Roger Federer, comedian; Stephen A. Smith, blowhard; and goodbye (?), Donald Sterling

July 31, 2014

It’s been a sports moment of the good, the bad and the huh?

First, the good news to sweeten the disposition: A court ruled that Shelly Sterling can sell the Los Angeles Clippers to former Microsoft mogul Steve Ballmer, paving the way for the team to be treated more humanely, for Mrs. Sterling to get on with her life and for her husband, Donald, whose bigotry precipitated his ostracism from the NBA and the sale, to continue to be clueless. So all’s well that ends well – for now anyway, as I fear this isn’t the last we’ve heard from Mr. Not So Sterling.

Now for the bad: ESPN blabbermouth, uh, commentator Stephen A. Smith stated on a recent edition of “First Take” that women should do their best not to provoke their menfolk into domestic violence. (This after Baltimore Ravens’ running back Ray Rice received a two-game suspension for allegedly beating his fiancée, now wife, in a Las Vegas elevator.)

Smith, too, got a slap on the wrist, a week’s suspension after he apologized for failing to express himself properly. Look, this is not about a failure to communicate. It’s about a cultural mindset...

The Clippers deal and what the market will bear

June 2, 2014

Why is everybody up in arms about sports nut Steve Ballmer buying the Los Angeles Clippers for $2 billion?The team, people say, is worth $750 million at best. It’s all about the television rights jacking up the price in the second biggest market, others say.

I say it’s only about one thing – what the market will bear. It’s like the art market. (Or the stock market.) You pay $95 million for a Van Gogh, it’s worth $95 million. Now is a Van Gogh worth $95 million? Actually, I’d have to say that since he was a great artist – a great dead artist who can’t make any more paintings – then a Van Gogh is priceless. But we don’t live in a world of aesthetics. We live in a world of insurance policies – so much if your roof is damaged, so much if your windshield is cracked. Everything has its price, which is not the same as its value.

Leaning in – and falling over

May 17, 2014

So what do we think? Is Shelly Sterling in cahoots with disgraced hubby Donald to retain ownership of the Los Angeles Clippers by divorcing him and secretly allowing him to run the team?

Or is she a woman who recognizes her moment and, sensing his vulnerability, has decided to divorce him and make a power play for control of the team?

“I think the latter,” a male friend said the other night over dinner.

OK, so Shelly Sterling is seeking to become the principal owner – the team is actually owned by a family trust – at the moment when two women have lost prominent journalism positions. Jill Abramson was dismissed as the first female executive editor of The New York Times May 14 while Natalie Nougayrède, the first female editor of France’s Le Monde, announced she was stepping down from her post. And while Abramson apparently confronted her bosses about making less in salary and benefits than previous executive editor Bill Keller, the bottom line in both cases is that she and Nougayrède were considered controlling bosses who had lost the confidence of their employees.

But were they really controlling bosses, or were they perceived to be controlling bosses, because we expect women to be the “nice” sex?