The neat thing about having your own blog is that you can control what you write. And you can write what you want, whenever you want to. The problem is when you don't write as often as you like for reasons such as exhaustion, writer's block, lack of passion for your subject, etc.
Then, along comes a racist NBA owner, and BOOM! You're back in business.
I've decided to hold off 24 hours to let my opinions of Donald Sterling really fester and thought about what angle to take rather than just rant about how wrong the whole thing is. That's been done. I didn't want to write about what sort of actions players would take, because I knew that would be immediate and profound. I am curious to see what the NBA will do in response - especially since this has happened so early in Adam Silver's tenure. But this is being covered extensively.
So where do I start? How do I wrap my head around this story and put my thoughts down in words?
I look at the power of media here, and how the Internet, social media, and the rapid dissemination of knowledge and how this all came together to create this story. Donald Sterling has always been a racist. I took some time to look at his Wikipedia page, and my jaw dropped. I showed it to a coworker, and they had no idea either. Their reaction was the same as mine. Not a lot of people knew, and now they do.
We live in an age where everything goes viral. We watch videos of a dachshund on Vine, know what time Justin Beiber went to the carwash, and know about the death of Miley Cyrus' puppy. You have to be very careful about what you say or do because it is so easy to make information public. We have a mentality to get the story out immediately and worry later about the repercussions. After all, once it is out there and people see it, the damage has already been done!
That is exactly what happened here. The authenticity of the tapes will do nothing to save Donald Sterling's reputation, or what was left of it anyway. With one conversation that was recorded, a share with TMZ, and a whole lot of people viewing it, the whole world heard this man and knows what he is. And with that, so many people have been affected.
The Clippers players, a star-studded roster who's top talent are black, the Clippers coach, Doc Rivers, who is also black are put in a very tough spot as they face a crucial playoff push. There is the entire front office who has to do damage control. Looking beyond the Clippers, about 80% of the entire league is black - and one of the 30 owners has said a lot of awesome things about this demographic. Then, there are former players, too. Then there is the NBA, with the spotlight on the league now to see what the can and will do to Donald Sterling. Then, there's the black population who has heard this, and how many of these people are Clippers fans? (Insert sarcastic joke, I know, because they were irrelevant for so long, but they have generated a lot of popularity recently.) Then, there are Clippers fans who are not black. Then, there are fans of the NBA and basketball fans in general. And people beyond basketball. Then there's the sponsors, who've decided to suspend their sponsorship with the team, which affects business.
Wow! Such a tangled web has been weaved. I am in awe and still dumbstruck at the whole thing. I am in shock that a man who owns an NBA team has these thoughts. I am not shocked, but continue to observe and study how quickly information circulates and how quickly opinions are formed, and how actions are taken just ask quickly in response. We heard from current and former players, coaches, NBA executives, the NBAPA, Sterling's estranged wife, and a partridge in a pear tree. The fat lady has not yet sung, so we do not know yet if it is over for Donald Sterling, but it doesn't look so good. He's really got some "splaining" to do:
My point in a nutshell: A) There is no room for racism. Anywhere. B) While I think that today's world of viral journalism, we tend to overreact a lot. This definitely deserves it.
Then, along comes a racist NBA owner, and BOOM! You're back in business.
I've decided to hold off 24 hours to let my opinions of Donald Sterling really fester and thought about what angle to take rather than just rant about how wrong the whole thing is. That's been done. I didn't want to write about what sort of actions players would take, because I knew that would be immediate and profound. I am curious to see what the NBA will do in response - especially since this has happened so early in Adam Silver's tenure. But this is being covered extensively.
So where do I start? How do I wrap my head around this story and put my thoughts down in words?
I look at the power of media here, and how the Internet, social media, and the rapid dissemination of knowledge and how this all came together to create this story. Donald Sterling has always been a racist. I took some time to look at his Wikipedia page, and my jaw dropped. I showed it to a coworker, and they had no idea either. Their reaction was the same as mine. Not a lot of people knew, and now they do.
We live in an age where everything goes viral. We watch videos of a dachshund on Vine, know what time Justin Beiber went to the carwash, and know about the death of Miley Cyrus' puppy. You have to be very careful about what you say or do because it is so easy to make information public. We have a mentality to get the story out immediately and worry later about the repercussions. After all, once it is out there and people see it, the damage has already been done!
That is exactly what happened here. The authenticity of the tapes will do nothing to save Donald Sterling's reputation, or what was left of it anyway. With one conversation that was recorded, a share with TMZ, and a whole lot of people viewing it, the whole world heard this man and knows what he is. And with that, so many people have been affected.
The Clippers players, a star-studded roster who's top talent are black, the Clippers coach, Doc Rivers, who is also black are put in a very tough spot as they face a crucial playoff push. There is the entire front office who has to do damage control. Looking beyond the Clippers, about 80% of the entire league is black - and one of the 30 owners has said a lot of awesome things about this demographic. Then, there are former players, too. Then there is the NBA, with the spotlight on the league now to see what the can and will do to Donald Sterling. Then, there's the black population who has heard this, and how many of these people are Clippers fans? (Insert sarcastic joke, I know, because they were irrelevant for so long, but they have generated a lot of popularity recently.) Then, there are Clippers fans who are not black. Then, there are fans of the NBA and basketball fans in general. And people beyond basketball. Then there's the sponsors, who've decided to suspend their sponsorship with the team, which affects business.
Wow! Such a tangled web has been weaved. I am in awe and still dumbstruck at the whole thing. I am in shock that a man who owns an NBA team has these thoughts. I am not shocked, but continue to observe and study how quickly information circulates and how quickly opinions are formed, and how actions are taken just ask quickly in response. We heard from current and former players, coaches, NBA executives, the NBAPA, Sterling's estranged wife, and a partridge in a pear tree. The fat lady has not yet sung, so we do not know yet if it is over for Donald Sterling, but it doesn't look so good. He's really got some "splaining" to do:
My point in a nutshell: A) There is no room for racism. Anywhere. B) While I think that today's world of viral journalism, we tend to overreact a lot. This definitely deserves it.
