(Kiki Vandeweghe, now the No. 2 to returning VP of violence Rod Thorn, said he saw blue skies in Beijing — which make the interpreters joke that the government truly does control the weather in Beijing).
Silver, a veteran of countless trips to Beijing, Shanghai and other Chinese cities, said he was struck most by viewing the Christ The Redeemer statue on a hilltop overlooking the South American city of Rio de Janeiro. He stated at a hotel near the ocean, but there was nothing even close to skinny-dipping.
“Sand did not touch foot, I’m embarrassed to say,” Silver said.
Would Stern ever come up with a line like that?
Highly doubtful. Stern can be brutally honest, but he is incapable of being brutally earnest.
“I did (tell the owners) I’m taking the gavel with me, so that Adam will be a gentler NBA. He’s just going to hit the glass with a knife, and that will quiet everyone down,” Stern said.
Until that first mega-crisis hits — the next Tim Donaghy scandal, the next Malice at the Palace, the next time something freakish happens that nobody would have ever expected.
That’s when we’ll all learn a little more about Silver, who will be defined by his personality as much as his business acumen — if not more. Like Stern said, he is a good guy, a nice guy.
But he is going to be the lightning rod soon enough, and we’ll all see if he is as enlightened as he seemed as he spoke about seeing the Christ The Redeemer statue in Rio.
Chris Sheridan is publisher and editor-in-chief of SheridanHoops.com. Follow him on Twitter.
Dan Gilbert can’t make a joke because he is a joke. Why do you and other sportswriters give that guy the publicity he craves.