In the Lonely Hour

 

In a previous post, I discussed my feelings when I first heard Kanye West’s album, 808's and Heartbreak. 808's came out when I was still 19 and I didn't have the life experience to appreciate heartbreak in the powerful, sometimes tortured way that West describes it. However, at 25, I've seen enough. I know what it's like to tell the person who you loved that you don't want to talk to them ever again because it hurts to hear their voice. I know what it's like to try to rebound from it. I know what it's like to be rejected because I'm too young, the wrong color, too passive, too forward or for no reason given at all. I know what it's like to cope in ways that aren't healthy at all. With the benefit of hindsight, I know what it's like to laugh at those moments, too. Sam Smith's well done LP, In the Lonely Hour isn't about the funny parts of a romantic dissolution. It's about the vulnerable, wretched, pathetic, feeling of being unwanted.

The lead single "Money On My Mind" is the beginning and end of the upbeat portion of the LP. When I first heard the song, I only caught the lively exterior and missed the lyrics altogether. Listening to it after hearing the rest of the album, I wonder if the thing he's doing "for the love" isn't creating music, but the creation of this album. The album varies in tone from stirring songs like "Stay With Me" to soft songs where the vulnerability in the lyrics matches the music like "Good Thing". The album isn't just about unrequited love. It's about pathetic vulnerability. In some ways, the presence of the lead single makes more sense if I tweak my interpretation of the lyrics from "making music for the love of it" to "making this album because of love" in a romantic sense. I might be reading too much into it though.

All of the songs from 2-10 are variations on a theme (all of this, without a single shoutout to Haydn, apparently). There's a great portion of the song "Good Thing" where he says "And still I never say what I want to say/ I thought I wouldn't need to" followed later by "I put everything out there and I get nothing at all". There's a weird incongruence where he says he's putting everything out there but he's holding back something (That he loves the person). Later, he revisits that feeling in "I've Told You Now", where he tells the person. The existence of the rest of the album shows that it didn't go well. He revisits the idea again in "Not In That Way". The songs are good in their own right and I enjoy the fact that he returns to similar themes (Telling someone you love them when it's not clear they feel the same way). The songs are good in their own right and I enjoy the fact that he returns to a similar theme (telling someone you love them when it's not clear they feel the same way). "Lay Me Down" and "Stay With Me" are also similar lyrically. "Like I Can" may as well be the B-Side of "Leave Your Lover".

In the Lonely Hour touches on all of the tiny details of feeling heartbroken. All of the album seems to take place while the emotions are still raw. The album sits in a period of implied rejection without any explicit rejection. This album doesn't have the most varied topics. It's a bit obsessive, running through what could have been with what seems to be a single person. But where other albums by weaker artists would falter, In the Lonely Hour is carried by the strength of Sam Smith's vocals and the music that support his vocals. It also helps that the album is only 10 songs long, a manageable 32 minutes. Sam Smith has other songs that show that he can sing about other things, but this album shows the power of what music can sound like when you're singularly focused.

NBA: Love in a hopeless place.

 

“We found love in a hopeless place” – Rihanna

I didn’t think my night would go this way. Last night, I went back to the Dark Horse for the first time in a while to watch a couple of College basketball games. After watching a few minutes of Duke play I decided that Jahlil Okafor will be an all-star for the rest of his life. Then I saw Kentucky play and decided that the college basketball season is already over. But college basketball isn’t really my thing. The NBA is my one true love. A wise (and happily married) man once told me that you know that she’s the one when you can enjoy being with them when there’s nothing to do. No big plans, no amazing date, just a regular Tuesday night in your living room. I’ll watch college basketball when the best teams (or players) are playing. I’ll watch and enjoy the NBA even when the dregs of the Eastern Conference are going against each other.

Tonight was going to be an unmemorable night. I started my night by watching the Sixers and Celtics. Nothing stood out to me. The better team (a phrase which when used here means “Not the Sixers”) won the game comfortably. I could have turned to the Mavericks/Wizards game, but I’ve watched a lot of both teams and I didn’t feel compelled to see them tonight. Then I got an alert on my phone that the Nets-Bucks game was close. Sure, I could watch good teams, but since I already devoted part of my night to watching bad teams, why wouldn’t I continue.

I haven’t followed much of the Bucks or the Nets this year but there were some things that I noticed. First, if the playoffs started today, the Bucks would be have home court advantage. The Nets would have a lottery pick. This is the opposite of how things should have been. When the game went into overtime I was intrigued. Second, I realized that this game was Jason Kidd’s homecoming, his first game back in Brooklyn since his ignonimous exit last year. (I also realized that I still can’t remember that that the Nets play in Brooklyn now). Seeing the game enter OT seemed appropriate.

The end of overtime seemed to end as many Nets games had. The game was tied and the home team had the ball. Everyone in the arena knew that Joe Johnson would get the ball. Everyone in the arena knew Joe Johnson would take the last shot. And everyone knew that he would hit it.

Brandon Knight didn’t get the message. Joe Johnson was mobbed as soon as he touched the ball and when he tried to pass the ball out to another player Brandon Knight stole it easily. He then ran down the court with no one in range. With Bogdanavich a bit too slow to catch Knight, Knight had an easy game winning layup to take

http://giphy.com/gifs/milwaukee-bucks-joe-johnson-brandon-knight-5xaOcLrJIq5I6zQdGKY

Of course, he missed the shot and the game went into Double Overtime.

In Double OT, the Nets had a 3 point lead when Brandon Knight hit the game tying three. Again, the Nets had the ball with the ability to send the Brooklyn crowd home happy. Again the Nets couldn’t connect leading to the first triple OT game of the season. The Bucks finally handled business and finished the game, handing the Nets the most brutal of losses.

There’s no such thing as a bad night of NBA basketball for me and even on a night where I’m watching bad teams play basketball, there are things to enjoy. Kevin Martin hit 7 threes and led the night in scoring. Kobe Bryant is firing uncontrollably into the night. Reggie Jackson and Brandon Knight both went 5/20 from the field. Zach Randolph had an 18 and 18 double-double. Larry Sanders played 14 minutes in a triple overtime game.

Heat number one -Just as we expected

The first week of the NBA has been filled with conclusions drawn from a tiny sample size. Teams have only played 2-4 games. There are some interesting things happening in the league.

"The NBA is so FRUSTRATING.  The same teams win AGAIN  and AGAIN. Another year and again the Heat have the number one seed in the east." Aside from my internet commenter impression, small sample sizes have the Miami Heat as the number one seed yet again. They aren't dead, even after losing LeBron to Cleveland

Klay Thompson got paid. Also, Klay Thompson is the leading scorer in the NBA.

As of Monday morning, the New Orleans Pelicans were number one in blocks and rebounds.

After withdrawing from FIBA, due to fear of injury, Russell Westbrook and Kevin Durant are each out for at least the first month of the season.

Speaking of FIBA, Rudy, DeMarcus and Klay all have had amazing performances so far.

Who ya got: Anthony Davis 27/17/9 or Demarcus Cousins 34/20/4? (Pts/rebs/blks) They were drafted in most fantasy leagues as the number one power forward and number one center respectively. Anyone who has either is satisfied.

John Wall is second in assists. People to be confused about his point guard skills. He led last year and continues to dominate the assist category.  Perhaps all the years of him being the leader of awful Washington teams led to a misevaluation of his talents, but he's poised to be a conventional point guard who can also score at will.

Is Perry Jones the best fantasy pickup of the year?

And the NBA unibrow boycott continues

I write to you with competing emotions. On one hand, the fact that the NBA  has willfully chosen not to show Anthony Davis on national television bothers me.  Last night, we were forced to watch Lakers basketball, which moved from sad (thanks to their current roster) to tragic (thanks to a heartbreaking injury to rookie Julius Randle). Meanwhile, on a local affiliate in New Orleans, the unibrowed menace tortured the Magic roster for 4 quarters. But since league pass is free for the week, I was able to watch it and it was amazing

Anthony Davis scored 26 points leading the game. He also had 17 rebounds. He flirted with a dirty triple double with a 9 block performance. Somehow it felt like more, but that may be due to his new teammate, Omer Asik, also having a double double and 5 blocks. The front court is as advertised, although the starting backcourt had a rough night.

Meanwhile, while I was watching two lottery teams, there was a Western Conference playoff rematch between the  Mavericks and the Spurs. The defending champion, San Antonio, received their rings and had a ceremony. They also beat the Mavericks, despite the loss of Kawhi Leonard. It was the closest game of the day with the Spurs winning by one.

While Monta Ellis (26 and 6) and Manu Ginobili (20 and 6) were impressive, the best scouting performance of the night belonged to James Harden against the Lakers. It was a mostly meaningless game that was noncompetitive from the beginning, but the game will be remembered for the Lakers rookie Julius Randle, who broke his leg. Today, confirmation came that he would be out for the season.

Tonight will be opening day for most of the league. The Knicks, Bulls, Thunder and Blazers will all have a chance to shine on the national stage. I hope it's as good as last night was. #twss

NBA: 2013-2014 Requiem

As the 2014-15 season begins, let’s not forget about last season. Here's a couple of stats from last year’s efforts (or lack thereof)

1.   The Biggest “trillions” (Minutes played with no other stats collected) in 2013-14? KCP and Perry Jones who had both a 10 trillion performance.

2.   Shooting a basketball is really difficult. On the other hand, you can't be Andrew Bynum who shot 11 Attempts and hit nothing in a game for the Cleveland Cavaliers.

3.   The Rudy Gay era in Toronto was bound to end. Rudy Gay is seen as an inefficient scorer, and in 2013-14 he had the most field Goal Attempts in a game at an insane 37 attempts. In true Rudy Gay form, he hit only 11 of them for a pitiful 29%. After Rudy Gay was sent to Sacramento, the guy who replaced him, Terrance Ross, had an insane 51 point game

4.  The Bobcats (now Hornets) finally made the playoffs for the first time in a long time. The Cats had a game against the defending champion Heat where their leading scorer, Al Jefferson had 38 points and 19 rebounds. Everyone else remembers that game as the Lebron 61 point game.

5.     The Bobcats may be responsible for the 2 best individual games in the league, (Lebron's 61, and Carmelo Anthony's 62) but the defensive juggernaut Lakers are responsible for the 3 worst defensive performances, allowing 145 to the Rockets, 143 to the Timberwolves and 142 to the Clippers. All of these were in regulation games.

6.     John Wall led the league in total assists. You can keep your conventional point guards, Wall gets results.

7.     Anthony Davis has become my favorite player in the league. I've watched an insane amount of Pelicans basketball in 2013-14 because of him. In his second year he led the league in blocks per game, which was predictable. Less predictable was that he finished in the top 5 of PER. He finished the year averaging a double-double. I haven't decided whether I'm more impressed with the near 5 by 5 (missed by an assist) or the 9 block game or the 40 and 20 against Boston.

8.     Steph Curry had a great year, next year I'm sure he would prefer not to start with an 11 turnover game like he did in 2013-14 on Halloween.

9.   Every year the draft comes around and around 60 players come into the league. In order for them to come in other players have t go and in 2013-14 there were many players who are no longer in the league who I didn't even notice were absent. Emeka Okafor, Javale Mcgee and Jason Richardson didn't play a minute in 2013-14 due to injury.  Marcus Camby, Rasheed Wallace and Grant Hill didn't play a minute last year. Role players like Josh Howard, Rodrique Beaubois and Andris Biedrins didn't play 100 minutes in the league in 2013-14. DeAndre Liggins and Lamar Odom didn't return due to varying sets of legal troubles. The saddest of these is of course, Brandon Roy who, if healthy would have been the best shooting guard in the league in 2013-14.

10. Jason Collins played 172 minutes. He had more fouls than field goal attempts. After a bit of excitement in his first couple of games, he proceeded to set hard fouls in obscurity, just as it should be.

11. Michael Carter Williams should have gone on the court with a ski mask when he played against the defending champion Miami Heat. He had a near quadruple double attaining 22 points, 7 rebounds, 12 assists, and an insane 9 steals. This was in his second career game.

12. The Suns had a 41 point scorer in Gerald Green.  Seriously.

13. I mentioned a lot of insane scoring performances from players you wouldn't expect those kinds of performances from. None were more surprising than Corey Brewer, who scored 51 points. During the rest of the season he never scored more than 27 points.

14. It goes without saying that the stars of the Thunder do EVERYTHING for the team. Kevin Durant led the league in points per game and only missed the last game of the season. He was also the only unanimous All team NBA player. He also led the league in usage percentage. Once the playoffs started the league leader in triple doubles was Russell Westbrook with 3. He's also the only player in the playoffs who had any.

15. The Basketball Players who've come from New York City have a history of being erratic, selfish and other perjorative terms (Artest/World Peace, Telfair, Starbury).  The Crown jewel of NYC basketball has to be Lance Stephenson who led the Pacers in assists per game despite nominally being a shooting guard and he led the entire league in triple doubles. If he didn't also lead the league in gif's where he blew in Lebron's ear he'd get more respect.

16. Doc Rivers forced his way into LA to work for the guy that everyone familiar with the NBA was more than certain was a racist. By the end of the year Donald Sterling was the guy that EVERYONE knew was a racist. There is no further evidence of how valuable owning an NBA team is that a black head coach would look at working for Donald Sterling and see that as a good option. Also, Jamal Crawford made the class of 2000 proud by finally winning a 6th man of the year award.

17. When MCW and Oladipo met it was clear that these two players would be fighting for the ROY award. In that meeting, they each had their first career triple doubles.

18. The Bucks were trying to win in 2013-14. I'm glad that they won the second pick. The basketball gods have smiled upon their lack of actual tanking and rewarded their natural mediocrity.

19. Paul Millsap's contract with the Hawks is insane. How did no one in the league offer Millsap more money than 9 million?

20. Only in Miami can 4 straight NBA finals appearances be considered a disappointment. Only against the Spurs can a team that was considered a "superteam" be unfavorably compared to the 2007 Cleveland Cavaliers

21. The secret to tanking is to set up the moves before the season starts, that way your fans have no expectations. The Utah Jazz did it by obtaining Richard Jefferson and Andris Biedrins in a trade before the season started. Jamaal Tinsley started 5 games. I guarantee that you will be one of the worst teams in the NBA if you do this. Utah fired their head coach at the end of the season.

22. The Kings are a laughingstock for good reason. If you asked before the seasons started, what team would be most likely to trade for Rudy Gay, they would have been in the top 3. Good job, Kings. Meanwhile, in positive news, DeMarcus Cousins had a career season. He shot nearly 50%, averaged 22 and 11 and blocked more shots than ever before. He made less than 5 million dollars.

23. Kyle Lowry wasn't an all-star in 2013-14. Kobe Bryant, who brought little more to the Lakers than his bloated 30 million dollar salary was. For those of you who hate fan voting, this should be all the evidence you need. James Harden not being voted as a starter, despite being the best shooting guard in the league (and certainly the best for the purposes of an all offense, zero defense exhibition game) is insane.  

24. Timofey Mozgov had 29 rebounds in a game in 2013-14. Still, seeing Mozgov hit a three pointer live was the most surprising thing I've seen from him.

25. Patrick Ewing coached a game for the Bobcats in 2013-14. They lost. He still doesn't have a head coaching job and I haven't even heard that he was in the running for one.

26. Kyle Korver set the record for most consecutive games with a three pointer at 127.

27. The Rockets lost a game in 2013-14 where they scored 73 points in the first half. They scored 19 in the second, which isn't easy to do. There were 13 occasions in 2013-14 where a team scored 73 points or less in the entire game.

28. Rondo, in the limited time that he appeared in an NBA uniform, had a game where he had 18 assists. 

29. The Grizzlies are an offensively challenged bunch. They won a game where they shot one free throw.

30. I was really impressed with Derrick Rose when I saw him play in Denver in 2013-14. He seemed to be moving incredibly well. The next Game, he got hurt and was out for the season. Russell Westbrook had a triple double when I saw him against the Knicks on Christmas Day. He missed the next month or so with an injury. I was excited to see Anthony Davis live against the Nuggets when he came to town. He hit 3 jumpers and left at halftime with back spasms. He was limited in his next game and didn't play again for the rest of the season. 

Success

"At God’s footstool, to confess, 

A poor soul knelt and bowed his head.

'I failed,' he cried.
The master said,

'Thou didst thy best. That is success." - John Wooden

As I was getting ready to post that quote on Facebook, I found out that the bar results posted early and immediately left Facebook. My philosophy is that if things went well or poorly, someone would let me know. I'm satisfied with the work that I did this year. I've gone from rock bottom, to therapy to bring able to fight through the summer to study for the exam.

Near the end of my last year of law school, I had a conversation with a law clerk about the pressure of succeeding. What if things go wrong? What if I can't afford to take the exam? What if I fail it? His response was that I'm already a success. At the time, I was at a really low point in my self esteem and his short, simple response meant a lot to me.

This morning, one of my co workers took me aside to pray. I told him earlier this week that the results were coming today. He had no reason to believe that I was a person of faith, but he said that he felt it in his spirit this morning to do so. Coincidentally , (if you believe such things to be coincidental) last night, I was wondering how to pray about the day. I felt that if any day were a good day to pray, today would be that day. I figured praying for results would not be the right thing (I took the test 2 months ago after all) , so I decided to pray for strength. This morning's prayer was much of the same.

One of my best friends texted me and let me know the results. (Which is much better than coldly wondering if they somehow misspelled your name, I guarantee it). At this point, I'm glad to know. (If the Wooden quote was too subtle and I've buried the lede here, I failed the Colorado bar exam) I won't pretend that I'm somehow above the fray here. It sucks. But it's not like I'm the first person in this position and sadly not the last. (Because I have yet to check the list I don't even know if I'm the only one). But between the Wooden quote and the law clerk's commentary, I feel better than I would have other wise.

I've done a lot just to get to this point. I've made a lot of sacrifices to get here and I've had a lot of wins on the way. I've helped dozens of clients, I've written things that I'm proud if. I've done great research for myself and others. I've moved across the country after never visiting anywhere west of Pennsylvania. I've met amazing people in Colorado.

As it currently stands, I know 3 things.

I have great family and friends who've been supportive of me in every imaginable way over the last 3 years and beyond.

I still have my great view of the mountains.

And the grind continues.

If They Gunned Me Down

https://ametia.files.wordpress.com/2014/08/michael-brown.jpg

After living at home in New York City for my first 22 years, I decided to live on my own for the first time when I went to law school. I moved to Boulder, Colorado seeking a change of pace from the hustle and aggression of New York City. I've been away for 3 years.

My mom still worries about me.

When I visited home during the winter break of my third year of law school I stayed for a month. One night, I came home pretty late, sometime around 3AM. When I went upstairs to check on her, she was awake. I went into her room and we talked for a while.

During our conversation, we heard the loud, low buzz of a police helicopter flying overhead. You know it's a police helicopter, because that's the only thing that's flying around that late at night. With a solemnity that I'm not used to, she said "I'm glad you're home"

I smiled it off, because she always has and always will worry about me when I'm not there. I've always thought, there was never a reason to worry about me. I've got good friends who've always steered me clear of trouble. I've got a clean record without so much as a driving infraction on it. I've spent most of my time either at home or in a library.

The older I get, the more I understand that none of these things actually matter.

The older I get, the more I understand that I'm still at risk of being a target, wherever I go. I remember an incident at a McDonald's while I was in college. While I was eating my breakfast sandwich, two cops strolled in. They walk in and stop right in front of me. One officer immediately puts his hand on his holstered gun. The other one asks me for my ID. I can't possibly imagine why I'm being stopped, but I comply with the officer's request. I put down the sandwich. I let him know that I'm reaching for my wallet. I reach in and hand him my driver's license and my John Jay College ID. I told him that I'm a student there. The entire time I'm trying to focus on the officer asking me questions while looking at the officer with his hand on his gun. People in the building watch me and the officers, assuming who knows what. After a second, they return my ID, said that they thought I was truant in a mumbled tone and leave. Just a simple stop in New York City. There was no reason to believe that I was doing anything wrong, a show of force, but at least they let me go. I'm one of the lucky ones.

At least I didn't get shot that day. When I was younger I was aware of the story of Amadou Diallo (shot 41 times, unarmed, police claimed he was reaching for a gun). In high school, there was Sean Bell (the day before his wedding, police shot his car 50 times, unarmed). Those are just the New York stories and even then, the ones that were publicized. That doesn't include the many unnamed people who have been bruised and battered at the hands of officers using excessive force. That doesn't include the people who have been killed whose names I will never know because the media didn't see fit to report it. That doesn't include the long history in this country of people who look like me who have been killed by law enforcement for no reason at all.

When I was younger, the victims were always older. Now that I'm 25, in the demographic of young black and male, ripe for being mistreated. What's worse is the character assassinations that happen after a killing. People ask "Why would the police do this?" The media responds in kind, presenting pictures of the victim that attempt to justify the unjustifiable. There's a search for a story, a tidbit, anything that can justify the homicide at the hand of law enforcement. Maybe it's a school suspension for marijuana use. Maybe it's that the victim has tattoos. Maybe they just look thuggish, whatever that means.
When I was a first year law student, I remember leaving the school after a long day of classes. As I depart the wonderful confines of Wolf Law, a lady stares at me. She then looks at her companion and says, matter-of-factly "There's so many thugs here". This is in Boulder, Colorado. I don't even look in her direction and proceed to walk away.

For the record, at the time, I weighed just over 150 lbs, I was about 6 feet tall and I was carrying a heavy Torts textbook. I was also black at the time, as I always am. If that's your definition of thug, there's nothing I can do to change your frame of reference.

When I look at Ferguson, Missouri, and see the story of yet another homicide. I'm upset and sad. It's another unarmed kid whose name I shouldn’t know. This kid, Michael Brown, was supposed to be starting college this week, in a world where many black men don't. He had no criminal record. From reports, he's a prototypical "nice guy". And now he's dead. Killed in cold blood. Since then there have been protests and law enforcement has responded with more excessive shows of force, swat gear and wrongfully arresting reporters.

I remember after the Trayvon Martin death, when people had pictures and Facebook statuses saying "I am Trayvon Martin".

I am NOT Mike Brown. I got to go to college and graduate. When I graduated from law school, my mom got to visit me. She was able to come to my apartment, go to the campus and see the man I've become. She got to see me walk across the stage and interact with classmates who I respect and who respect me. I get to write Facebook statuses about my success and failures as I transition from being a boy to a man. When I see people asking "#IfTheyGunnedMeDown What picture will they use", it's a thought exercise and a hypothetical, not something that has actually happened to me. But most importantly I woke up this morning with a new day to succeed and fail again.

Even if the police in Ferguson, MO are reprimanded and "brought to justice", none of that will bring Michael Brown back. None of that will bring a son back to his now grieving mother. None of that will allow him to smile and say I'll be fine as he goes off to school. Michael Brown won't get those opportunities. His life will always be a life snuffed out too soon.

And it hurts…

Ray Rice: Questions and Answers

Who is Ray Rice?

Ray Rice is the former star of Rutgers football and currently a running back on the Baltimore Ravens.

Why is Ray Rice in the news?

In February, a video was released by TMZ where Ray Rice was seen dragging his unconscious fiancee out of an elevator in Atlantic City, New Jersey.  In a subsequent police report / news release, Atlantic City Police claim that Ray Rice struck his fiancee, Janay Palmer. Witnesses described it as an uppercut.

Sounds like an awful guy, right?

Not quite. By all accounts, Ray Rice has been a stand up guy. People around him says he’s great teammate, general pillar of the community. Of course, this was before he knocked his wife unconscious part.

Why did he hit his wife? Was it self Defense?

Almost certainly, no.

Ray Rice’s wife, Janae Palmer, also received a summons for striking him although the charge was later thrown out. Apparently, there is video of Palmer striking him before they got into the elevator, although that video, is not public. So if by self-defense, you mean he hit her after she hit him , then maybe. However, in most places, without delving too much into New Jersey Law, which I am unqualified to do, self-defense requires that you don’t use excessive force, which considering his weight and strength in comparison to her weight and strength, doesn’t appear likely.

Wait, did you just write wife? Didn’t she leave him after this?

Nope, they are married now, they also have a child.

Is it possible that Ray Rice didn’t hit his fiancee? He didn’t say he did and the video doesn’t show he did.

Not Likely. This entire event took place in a casino. There are cameras everywhere including one from the inside of the elevator.  This video apparently shows Rice hitting Palmer. This video is not public.

He’s going to jail forever right?

No. He entered pretrial intervention and will avoid jail time on the aggravated assault case.

What about the NFL? Will they suspend him?

Yes. He’s suspended for 2 games. Both of these games are divisional games and are important  to the Ravens for their playoff chances. Rice is arguably their best player on offense and losing him is a major thing from a purely football perspective. Also, the second game is a nationally televised Thursday Night game, so it's a big deal from a financial perspective.

HOW THE F*** DID HE ONLY GET 2 GAMES FOR BEATING HIS WIFE?

Well, according to NFL commissioner, Roger Goodell, “[Rice]’s been accountable for his actions. He recognizes he made a horrible mistake, that it is unacceptable, by his standards and by our standards.” Goodell also cited Rice’s previously clean record.

But [Cleveland Browns player] Josh Gordon got a yearly suspension for getting high. Smoking pot is worse than beating your wife?  

The short answer is that  suspensions for general law breaking are decided by the commissioner, but drug suspensions are collectively bargained between the owners and the player’s union. For drug suspensions, there are mandatory suspensions at certain points. According to the NFL Policy and program for substances of abuse, if you test positive once for pot, then you enter the program. if you continue to test positive you enter stage one. where you can be fined and then placed into stage 2 of the program. In stage two, you can be suspended for 4 consecutive games for an initial failure and then if you fail a second time you can be suspended for up to six times. If you fail stage 3 you can be banished (their word, not mine) for a minimum of one calendar year with a possibility of reinstatement up to the commissioner. Josh Gordon was in stage 3.

Suspensions based on crimes is up to the sole discretion of the commissioner.  There are appeals, but the commissioner also hears the appeals. Comparing drug suspensions and crime suspensions are apples and oranges.

But Ben Roethlisberger got 4 games for a rape accusation. He wasn’t even found guilty. Haven’t other players got more for “personal conduct policy” suspensions

Yes, this is where the discussion should begin. Rothlisberger was accused of a crime (admittedly, one more serious than Rice’s) and much less than being found guilty, he was not even charged. (Admittedly, it’s complicated, but still the accusation was researched and the DA involved in the case didn’t charge him.  Now, looking at Goodell’s suspensions based on the personal conduct policy, most of the suspensions aren’t that severe. The ones that are longer than Rice’s suspension include Albert Haynesworth [5 games, brutal attack on Andre Gurode], Adam “Pacman” Jones [1 season, lot of things], Dante Stallworth, [1 season, DUI / Vehicular Homicide] Cedric Benson [3 games, assault], Vincent Jackson [3 games, DUI], Terrelle Pryor [5 games, NCAA violations, although the 5 game suspension was to match the one that NCAA would have given],  Jonathan Vilma, Anthony Hargrove, Will Smith and Scott Fujita [16,8,4 and 3 for involvement in the New Orleans bounty program] and Aaron Berry [3 games, multiple offseason arrests]

Most of the suspended parties here are multiple time offenders. Haynesworth, Pacman, Benson, Berry. Stallworth killed a guy. Pryor’s suspension was to match the one that he would have gotten from the NCAA (that he also agreed to take). The other major ones are for on the field discretions. Note that other crimes got a relatively minuscule punishment (Michael Vick ultimately got 2 games for his felony dogfighting charges). The ones that stand out are Roethlisberger [4 games, multiple rape allegations], and Jackson who got 3 games. Comparing Rice’s suspension to those, the 2 game suspension starts to look par for the course. Suddenly, Roger Goodell starts to look light on crime.

Alright, so Rice may have been a boy scout before this, and this was his first brush with the law, but still he knocked his wife unconscious, didn’t Goodell take that into consideration?

Well Janay and Ray Rice both went to the commissioner’s office to talk to Goodell. While there, Janay pleaded with Goodell to give him a lighter suspension. Apparently, the office didn’t see the video. People believe the NFL could have obtained it and should have done so. Goodell prioritized Rice’s previous good behavior and the counseling that Rice is going through. Of course, pleading for minimal punishment isn’t atypical behavior for domestic violence victims (and to explain would require another thousand words), but it moved Goodell. Given Goodell's history, if Rice does anything to run afoul of the law, Goodell will likely look towards a yearly suspension, minimum.

What has Ray Rice said about the incident?

He spoke about it at length. He didn’t mention the incident in detail, which many people complained about, but this is also a current legal matter. As far as the statement that he put out, I think that it was as moving as it could be. He discussed being a better husband and father, and the pain that will come from having to explain it to his daughter “What happened that night was something that never should have happened. … My daughter is very intelligent and she’s going to want to know what happened. She’s going to press Google one day and… the first thing that’s going to come up is that incident” Now of course, to the people who think of Rice as callous will continue to think of him that way. No apology will erase what happened in that elevator.

So what do you think?

What Rice did is indefensible, so there’s no reason to talk about the actual incident. It deeply bothers me that people on the internet were trying to frame this as a self-defense case. But as far as the punishment, it does bother me that people are depending on the NFL to punish him more than the District Attorney decided to. Since I don’t know what happened before the incident, all I know is that the District Attorney saw fit to have Rice undergo counseling. Admittedly, Rice isn’t a typical defendant (RE: He’s rich), but counseling and trying to teach him how to handle things better is more important than empty jail time or games missed. I also don’t like the “games missed” argument. If you think that Rice is despicable for doing what he did to his now-wife, then what’s the difference between 2 football games and 4 football games missed. I’m also not sure that taking away someone’s job is great for the reformation process. If our goal here is to make Ray Rice a better husband (which he’ll have to be)while punishing him for what he did, 2 games doesn’t really bother me (especially now that I’ve seen Goodell’s previous punishments). I think 4 games would have been more appropriate, but it doesn’t really matter. What does matter, for everyone’s best interests, is that Rice becomes a better man and never does this again. I would have probably preferred that they didn’t get married, and I’m worried that sometime down the line, something like this will happen again, at cost to Janay and their daughter. However, there’s nothing the NFL can do that would affect matters, least of all giving him an extra game or so.

The Baltimore fan reaction disturbed me as well. When Rice returned to practice he got a standing ovation. Not sure how I feel about that.

Summer League quick takes.

 

Today is the summer league quarterfinal. Just a few quick thoughts about the teams in the Quarterfinals

 

Atlanta v. Houston

After the Jeremy Lin trade, I was concerned about the Houston PG situation. Meanwhile, Nick Johnson, former Arizona player, has been fun to watch and certainly a capable backup. If not, he’ll be a highlight reel for a talented Houston team

Meanwhile, Atlanta has been interesting. Dennis Schroeder has shown signs of improvement.

Sacramento v. Chicago

McBuckets is everything we thought he’d be. He’s been amazing. I love watching him play. Meanwhile, Tony Snell has been a lot better than I thought he’d be. Chicago (the real version) needs outside shooting and Snell/McBuckets have done a good job of showing why they deserve that spot.

Meanwhile, McLemore has looked pretty good for the Kings. He seems a likeable guy on a team that doesn’t have many people who fit that descriptor.

Charlotte v. New York

Hairston tore up the D-League and hasn’t missed a step in summer league. He has performances of 18, 18, 21 and 22 points. But let’s talk about Noah Vonleh. I wasn’t excited about him in the draft.  Summer league is a really small sample size, but for a pf to have have shooting nightmares of 3-10, 3-11, 4-11 and a masterful 0-13 that concerns me.

Meanwhile, in New York, Tim Hardaway Jr. is overqualified to be there. Nuff said.

San Antonio v. Washington

Austin Daye lives for summer league. He’s pretty talented, but not a consistent enough defender or scorer to be the kind of star that he is during the summer. He’s weirdly underqualified for consistent minutes in the NBA and overqualified for the summer.

For Washington to be successful, Otto Porter (3rd overall pick) and Glen Rice Jr. are going to have to be rotation level players. Both have shown signs of success and it will be great to watch them tonight 

7/11 - Bar Exam Prep - Or maybe some thoughts about basketball

A couple of weeks ago, I had a long conversation with one of my best friends in the law school, Quentin. I considered going to Las Vegas for a sports conference and to watch some Summer League games. I wanted to go, but I'm taking the bar exam in a couple of weeks (July 29th). Quentin, on the other hand, said that I should go, for a bunch of reasons, but mostly because it's a great opportunity for someone who likes basketball and a fun way to spend a Friday. I should have bought the tickets. 

Basketball is endlessly fascinating. It's a sport where, above all else, one player can affect the entire league. A baseball player can only do so much to help the cause. The same is true for football (especially if you're not a quarterback) and hockey. But when the best player in the league (with whatever respect is due to Durant, more on that later) switches teams, it's a big deal and it ought to be a big deal. The Cavaliers are automatically a playoff team and borderline contender after being one of the worst teams in the league. 

I would love to be in Vegas discussing what's going to happen with other like-minded people. The best thing for me right now has been my realization that the conference was next Friday and not today. I may have never forgiven myself. On Monday (I assume that I'll get the green light), I'll have something bigger about the whole Lebron James free agency decision and probably a little bit of discussion about fandom. I can't wait. I assume that as a result of the Lebron decision a couple of other big moves are going to happen. I assume that Lin will go to the Lakers, Bosh will go to the Rockets, and Wade will go to his nearest bar.

I'm glad that these moves are going to happen, mostly because this has been an awful week for sports radio. I'm glad that things are going to actually happen. It will make bar prep easier now that I'll stop getting messages from ESPN saying that a cupcake shop says that Lebron will go to Clevaland/Miami. I'll be happy not to know that he's having dinner with this person or that person. I'll be glad that sports talk will be less tabloid fodder and more discussion about on the court action.

What are my thoughts? The Cavaliers will be really good. Depending on what Chicago and Indiana do, they are probably the favorite. Miami is unlikely to win a title next year. But you already knew that. The bigger thing that's fascinating to me is the discussion about LeBron going to a "loaded" Cavaliers team and leaving a "loaded" Miami team. Those teams are only as successful as they've been because he's there. Wade/Bosh/Chalmers isn't a championship team. Wiggins/Irving/Thompson isn't one either. (Or Love/Irving/Thompson for that matter). Only as the result of having the best two way player in the game are these squads championship contenders.  

7/2- Bar Exam Prep: And for a while I was Neo

 

Yesterday, I noted that some days you’re Neo in the Matrix and some days you’re the security guards. Today was a Neo type of day. I whipped through Trusts. I reviewed Real Property. Everything went well. It’s funny how the bar exam takes up so much of my life right now and yet, I’m calm and collected. I’m not worried at all even though I almost certainly should be. The worst that happens if I don’t pass is… I‘m just a guy with a law degree. I’ll figure things out.

Non-Bar Assertions

• I heard fireworks today. I didn’t worry that I was hearing gunshots. That’s the biggest benefit of moving to Boulder from Springfield Gardens. For all the flaws that Boulder has, it’s still a place where I feel safe, always.
• Kyle Lowry is going to stay in Toronto. It’s weird, given his stints in Houston and Memphis, that Toronto is the place that makes him happy. From Toronto’s perspective, I think it’s interesting that they are taking a chance on someone who has been a malcontent and an injury risk. I’d still want him (for my real life team and my fantasy team)
• There’s a floating rumor about an Isaiah Thomas - Josh Smith Sign and Trade. This can’t be real life, right?
• Ben Gordon signed with the Magic. I almost forgot he was still in the league. He’s reunited with former his Pistons teammate, Jason Maxiel, who I completely forgot was still in the league.
• Boozer may soon be amnestied. It has been a while since someone was amnestied. For those who don’t know, the amnesty provision came out of the last Collective bargaining agreement. It allowed teams to amnesty one contract, which means that the contract no longer counts against their salary cap and the player is no longer on the team (is a free agent), but the team still has to pay the amount of money left on the contract. There aren’t many amnesty eligible players left. (For example, Joakim Noah, by virtue of being Boozer’s teammate is no longer eligible.) Most of the players that are still eligible for the provision are too valuable to just take off the books without a trade. (Al Horford, Rajon Rondo, Mike Conley, Tony Parker, Kevin Durant)  However, this leaves two players on the same team. Nick Collison, who’s the Thunder’s elder statesman, and Kendrick Perkins. I think we have room for one more amnesty, folks.
• BTW, that entire paragraph is probably dependent on whether Melo goes to Chicago. Otherwise, Boozer might get traded or something that excites me less.   
• I was really excited about Oliveremberton.com after this gamer-friendly post. It received a ton of attention and now he hasn’t written anything new in months. I’m rooting for a return, because I enjoy his work. 

7/1 – Bar Exam Prep: Meeting Mandatory Minimums

 

Some days are just harder than others. Today’s subject was Estates and Wills 2. Yesterday, I was able to get everything done. Today? I listened to the video and didn’t get much else finished. On the other hand, on days where motivation is a struggle, doing the minimum is better than nothing and I still have quite a bit to do. There’s only a month before the test. I know that between now and then I need to figure out a lot of things, especially the entirety of Real Property. Wish me luck. Some days I can plow through the stuff like Neo in the Matrix. Today, I was one of the security guards…  

Non Bar Assertions

• Isaiah Thomas going to the Detroit Pistons feels like destiny. It also feels like Josh Smith and Brandon Jennings are as good as gone.
• The Lakers cap space situation should be interesting. They just “lost” Jodie Meeks to Detroit and I wonder how they will meet the cap floor. I feel like a lot of people are going to get overpaid to hangout with Randle for a year. The Melo-LBJ pairing is a pipe dream, so what is the real plan in Laker land?
• Marcin Gortat stayed in Washington. Good move on their part. Gortat is a quality starting center.
• The US lost to Belgium today. That officially ends live action sports for me until about August. What a shame.

Bar Exam Prep 6/30: Allow me to reintroduce myself

 

I’m a native New Yorker. I write about the NBA for Writtalin.com. I’m a University of Colorado Law School graduate. I’m studying to take the bar exam in Colorado. For the next month or so, I’ll be writing here about this experience. Maybe no one will read this and these posts will just be cathartic. Perhaps people will read this and I’ll have to stop writing. Either way, my goal is to write about the process every night or so until 7/29.

Right now, I’m midway through Bar Prep. I’ve been studying since the beginning of June. It’s the last remnant of law school before I’m solely a lawyer. After spending most of that time unshaven and barely crawling out of my apartment for class every morning, I’ve tried to get out of the house more. Admittedly, most of my “get out of the house time” has been just for eating and buying necessary things, but we’ll see.

Non-Bar Bullets

• Jason Kidd is my new hero. Somehow he transitioned from aging veteran to NBA coach to NBA Coach / Soon to be Bucks president in the course of a year.
• Poor Larry Drew, despite his perceived mediocrity as a head coach, he deserved better. He went from counting his blessings, last week, to unemployed. I pity the fired head coach generally, but especially in these circumstances.
• Did you know that Jabari Parker apparently tanked his workout in Cleveland to ensure that the Bucks would take him? He intentionally went to this situation and it suddenly became worse than when he was drafted. Of course, when he wins Rookie of the Year and the Bucks are a surprising Eastern Conference playoff team, we won’t remember any of this. Remember that before the team imploded they were projected to be in the playoffs last year. They’ll be better this year and they still play in the East… just saying.
• The Pelicans just added a Point Guard named Russ in the draft. The Pelicans have made the fan transition process much easier for me
• The Big 3 are going to stay together? Good for them. Good for Miami. Good for the league. People hated the Heat so much that they were rooting for the Spurs last year. The Spurs are the same team that is responsible for the least media friendly head coach in the league and the least watched NBA finals in recent memory. Love everything here.

NBA: Where Cleveland Winning Happens

Last night was the NBA Draft Lottery. The Lottery went chalk with the exception of one team. However that teams success with the Ping Pong balls had a huge negative effect on Detroit. 

Cleveland Cavaliers- Winner

Cleveland ruined it for everybody. Cleveland is awful. I hate Cleveland. Yesterday, I said that there was no way that Cleveland would win. And they have the number one pick.

This helps them in obvious ways. They’ll get their choice of player in a completely loaded draft. Do they want to draft another Canadian SF in Wiggins? Would they prefer the injury risk in Joel Embiid? How would they feel about the Chicago native Jabari Parker? Of course, with that being said...

Player that gets drafted by the Cavaliers – Loser

On general principle. Although he'll get to hang out with Johnny Football and have Sports Illustrated covers together discussing the rebirth of Cleveland sports.

Lebron: Back to the Cavs - Winner

For those who believe that there’s more than a snowball’s chance in hell of Lebron coming back to Ohio, last night was a success. The theory is that Lebron opts out of his contract and goes to Cleveland because they suddenly have an influx of talent. On one hand, Irving + Waiters + Deng? + Embiid/Parker/Wiggins might be better than what LeBron left in his last year in Cleveland. On the other hand, are you going to be the one to tell Lebron’s kids that they’re moving from Miami to Ohio. How about his wife?   Maybe you could show them a hastily made tourism video?

DE-TROIT BAS-KET-BALL – Loser

There may not have been a bigger loser than Detroit last night. They had a 1-8 protected pick. They may have tanked near the end of the season to drop down to 8^th overall. Their reward? The Cavaliers jumped ahead of them resulting in Detroit getting the number nine pick. That meant that Detroit lost their protection and the pick went to Charlotte.

Phoenix Schaudenfrueude - Loser

If Phoenix got the number one pick, the Suns would have jumped ahead of the Timberwolves, giving them Minnesota’s pick. Unfortunately, it went chalk and The Suns stayed in their position

Denver Nuggets - Loser

They had two options for getting a top 3 pick, and instead they left with nothing. The New York Knicks were losers on general principle

Philadelphia 76ers – Winner.

Sure they didn’t win the draft, but they still get the number 3 pick and the number 10 from New Orleans. They should have the number one pick from last year and the reigning Rookie of the Year. That's 4 young trade chips players for the team to utilize

Parker to the Utah Jazz theory - Loser

Well, that was fun. The Jazz have now gone to 5^th overall pick.  They are out of the Parker sweepstakes barring a trade.

Kevin Love Trade Rumors – Loser (for now)

Well this would have made for great conversation if the Celtics or Lakers won the lottery. Newsflash. Love isn't going to Cleveland. Probably won't go to Milwaukee either. Philadelphia is an interesting option though. Especially since Nerlins Noel is the type of center you'd need to pair with Love at PF and Philadelphia has two first round picks to trade. 

Mallory Eden (Daughter of the Milwaukee Bucks Owner)- Winner

Because Twitter said so.

Anjali Ranadive (Daughter of the Sacramento Kings Owner)- Loser

All the attention went to the Bucks owner’s daughter.  Meanwhile we have Anjali Ranadive, the daughter of the owner of the Kings. She went to UC Berkley and has a song with French Montana. She's also older than 18. She's a winner in my book. Of course, her team didn't get a top 3 pick, so I guess she lost the night. 

NBA: Where Playing the Lottery Happens

So we know that the NBA draft lottery DEFINITELY ISN'T FIXED. But in honor of my favorite conspiracy, the ping pong balls will bounce (even though there aren’t technically ping-pong balls) and a team will get the first pick and the right to choose Andrew Wiggins (or Jabari Parker, Or Joel Embiid, Or Dante’s Inferno).

Explanation: The best players come into the league through the draft. There is a lottery every year to decide which team gets the coveted high picks. The lottery decides the top 3 picks. Every non-playoff team gets a chance to win the lottery. All teams that don't win will get their order decidedby win loss record. Next to each team is their chance of winning the number one pick. 

Let’s run through the options from front to back

Phoenix Suns (0.5%) / Minnesota Timberwolves(0.6%)

Conspiracy: Sure, the NBA is trying to bolster their young, up and coming teams. Both squads narrowly missed the playoffs and the NBA is trying to promote them. 

Realistically: Look, If the Suns or Wolves win the lottery, we SHOULD be skeptical. There's only a tiny chance that they could win legitimately. On the other hand, it would be the best thing for the ping pong balls to reward teams that didn't tank last year. If Minnesota could get a sf/sg in the draft it would make it possible that Love would stay in Minnesota.

New York Knicks(0.7%)

Conspiracy:  Of course, New York won.  The league loves big markets and the Knicks continue to get benefits they don’t deserve. They’re trying to shove the Knicks down our throats

Realistically: Except that the Knicks won’t keep this pick. If New York wins a lottery spot, the pick goes to Denver (Melo trade). If they lose the pick it goes to Orlando via Denver (Igoudala trade)

Denver Nuggets(0.8%)

Conspiracy: I see what happened. A little wink and a nod from the league after trading Melo to a big market.

Realistically: I can’t even come up with a good conspiracy theory for this squad. Maybe that makes it possible that the Nuggets would actually win this. I've had my fingers crossed all year, especially since I've decided to stay in Colorado following the bar exam. 

New Orleans (1.1%)

Conspiracy: AGAIN. We’re all onto New Orleans. If New Orleans wins the lottery, they keep their pick. The NBA is always trying to suck up to their new owners. This happened already with Anthony Davis 

Realistically: The NBA isn’t trying to suck up to the Pelicans, New Orleans is a small market in a powerhouse conference. If New Orleans loses, Philly gets their pick.

Cleveland (1.7%)

Conspiracy: SOMEHOW, SOMEWAY, the NBA’s favorite owner keeps getting unearned number one picks. They won the Lebron draft, the Irving draft after Lebron left and last year’s number one pick.

Realistically: Do you really think that the league wants Cleveland to win again?

Detroit (3.5%)

Conspiracy: SEE, Fab 5 documentary, Rebuild Detroit commercials, they get the best free agent coach available, and now they get the number one pick: SHEEPLE

Realistically, the bigger conspiracy comes if a team behind the pistons wins a lottery spot. If any combination of Cleveland, New Orleans, Denver, New York, Minnesota or Phoenix wins the draft lottery spots, Detroit loses their pick to Charlotte (1-8 protected)

Sacramento (3.6%)

Conspiracy: New Orleans Redux. New Owner, Number one pick
Realistically: Another high pick for the Kings is upcoming. They haven't sniffed the playoffs in years. 

LA Lakers (6.3%) / Boston (8.8%)

Conspiracy: @#$$##^%&*&#$@%$^&*(&^%$#@

Realistically: The internet might explode if either of the leagues two most storied franchises wins the NBA lottery. Both teams were legitimately awful this year and it isn't insane to think that one or both sqauds could get a lottery pick. 

Utah (11.9%)

Conspiracy: MORMONS, MORMONS EVERYWHERE. Clearly, the Church of Latter Day Saints is paying the NBA off to get Jabari Parker to Utah.

Realistically: If Utah got the number one pick, Jabari Parker to Salt Lake City would be a lock. The Jazz need a small forward.  All he does is offense, and that's what the Jazz need. It would be divine interven.. never mind. 

Orlando (15.6%)

Conspiracy: The NBA isn’t creative. The Magic already drafted Penny and Shaq in back to back years in the early 90’s. Now they get Oladipo and a number one pick. (Edit: I forgot all about the Howard draft) 

Realistically: The Magic were pretty awful last year and have a lot of fun players on the squad. It would be nice to see them  get one more piece. 

Philadelphia (19.9%) /Milwaukee (25.0%)

Conspiracy: New Owner theory applies to both

Realistically, These teams have a 44.9% chance of getting the number one pick. Of course they ought to win the lottery. Milwaukee would be the more just result considering that they didn't tank in obvious and ugly ways. They also didn't tie the record for most losses in a row. It's not easy to be as organically bad as the Bucks were.   

NBA: Where Unleashing War Machine Happens

How can we describe what happened last night? Let’s try to use the storylines that people always use to describe Russell Westbrook’s performance.

Viewpoint A:

“Sure, we can agree that he’s a star but his performance was lacking. During winning time, the last 4 minutes of the game, he cost his team the game.  With 4 minutes left he fouls. 2:58 left he misses a 14 foot jumper. Then on the next possession he takes an ill-advised jumper. He gets a make with 49 seconds left but then has a bad pass with 13 seconds left. Then he fouls on a three pointer 7 seconds later and completes the collapse with a turnover at the end of the game. His defenders say that he’s best point guard in the league. He wasn’t last night.”

Viewpoint B:

“When you’re having a bad game, you have to pass the ball more. Sure his free throw shooting was elite, but he shot a dismal 6-22. Shooting 1 for 5 in the 2^nd and 1 for 8 in the 3^rd isn’t going to get the job done. His shooting almost cost the Thunder last night's game It’s as if he isn’t aware that he has a team.  Meanwhile his teammate is shooting 2 for 3 and 5 for 7 in those quarters. You have to allow your successful teammates to do what they do. ”

The Westbrook storyline is a tired one. Throughout the Thunder’s short playoff history, he’s put together elite performances at the most important times. A triple-overtime classic against the Grizzlies here.  43 points against the Miami Heat in the 2012 finals. (Since LeBron has gotten there, no one has scored more against the Heat in the playoffs except Rajon Rondo's 44. But that came in an OT game that Rondo played every minute of). Last night, Russell Westbook had a triple double against one of the better defensive point guards in the league. Since last year's playoff's began, Russ has had 3 knee surgeries, including one mid season, and the focus continues to be on whether you can win with him? Sounds like a great teammate to me.     

As everyone who watched the game knows, Viewpoint A describes Chris Paul’s performance. Viewpoint B describes Kevin Durant’s performance. Chris Paul is the best point guard in the game. Kevin Durant is the MVP. If Russell Westbrook sat down and turned away while Kevin Durant was taking game tying free throws the internet would have exploded. BAD TEAMMATE!!! SELFISH!!! If Russell Westbrook ended a game with 2 turnovers and an ill-advised foul on a three point shooter, Skip Bayless may have combusted.

Instead, we have Russell Westbrook just continuing to sauté the Clippers. Do you know how many triple doubles Westbrook has? He has 3 in 12 playoff games. Do you know how many the field has? The other 199 players who’ve played this post season have had ZERO combined.  In the 2014 playoffs, Westbrook has averaged 27 points, 8 rebounds and 8 assists, quietly. He’s also been an 86% free throw shooter.  He’s even been a respectable 43.5% from the field.  (Bizarrely, he continues to lead the team in offensive rebounding, less a mark on Russ and more of a reflection of the other 6'10+ people on the roster and their inability to consistently rebound.) 

#WarMachine

NBA: Where Donald Sterling happens

 

“Lord, grant that I may always desire more than I can accomplish.”- Michelangelo

After initially being really reticent to write about the topic, here’s 2000 words (during finals season and bar application time). #GTGTPWTW. If you’re familiar with the facts of the story, skip to the last header where I give my thoughts.

 

Who is Donald Sterling?

Donald Sterling is a law school graduate, a real estate magnate and the owner of the Los Angeles Clippers. He is the longest tenured owner of the NBA. He’s married with 3 kids.

 

Why is Donald Sterling all over my Twitter and Facebook feeds?

Mr. Sterling purportedly made racist remarks. His girlfriend (yes, even though he’s married, he has one) submitted audio with Donald Sterling making these remarks in response to an Instagram photo she took with Magic Johnson.

“It bothers me a lot that you want to broadcast that you’re associating with black people. Do you have to?" (3:30)
"You can sleep with [black people]. You can bring them in, you can do whatever you want.  The little I ask you is not to promote it on that ... and not to bring them to my games." (5:15)
"I’m just saying, in your lousy f******* Instagrams, you don’t have to have yourself with, walking with black people." (7:45)
"...Don't put him [Magic] on an Instagram for the world to have to see so they have to call me.  And don't bring him to my games." (9:13)

http://www.tmz.com/2014/04/26/donald-sterling-clippers-owner-black-people-racist-audio-magic-johnson/#ixzz307r5RY5x

Why is this a big deal?

Well, he’s the owner of an NBA team. He’s a public face of the league. It’s a blight on the league to have one of its representatives saying things like this. Also, more than any other sports league, the players in the NBA (and on the LA Clippers) are predominantly black. While this would be inappropriate anywhere, it’s even more inappropriate here. Also, the team plays in Los Angeles, a city well known for its diversity. Finally, rules of common decency apply here.

Racism, is largely a matter of interpretation for some people. Someone stereotypes, or says something offensive and that thing is explained away in one form or another. Sometimes there’s a logical way to frame a comment or action that people interpret as racist as not racist. It defies logic to interpret “It bothers me a lot that you want to broadcast that you’re associating with black people. Do you have to?” as anything but racist. This is one of the few times where truly blatant racism is exposed in a public light.

 

You said purportedly, does that mean that he might not have said it?

Yes, it does. Donald Sterling (through his representatives) denies having said it. It’s technically still an accusation (with a public audio recording). Armchair voice recording experts can analyze it as much as they want, but there’s still a question as to whether it is actually him.

“We have heard the tape on TMZ Sports.  We do not know if it is legitimate or if it has been altered… Mr. Sterling is emphatic that what is reflected on that recording is not consistent with, nor does it reflect his views, beliefs or feelings. It is the antithesis of who he is, what he believes and how he has lived his life…He feels terrible that such sentiments are being attributed to him and apologizes to anyone who might have been hurt by them." – Clippers via TMZ

 

Wait, isn’t recording someone’s conversations illegal?

***This is ABSOLUTELY not legal advice***

Sort of, but it depends on the state. Some states have a two party recording statute and others have a one party recording statute. Put simply, some places have laws where you can only record a conversation is both parties are aware that recording is happening and other states have laws where you can only record a conversation if one party is aware. California requires both parties to be aware. It’s unclear where the recording happened and it’s unclear to me if there is a potential problem for the girlfriend.
***This wasn’t legal advice. If you need or want legal advice please talk to a lawyer who with bar credentials in the jurisdiction that you require***

On the other hand there is an argument to be made about the general wisdom and shaky morality of recording private conversations and releasing them to the public. I appreciate privacy and I’d feel betrayed if any of my private conversations were recorded and made public. However, the things that he said were remarkably vile and unbecoming of an owner whether said in public or in private. This is different from Toronto GM Masai Ujiri yelling “Fuck Brooklyn”, which was only bad because it was in a public forum. These statements reveal a truly ugly sentiment by Sterling about black people, generally. It should not be tolerated.

 

What has the league’s response been?

Nothing much yet. There is an investigation.

"We are in the process of conducting a full investigation into the audio recording obtained by TMZ. The remarks heard on the recording are disturbing and offensive, but at this time we have no further information." – NBA via SBNation.com

Donald Sterling has volunteered not to attend game 4.

 

What has the media response been?

Not surprisingly, everyone is condemning Sterling’s statements. ESPN and TNT (the premiere television partners for the NBA) have both been clear about their feelings about Sterling and swift in their condemnation.

“Will never go to a Clippers game again as long as Donald Sterling is the owner” “LA Clippers owner Donald Sterling's comments about African Americans are a black eye for the NBA.” “I feel sorry for my friends Coach Doc Rivers and Chris Paul that they have to work for a man that feels that way about African Americans” – Magic Johnson (Former NBA Player, person in the Instagram picture in question)

 

What do players think?

“"On behalf of the National Players Association, this is a very serious issue which we will address aggressively” – Chris Paul (star player for the Clippers and the president of the NBA Players association)

“That's the way it is...He is honest about what he believes in..Been going on for a long time, Hats off 2 the Team.. 4 playin above it all.” – Baron Davis (former Clipper, heckled from the sidelines by Sterling)

DeAndre Jordan (Clippers center) posted an all-black picture on Instagram, sending a not particularly subtle message.

“I couldn't play for him” – Kobe Bryant via Twitter (Lakers player, shares the same arena as the Clippers, wins a lot more)

"Obviously, if the reports are true... It's unacceptable. It's unacceptable in our league. It doesn't matter if you're white, black, Hispanic, whatever, all across the races. It's unacceptable. And as a commissioner of our league, you have to make a stand and you have to be very aggressive with it. I don't know what it's gonna be, but you just can't have that in our league."- LeBron James via Bleacher Report (Miami Heat player, arguably the face of the NBA)

“"There's no place in the game for things like this, for owners like this." – Paul Pierce (Brooklyn Nets player) via Twitter

 

He seems like a jerk who no one likes. Why is he still in the league? Can he be fired?

No. Not really. As the owner of the team, he’s the boss. Other owners and the general administration of the NBA can put pressure on him to sell the team, but it doesn’t appear that they can outright fire him. According to Sports Illustrated,

“Forcibly removing Sterling from the NBA is unlikely to happen. The NBA's constitution, which is confidential, reportedly contains language permitting owners to authorize the league to sell a team without an owner's consent. The language, SI.com is told, only covers very limited circumstances and these circumstances concern team finances -- namely, when an owner can't pay his bills.”

So, generally speaking, as long as Sterling’s checks don’t bounce, it would be difficult to take away his franchise. There are other ways of impeding Sterling, such as indefinite suspension and other public shaming mechanisms, but Sterling could fire back with a lawsuit. Lawsuits face the potential of treble damages, a legal mechanism that means that if Sterling sues, he could get triple the amount of damage done to him. It does not appear likely that the NBA is willing to do this. (No defendant wants anything to do with treble damages, as I’ve learned in my semester long venture into civil law).

If the NBA desired to suspend him there’s a good chance that they already would have done so, already. He has already been involved in various discrimination lawsuits alleging racism. There are many racist quotes attributed to Sterling. He’s heckled his own players from the sidelines. He’s generally been regarded as an awful owner outside of any potentially racist comments.

 

Ok, so I know the facts, how do you feel about it?

I’m against racism and bigotry in all its forms. The league would be a better place without Donald Sterling in it. I don’t think that he’s the only person in sports who feels this way, but he has such a horrid history of bigotry that he has to go. Not a single tear will be shed for Sterling on the way out.

When people want to use this story as a discussion piece about race, I’m confused. What’s the discussion? Don’t be a racist? Sure, but then what? It’s very surface level and doesn’t have any depth to it. I think that, at best, we have another example of how despite all of the progress made, racism is still alive and well.

I think the more interesting angle here is the player and coach reaction. Doc Rivers forced his way out of Boston to work in Los Angeles. Now he’s a black head coach working for an owner who doesn’t particularly like black people. Chris Paul was supposed to be a Laker, but after former Commissioner David Stern vetoed a potential trade from New Orleans to the Lakers, he was traded to the Clippers. I feel bad for Chris Paul who shouldn’t even be on the team. Doc Rivers, not as much. It is clear to me that either this isn’t that big of a deal to him or he’s willing to work for someone who feels this way because that was clear before he signed to LA.

More importantly, the players are in a bad spot. The players are clearly not happy with Sterling’s remarks, but Sterling, with all of his millions, signs their paychecks. He’s the boss and financier. The players protested  by throwing their Clippers branded warm ups on the ground at half court in Sunday’s game. However, when the national TV cameras were on, they were wearing their Clippers uniforms, because, at the risk of lawsuit (and certainly some NBA league-wide policy about uniforms) they had to. They don’t have a lot of leverage or power to protest, especially since they are in a tough series against the Golden State Warriors, who wiped the floor with them on Sunday. They can seek trades and sign with other teams, but most of the core pieces are contractually stuck with the Clippers. Also, there are tons of Clippers fans who’ve already bought tickets whom the players don’t want to disappoint. The fans didn’t do anything to deserve a strike. (Although, if I’m a clipper fan, I’ve bought my last ticket.) If they wanted to protest one game, that would be one thing, but right now, the Clippers are a potential NBA finals team. Why would they want to miss out on one of the highlights of their professional lives because the owner was a jerk? That has nothing to do with them.

I think that the NBA’s response is going to be interesting. This is the first major test of new commissioner Adam Silver’s tenure. On one hand, it’s going to be an uphill battle to remove Sterling and may cost the league a ton of money to do so. While it is good for the long-term health of the league, it may be costly for the NBA to get rid of him. The NBA is a business, first. Of course there are other ways to for him to leave the NBA. The NBA could wait and hope that Donald Sterling ceases to be the owner of the team, either by old age (he’s in his 80’s) or by Sterling selling the team. If there’s one thing that’s clear, Sterling won’t sell the Clippers because it’s “the right thing to do”. The NBA also must give Sterling his due process before anything continues. While they aren’t obligated to do so in the same way that the government is (see 14^th Amendment), they have to investigate, especially since the remarks were made via audio recording and could have been doctored. While the sentiments expressed in the audio are similar to sentiments previously expressed by and attributed to Sterling, it doesn’t mean that Sterling actually made them, and if they remove him based on a mistaken identity or doctored audio, it makes it more likely they will lose the inevitable law suit. However, if something meaningful is going to happen, it ought to be the league that does it.