Donald Sterling, worst sports' owner ever?

Owner of the NBA team the Los Angeles Clippers Donald Sterling was caught making multiple multiple racist comments concerning Magic Johnson and black people in general in an argument with his girlfriend. An audio recording was leaked by TMZ which can be heard here.

It's no mystery that the Clippers are one of the worst sports organizations ever. Their .365 franchise winning percentage is the third-worst in the NBA and the Clippers have only had two winning seasons since Sterling bought the team in 1981.

This timing for all this is not the best since the Clippers are actually a contender in the west and are in a tough battle against the Golden State Warriors with the series tied at two games a piece. The league is an uproar and I don't blame them. I was reading an article that started with if a team is stuck with a bad coach they can fire him and if they are stuck with a bad player they can release or trade him. If a team is stuck with a bad owner then they are just screwed.

So should the league have some kind of intervention to saved a great potential franchise from a pathetic owner? I've heard most say they should suspend him for the rest of playoffs but that would only be a short-term fix. What are your thoughts on this racist owner and how to handle him?

Suspend him and then force the sell after the season.

The other owners will never want to set the precedent that you can force 1 of them to sell the team. They'll suspend him for a long time, but thats all.

They would be reluctant to set the precedent, but specially for forcing them to sell because of an illegal recording in which what he said, even if the content is despicable and unacceptable, isn't against the law. Look, I bet these owners views on race relations (Sterling now withstanding) are in line with the mainstream, but you know what probably they have more of a problem with? Gay marriage. So you set the precedent, and then another TMZ or whatever recording surfaces of an owner saying so and so about gays/******* etc and the wrath of god would fall upon them.

They will force him to sell behind scenes, in the long term. Owners know having Sterling as a partner is detrimental to the NBA, but they won't set a precedent. Cuban said as much.

http://espn.go.com/nba/story/_/id/10854381/mark-cuban-dallas-mavericks-rails-donald-sterling-not-favor-kicking-owner

Man, forget Mark Cuban. Sterling's ass is grass. It's not just the recording. It's the last 30 years of him running that team into the ground and his history of being a racist bigot.

He's bad for the league and bad for the Clippers. The recording was just the cherry on his shit sundae. Sorry, too much Trailer Park Boys.

Sterling is a terrible owner and an even worse person but there's no way the NBA could make him directly sell the team, there's no precedent for it and Cuban isn't wrong about the slippery slope. Even Hitler sympathizer, all-around racist and terrible human being Marge Schott was able to hold onto the Reds for years after being banned from day-to-day operations. The only idea idea I've heard floated out there that I think might have a prayer of working would be Clippers players attempting to get out of their contracts by citing a "hostile work environment" with the NBA's support (or at the very least, inaction). I'm not sure whether it'd win or not, but the simple threat of losing and seeing his franchise value plummet might be enough to cause him to sell.

Adam Silver could gain tons of support from the players and fans if he banned Sterling or forced him to sell. I don't know if it's as simple as that, but that solution would garner the most favor I think. I'm hoping he's gone. I'm just sick of racism in all forms. Treat people with respect and dignity regardless of race, gender, sexual orientation, etc.

Silver came out strong, the onus is now on the owners.

Lol, he won't be forced to sell the team by the owners. The sponsers and future players however, can and probably will do it.

This won't mean much to him, dude is going to make a shit load of money. But in the end, people will get what they want with him out.

Maybe, Jerry Jones is next in line though.

Marge Schott, Sterling looks like a saint in comparison to that woman. Jerry Jones after 1994 comes pretty close as well.

After I head the recorded conversation with his girlfriend, I honestly did not feel he was that racist and there are much bigger racists out there. I was expecting a lot worse and it felt like he was more worried about his girlfriend hanging out with other guys more than anything else.

Maybe he feels insecure against Black men, who knows but now that I've actually heard the conversation I don't believe he should of been banned for life, only fined heavily and maybe banned for a few weeks. I was actually watching an interview, and Charles Barkley said "We Are a Black League!" I find that much more racist than anything Sterling said. Here is that video:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3BkQxO4LJTo

I find black people can be a little hypocritical sometimes, because I bet if a Black coach was to say he doesn't want white people at his game, nothing would happen. That's my thoughts anyway.

@LittleMac19: First person I thought of was Marge! Incredible, just brings back memories of her always being in the news for making racial comments and her views.

The commish & everyone else overreacted to all this bs. Even most of my black friends think so.