punishment come down?
This is a very fine line that Adam Silver has to walk right now. When I saw the press conference at 8:30 on Saturday night I knew when he said that he was not prepared to move on a decision at that time, there might be people who would be upset. Some believe Sterling should be suspended. Some believe Sterling should lose the Clippers altogether similar to what happened to Marge Schott losing the Cincinnati Reds back in the 90’s. Well let me be the first to tell you Pippen Peoples it’s going to take time. Here’s why?
It’s common belief that the Commissioner Silver is in charge. In reality, Silver works for the owners. This fact is usually reminded to us all when there is a strike, but it’s true. What this means is that Commissioner Silver is going to have to have input from not only the players who all want to have their voice heard and rightfully so but the owners as well. This is a league wide issue here folks and there is a lot of people who want and will be heard. Commissioner Silver mentioned due process has to be followed for every member of the NBA. He’s correct. This has a ton of legal issues that are tied to this investigation. If something goes awry, this could end up in court. Please be patient.
One of the problems is that there is no precedence for this alleged behavior. Los Angeles Lakers guard Kobe Bryant was fined $100,000 for using a gay slur back in 2011 during a game. Indiana Pacers center Roy Hibbert was fined $75,000 for using a homophobic slang term last year during a post game press conference. Earlier this season Los Angeles Clippers forward Matt Barnes was fined for using the N-word in a message on his Twitter account.
However, all of these things happened on Silver’s predecessor David Stern’s watch. Now this is Adam Silver’s problem. What I’m saying is that, let him do his job. There’s a reason why this man gets paid fifty-leven million dollars a year. To handle problems like these. Let him earn his money and let’s all enjoy the games. Pippen Ain’t Easy will continue in-depth coverage of what is going on and keep you informed. But for now, everyone on behalf of Pippen Ain’t Easy, we are all family and all Pippen Peoples. Let’s not let the actions of one man steal our joy of the greatest NBA playoff basketball in recent memory. Peace.