Flagrant Foul

NBA fouls come in two classes of severity: Fouls and Flagrant Fouls.  L.A. Clippers owner Donald Sterling's apparent racial rant reaches beyond the upper realm of Flagrant Foul.  A Flagrant Two foul mandates immediate expulsion from the game.  If the recording of Sterling's voice is substantially accurate, it counts as a Flagrant 3 or a Flagrant 4 or even a Flagrant 5, worthy of expulsion from The Game Itself.  In short, a transgression so severe as to be worthy of fouling out of the league.

In any case, the Sterling Situation is a deeply saddening and entirely slack-jawed incident in modern American history.  Yes, American history, not just NBA history or sports history.  Sure it doesn't rise anywhere near the level of fire hoses turned on Civil Rights protesters.  Yet it is so out of time and out of place - coming as it does on the heels of another elderly yahoo's stupid and savage comments about race last week in Nevada - that it is a signal moment in the apparently never-ending fight against racism.

Not surprisingly, the past and present stars of the NBA have been the most eloquent and on-point about the situation.  Magic Johnson, LeBron James, Chris Paul and Mayor Kevin Johnson have each gotten to the heart of the matter.

• Magic Johnson: "In the most diverse city in the United States? How can somebody like that be running a sports team?"
• LeBron James: "No Room For That In Our Game"
• Chris Paul: “On behalf of the National Basketball Players Association, this is a very serious issue which we will address aggressively."
• Mayor Kevin Johnson called it a "signal moment in the history of the NBA", emphasizing that the players' voices be heard in the outcome.

Unfortunately, new NBA Commissioner Adam Silver was more lawyer than leader yesterday when he weakly decried Sterling's apparent idiocy.  Sure he was correct in deferring talk of sanctions until an investigation is completed.  But he should have highlighted the harm that this flagrant foul causes not just to his league but to the country.  Let's hope he rises to the challenge once he gets a couple of days between games to sharpen his attack.

As for Sterling, there is so much wrong with this rich idiot that Blogger might run out of screen ink before it's all memorialized.  He was dating a girl young enough to be his great-granddaughter, whose ethnicity he disdained.  Then this one-time divorce lawyer put himself in a situation where his ex-wife is suing his sugar doll because he plied her with community property.  Only in L.A.

Mostly he is stunningly stupid, callous and shamefully wrong in his racial views.

Depressing though all this is, there is a bright silver lining to it.  Racism is a universally reviled social offense in America today.  Notwithstanding the many false accusations of racism that often threaten to weaken our revulsion of the real thing, the American people are overwhelmingly agreed that racism is fundamentally wrong.  It wasn't long ago that that wasn't the case.

Now let's see Adam Silver step up for his big shot in the next day or two.  As Magic Johnson might say to a player about ready to enter the game during the NBA Finals: It's winning time.