Let me preface these thoughts by stating that what another billionaire says or does because he feels above the rest of we serfs is never surprising to me. What Don Sterling, owner of the Clippers basketball team, said and implied is murmured to this writer many times by many people . . . always in either whispers or in secure settings. Racism is alive and well in Amerika, as it always has been since our founding.
What cracks me up is how much television and radio time is reserved for this latest ‘major scandal.’ One can understand the sports media jumping all over this incident. Yet, even they have devoted too much time in bombarding us with what this man said, past and present. Enough already! Oh yes, the league is suspending him for life from the game, but . . . he will keep ownership of his team. But wait! They may push him to sell . . . for over $500 million for a team he bought for less than $20 million. Poor Don Sterling.
What really angers this writer is how the mainstream news media have jumped onto the bandwagon, treating this incident like it was the story of the century. Yet, when the Bush Gang lied and manipulated our nation into a preemptive invasion of Iraq, where was this same media? Most of them were lining up to become embedded with our troops! Little Katie Couric showed her full set of teeth to proudly shout, ‘Marines Rock’ as we marched through to Baghdad. On CNN, stooge Aaron Brown proudly announced the results of Shock and Awe as he interviewed the former generals hired by CNN as ‘consultants.’ MSNBC had good old Lester Holt making his bones by cheerleading the assault on Iraq. These three, of course, got nice promotions after the so called ‘War.’ We won’t even delve into Fox’s media whores at all. In sales we call this a ‘win win’ situation . . . except, of course, for the Iraqi people, their infrastructure , their health and well being. Don’t forget the other ‘losers’ in this disgrace: Our economy and prestige as a nation . . . down the drain!
Finally, what this Donald Sterling affair should question is why do we need to have a professional sports system with private ownership? Imagine how much better it would be if the cities the teams were in actually owned those teams? Imagine if the teams were operated on a nonprofit basis? Would ticket prices be perhaps a bit lower? Would all that extra revenue from product licensing maybe go back to the city’s economy, and not into the hands of strictly private interests? Food for thought.
And, chew on this tidbit of insight: What about those poor players and coaches who have to work for these super rich owners? Last time I looked I have not read that Lebron James, who earns mega-mega millions, took some of those millions to open a health clinic in his hometown of Akron, Ohio, for the struggling neighbors he once had. Multiply that by most of these guys in professional sports. I remember how Warwick Dunn, from Florida State U and then the Tampa Bay Bucs football team, actually purchased homes for single moms who were struggling financially in his hometown.
When I read how Donald Sterling gave millions to charities, I ask myself how much I would be giving if I was worth hundreds of millions or a billion. To me, the homeless person who breaks his only sandwich in half and gives it to his neighbor is doing more than that.
Philip A Farruggio is son and grandson of Brooklyn, NYC longshoremen. He is a free lance columnist (found on Truthout.org, TheSleuthJournal.com, Worldnewstrust.com, The Intrepid Report ,Nation of Change, The Peoples Voice, Information Clearing house, Dandelion Salad, Activist Post, Dissident Voice and many other sites worldwide). Philip works as an environmental products sales rep and has been an activist leader since 2000. In 2010 he became a local spokesperson for the 25% Solution Movement to Save Our Cities by cutting military spending 25%. Philip can be reached at paf1222@bellsouth.net.
