NBA players and all of America are rightfully incensed and outraged by the words and deeds of Clippers owner Donald Sterling. His attitudes are ridiculous, unfathomable, and ignorant. But in reality he is just one lone idiot in a league that has been the model and leader on the issue of colorblindness.
When the smoke clears after the league acts and the outrage dies down, there will be many lessons to be learned from here. Some of them will be great lessons for the players to pay attention to.
After the Tiger Woods marriage meltdown there were also many lessons to be learned. Most of the women in the world said “Oh Tiger, how could you? You have a beautiful wife, two beautiful children and the love of the entire world!” Then the men would say, “Oh Tiger, how could you? You texted her from YOUR OWN CELL PHONE and later left THAT MESSAGE?
Hopefully players took notice and realized the impact that their actions can have on others close to them.
One thing that this incident sheds light on is that there are many forces surrounding athletes and other wealthy people who want a piece of their action. They are devoid of loyalty, caring, and decency.
There is an entire industry of takers and fakers that is so pervasive that the league and the Players Association give seminars on it during the Rookie Transition Program. I remember back in my day sitting through a drug seminar. An FBI agent gave me the best advise that I ever got.
He explained that for all of the reasons that you shouldn’t do drugs, the biggest one is that you couldn’t trust the guy you buy them from. He explained that to a drug dealer a ball player is the equivalent of a “Get Out of Jail Free” card from Monopoly. The point for the dealer is to get their hooks into a player any way that they can.
That way they can exert control in many ways. The most obvious is access to things and people. Also if the dealer gets busted, he will expose the player in a minute in exchange for getting off. The player makes cops and judges famous, not the dealer. Or at the least the player becomes the emergency ATM in time of need.
Any way you look at it, the player becomes vulnerable and controllable. The dealer can essentially own you.
That made a huge impact on me. I haven’t smoked a joint since that day.
I also saw a movie showing how you can be slipped a drug in a bar only to wake up with pictures of you and other men in bed. Then the fun starts.
The next way to get hooked is below the belt. A girl who gets knocked up by a player has 18 years of job security in the form of child support. This minefield is everywhere and difficult for players to avoid, obviously. The trick for the woman is to pick a player who doesn’t go broke in 3 years. That’s not an easy task.
So back to our boy, Donald Sterling. I’m sure that he believes that he is attractive to young women for his looks and charm. As vile as he is, it is pretty obvious that his recording fiasco was a set up. She taped the call, steered him to talk about race, and kept aggravating him to say things in anger that common sense might keep him from saying.
The girl was smart enough to get in, get the money, and then secure the ammunition needed to protect herself when the inevitable counter attack came from the wife. She even is further protecting herself by preemptively putting the tapes out in the media instead of court where a judge might squash it.
She knows enough to say the right things to slip around the laws pertaining to secretly recording and spreading the tapes. The entire episode was clearly premeditated to take advantage of the place where he was the most vulnerable.
This same method can take place in many forms. You can get your player drunk then pick a fight hoping to get hit so you can call 911. You can put drugs in his carry bag when he goes to the airport. The ensuing investigation will then expose his other “activities”.
The lesson here is to recognize that we all have our issues and secrets that we don’t want the world to know. Some are minor but private while others are more serious. Maybe its infidelity, drug use, or that you secretly watch soap operas. Whatever it is players need to be extremely careful.
When you have money and prestige you need to be smarter than the snakes and crooks that will try anything to separate you from it.
I don’t have a shred of sympathy for Donald Sterling. I have no doubt that the attitudes expressed in the tape have been there his entire life. Frankly he and the “girlfriend” deserve each other. Karma is a bitch!
But players beware. All of the lectures and movies won’t have the same impact as watching Sterling vilified and punished in public for his actions. So see beyond the headlines and the tapes. It’s important to realize that the world is not your friend. There are a million ways that it can all be gone quickly. You have it, they want it, and will do anything to get it!
It’s as simple as that.
MORE ON STERLING:
JAN HUBBARD SAYS SILVER NEEDS TO OVERDO IT WHEN HANDING DOWN PUNISHMENT
CHRIS SHERIDAN GIVES SILVER AN ‘F’ FOR HIS REACTION TO THE CRISIS SATURDAY NIGHT
CHRIS BERNUCCA: SILVER VS. STERLING IS NOT ABOUT BLACK OR WHITE, BUT GREEN
Danny Schayes is a retired 18-year-veteran of the NBA, a professional broadcaster and soon-to-be-published author now penning NBA columns for SheridanHoops. Follow him on Twitter.
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