Some Historical Perspective On Donald Sterling

On this date back in 1948, the Unites States Supreme Court ruled that covenants prohibiting the sale of real estate to minorities were legally unenforceable.  It may be hard to imagine for some of us that just 65 years ago this was an open legal question requiring a ruling of the Supreme Court. Donald Sterling, the owner of the Los Angeles Clippers now notorious for his racist remarks and alleged housing discrimination in his real estate business, was already 16 years old at the time.

Who Are Donald Sterling's Women, Really? (Name Changes All Around)

In light of speculation that Los Angeles Clippers' owner Donald Sterling's lifetime ban from the NBA yesterday might lead to his wife of 50 years, Rochelle, becoming the majority owner of the team, I became interested in learning more about her, and about the mysterious "mistress" who recorded Donald Sterling's racist ramblings.

According to Wikipedia, Donald Sterling was born in 1934, in Depression-era Chicago, the son of Jewish immigrants. His birth name was "Donald Tokowitz." His family moved to Los Angeles when he was two years old, where in 1955, at the age of 21, he met and married Rochelle "Shelley" Stein. Somewhere around this time Donald Tokowitz apparently changed his last name to "Sterling."  That's apparently how Shelley became "Rochelle Sterling."

It was Rochelle Sterling herself who, just last month, sued the 31 year old woman who made these now infamous recordings, seeking to recover a $1.8 million duplex that Donald Sterling had allegedly given her, along with luxury cars (two Bentleys, a Ferrari, and a Range Rover) and $240K in cash for "living expenses."  It was in those court documents that Rochelle describes the woman, currently going by the name "V. Stiviano" (formerly Vanessa Maria Perez, before changing her name legally in 2010, according to Yahoo), as Donald Sterling's "mistress," a characterization the woman herself has denied through her lawyer. According to the Los Angeles Times today, "He also insisted that Stiviano and the 80-year-old team owner never had a sexual or romantic relationship and that descriptions of her as his mistress in the media and in a lawsuit filed by Sterling's wife are erroneous...The suit asserted that Stiviano struck up a sexual relationship with the Beverly Hills billionaire after they met at the 2010 Super Bowl. He was the latest in a string of rich men she had seduced, the suit contends..."

As it turns out, "V. Stiviano," who was born in San Antonio in 1982,  moved to LA in her teens and attended the same high school in East Los Angeles in the 1990s as had Donald Sterling and his wife  60 years ago, according to an extensive investigation into her background published in the Mail Online today HERE. This article also speculates that "V. Stiviano" had previously had a similar relationship with the octogenarian owner of the Los Angeles Lakers, Dr. Jerry Buss, who died last year. Buss and Sterling were both LA-based real estate moguls and had been friends and associates for years.  When Buss bought the Lakers in 1979, he sold some of his holdings to Donald Sterling to raise part of the purchase price.  And it was Buss who, a couple of years later in 1981, encouraged Sterling to buy the Clippers, all as detailed in Sports Illustrated  HERE.

If "V. Stiviano's" insistence that she was given a $1.8 million duplex (along with luxury cars and $240K in cash) as compensation for three years' work as Donald Sterling's platonic "archivist" doesn't strain credulity sufficiently, perhaps Rochelle Sterling's skepticism about the nature of her husband's relationship with the 31 year old, self described, "black and Mexican" archivist was enhanced by the fact that, in a lawsuit filed a decade ago by Donald Sterling himself against another former mistress of his named Alexandra Castro (seeking the return of cash and gifts he had given her), Donald Sterling testified under oath, according to the New York Times that,“It was purely sex for money... I probably didn’t tell my wife.”

But if Rochelle Sterling was skeptical about the relationship between her 80 year old husband and yet another, much younger woman of Hispanic heritage, she didn't show it in THIS happy group photo at a November 2011, party that's been posted on TMZ, in which Rochelle Sterling is all smiles, posing next to V. Stiviano.

Perhaps Rochelle sued V. Stiviano in March 2014 not because Rochelle suddenly discovered that octogenarian Donald Sterling's 31 year old "archivist" was actually his mistress, but rather because Rochelle, a child of the Depression herself, hit the roof when she discovered how much that job paid....

How The Donald Sterling Tapes Were Made

In the wake of the announcement yesterday by the Commissioner of the NBA that the octogenarian owner of the Los Angeles Clippers, Donald Sterling, would be banned from the NBA for life, there was precious little reflection about how the now notorious tapes of him spewing racist nonsense were originally made. I thought that THIS column by NBA legend Kareem Abdul-Jabbar in Time magazine made some thought provoking points about that little-considered aspect of the story.

"Shouldn’t we be equally angered by the fact that his private, intimate conversation was taped and then leaked to the media? Didn’t we just call to task the NSA for intruding into American citizen’s privacy in such an un-American way?... The making and release of this tape is so sleazy that just listening to it makes me feel like an accomplice to the crime."

"And now the poor guy’s girlfriend (undoubtedly ex-girlfriend now) is on tape cajoling him into revealing his racism. Man, what a winding road she led him down to get all of that out. She was like a sexy nanny playing 'pin the fried chicken on the Sambo.' She blindfolded him and spun him around until he was just blathering all sorts of incoherent racist sound bites that had the news media peeing themselves with glee."

Donald Sterling's Tell-Tale Juice

By now I'm sure you've heard and seen a lot about the racist comments allegedly made by the octogenarian owner of the NBA's Los Angeles Clippers, Donald Sterling, which were apparently recorded secretly by his 20-something former mistress.

Much of what is said is obviously horrifying.  But I also thought that an under-reported aspect of these excerpts (like the extended, 15 minute version posted on Deadspin HERE), was how they give us a unique window into what the relationship between a sultry, mixed race, 20-something woman, and an 81 year old billionaire is really like.

As Donald Sterling is growing more and more exasperated with her during their conversation, at one point she attempts to calm him down by purring in a flirty, come-hither voice, "Honey, I'm sorry. Is there anything I can do to make you feel better?"

Then there's an extended pause, during which Sterling doesn't reply. Undaunted, she then continues, "I'm sorry, honey, can I get you a little bit more juice? I don't want to fight with you. Let me get you some juice."

The End of the Best Deal Ever

It was probably 15 or 20 years ago that I first heard references to a little known "Deal of the Century." In the mid-1970s, the Silna brothers purchased the struggling 'Spirits of St Louis' basketball team in the struggling ABA basketball league for a mere $1 million.  The ABA almost immediately folded, with only a handful of its teams then joining the (struggling) NBA in 1976. Other ABA teams accepted buyouts to fold, but not the Silnas.  And here's what resulted for the next 40 years.

"With the help of their lawyer, Donald Schupak, the brothers cut a deal: The four ABA teams decamping to the NBA would... pay the brothers one-seventh of their national broadcast revenues in perpetuity...[T]he deal became the sports equivalent of Peter Minuit paying $24 for the island of Manhattan. According to court documents obtained by SI, the brothers received a total of $521,749 in 1980, the first year the contract vested. By '86-87 the annual payout eclipsed $1 million. By 1999-2000 it eclipsed $10 million. For 2010-11, the last season for which records are available, the Silnas made $17.5 million. After last season they had made more than $300 million cumulatively -- with no end in sight."

According to Sports Illustrated HERE, earlier this week the Silna brothers, now 81 and 69 years old respectively, apparently accepted a buy out, one long-sought after by the NBA.  The buy-out price was apparently "in excess of $500 million," meaning that their initial $1 million investment would've netted them over $1 billion, in the end.

Toilet Paper Waterfall

I'm not normally interested in Belgian soccer.  But I thought that this video of a 'toilet paper waterfall' created by fans at a recent match was pretty spectacular.

Politically Incorrect Aspect Of PEDs In MLB

You've probably heard about the 50 game suspensions handed down by Major League Baseball in recent days to Melky Cabrera and then Bartolo Colon for using 'performance enhancing drugs,' or PEDs. This news has highlighted another issue that's more awkward for the media to address, however.

"When it comes to steroid busts in baseball, Se Habla Espanol. Latin America has a history of producing baseball stars that is more than a century old - and a recent history of over-producing steroid cheaters... Four of the five big-league players ensnared by baseball's PED testing program this season are from Latin America. And a whopping 23 of the 37 suspensions by major league baseball since 2005 have gone to players born in Latin America."  You can read more, including some explanations for this trend, in the Miami Herald HERE.

23 of 37 is 62%.  Major League Baseball has 32 teams, each with a 40 man roster, a total of 1,280 players.  According to statistics on Wikipedia HERE, 207 current players were born in Latin America and the Caribbean.  That's 16% of 1,280.

Read more here: http://www.miamiherald.com/2012/08/22/2963892/marcos-breton-some-latin-players.html#storylink=cpy

Read more here: http://www.miamiherald.com/2012/08/22/2963892/marcos-breton-some-latin-players.html#storylink=cpy

Junior Seau: No Brain Damage From Football

"Junior Seau had no alcohol or common drugs of abuse in his system when he shot himself in the chest with a .357 caliber magnum revolver at his Oceanside home on the morning of May 2, according to the autopsy and toxicology reports released Monday by the San Diego County Medical Examiner’s office. In addition, an initial autopsy of the brain of the former San Diego Chargers great and beloved San Diego sports icon showed no apparent damage from his illustrious NFL career, during which he distinguished himself as one of the best defensive players ever to play the game."

You can read more in the San Diego Union-Tribune HERE.

Why do I doubt these findings will get anywhere near the coverage that the hysterical speculation about football-related concussion syndrome did at the time of his death?

NBA Formed On This Date In 1949

The National Basketball Association was formed on this date back in 1949, as a result of the merger of two other struggling pro basketball leagues. 

But the NBA wasn't racially integrated until the following year, 1950, when the 'color barrier' was finally broken.

Olympics Betting Scandal

"An Irish Olympian is being investigated over an allegation that the athlete had bet on his opponent in an event in which they were both competing, according to multiple reports," according to ABC News HERE. 

The paltry size of the alleged bets caught my eye.

"According to Independent, the first bet won 533 euro ($656) and the second won 3,367 euro ($4,145)."

"Sports Espionage" At The London Olympics

"As Olympic training became more detailed, more scientific and more complicated, France created an agency in its sports ministry. Its nondescript name — Préparation Olympique et Paralympique — masked a more ambitious purpose: to boost medal counts through athletic surveillance, as much Spy Games as Olympic Games, under the direction of a man competitors called the French James Bond." 

You can read more in today's New York Times HERE. 

"The World Series of Cliff Diving" Lives

I remember watching the 'World Series of Cliff Diving' on TV as a kid in the 1970's when it was featured on ABC's Wide World of Sports, and being really mesmerized by the spectacle. 

I hadn't seen it since, though. So I was surprised to see THIS New York Daily News article today, which includes several spectacular photos of the current championships, which are apparently taking place in the Azores.

I had remembered it as an event held in Mexico and dominated by Mexican men who looked like Fabio.  So I was also surprised to read that, in this year's "Diving Championships," the leader board was topped by an American and a Russian.  I was a lot less surprised, however, to read that the title sponsor of this event is now Red Bull.

Olympic Gold Medals Not Made of Gold

"The iconic Olympic gold medal is not a gold medal at all," according to THIS CNN article today. "At current gold prices, if each medal were made entirely of the stuff, they would be worth about $20,000 each... The gold medal is comprised of 92.5% silver, just 1.34% -- or six grams -- of gold and the rest is made of copper. And funny thing about copper: It also makes up 97% of the bronze medal."

The Lenny Dykstra Saga Ends

Former Major League baseball star Lenny Dykstra pleaded guilty yesterday to bankruptcy fraud and other federal charges, according to THIS CNN article.  I'm not a big baseball fan myself, but I've followed this story for years because of all the unusual twists and turns that it has taken.  In addition to being a 3-time All Star, Dykstra apparently earned over $35 million during his playing days.  Athletes having financial problems after retirement is nothing new, of course, but I'd never seen one protest more earnestly during his long, Icarus-like fall that he wasn't crashing to the ground at all. He was actually paying insignificant millions to move the earth ever closer to him. You see, he liked the breeze.

"After retirement, Dykstra moved to California and started a profitable luxury car wash that he called The Taj Mahal. He expanded the business throughout Southern California and in 2007 sold it to investors, according to bankruptcy filings. As a self-taught financial analyst, Dykstra proclaimed himself a financial guru and began writing a stock-picking website column. His prominence soared as a sports celebrity, entrepreneur and popular guest on numerous financial news broadcasts. In 2008, Dykstra began publishing the Players Club, a glossy financial advice magazine exclusively for pro athletes to help them with wealth management and investment banking. But Dykstra seemed to lose control of his extravagant jet-setting lifestyle during the housing bust. His purchase of the palatial Gretzky estate in 2007 for $14 million occurred a few months before the mortgage market collapse."

That's the merest taste of this amazingly colorful story.  You can read more in THIS wild profile of Lenny Dykstra published in GQ three years ago, by which time the story was already well advanced.

US Olympic Team Uniforms Made In China

The uniforms that the 2012 US Olympic team will wear at the opening ceremonies of the London summer games, unveiled yesterday, are made in China, according to THIS 2 minute segment on the ABC World News last night.

Why Baseball Managers Wear Uniforms Too

On the rare occasions (like during the World Series) when I watch baseball, I've frequently wondered why the middle-aged managers wear uniforms just like their players.  That sure doesn't happen in NFL football or in the NBA.  And it looks a little silly to me. Why is that done in Major League Baseball? 

THIS article on CNN this morning answers that question.  It's a tradition with long historical roots, apparently. "[I]n the earliest years of the game in the 19th century, 'The person who was called the manager of a team was the business manager -- he was the person who made sure that the receipts were paid and that the train schedules were met. He didn't make any decisions about what went on during a game. The person who did that was called the captain. He did what a manager does today, but he also played. So at first, the person we would today call a manager wore a uniform because he was a participant in the game.'"

NBA Lockout Costing Taxpayers Millions, Too

The fact that the NBA has started cancelling games (due to ongoing negotiations between its players and owners) is apparently costing cities and taxpayers millions of dollars as well, according to THIS 3 minute segment from the CBS Evening News last night.

The root of the problem is the public financing of new arenas, and the revenue lost when NBA games are cancelled. Memphis, which apparently spent $200 million on a new arena for its NBA franchise, is considering a lawsuit against the NBA.

Walter Payton's Public Image

As I wrote here last Friday, a new biography of Walter Payton will be released tomorrow that has already created a lot of controversy because it contains previously unpublicized revelations about his excessive use of painkillers (and nitrous oxide), his long-time mistress, and that he was suicidal, among other things.  These details are particularly notable because of Payton's squeaky clean public image, which this new book apparently makes clear was of paramount importance to him. 

With that in mind, you can watch a TV commercial he made for KFC (playing football with a little boy) HERE. HERE is an ad for Wheaties (and another one for the same cereal HERE featuring his wife), and another one HERE for Kangaroos sneakers (again playing football with a little boy). There's also THIS one for a Toyota dealership.

"North Dallas Forty" Author Has Died

"Former National Football League player Peter Gent, whose book about the seamier side of pro football was made into the movie, North Dallas Forty, has died in his native Michigan. He was 69."  You can read more at CBS News HERE.

I remember seeing the 1979 film adaptation (starring Nick Notle as the aging wide receiver relying on painkillers to stay competitive) on TV sometime in the early 1980s and being totally blown away as a kid by the revelation of the sordid side of the NFL.  In fact, when I first heard last Friday about the revelations concerning Walter Payton's dark side, particularly his reliance on painkillers, North Dallas Forty was the first thing that came to mind.

Being a fan of Monday Night Football even as a kid in the early 1980s, I was also amazed to learn that the aging 'Dandy' Don Meredith was allegedly the basis for the 'girl on each arm' quarterback in the film.

The Dirt On Walter Payton

A new biography will be published in October about the great Chicago Bears running back Walter Payton. It is to be excerpted in the next issue of Sports Illustrated, and those excerpts are already generating a huge amount of publicity and controversy. 

According to the book, Payton abused painkillers both during and after his playing days, as well as nitrous oxide (of all things). He also had a long time mistress, an airline stewardess who insisted on attending his Hall of Fame induction ceremony, sitting in the 2nd row while his wife and children were in the front row.  Payton was also suicidal at times, the book details.

You can read these controversial excerpts HERE.