I don't know about you all, but Silver already told you what was going to happen to the Clippers. ****ing. Nothing.
They just signed a $76BN television deal. The only thing this has done is fling the door wide open for this stuff in the future. Have fun with your leeg. You can catch all the highlights on Tik Tok.
This was the league that said that 10,000 text messages that took place within the span of a month between Donaghy and another referee was because they were good friends on a traveling schedule. Ten thousand. Text messages. To a pal. Back when unlimited plans and by-the-message plans were neither cheap nor normal (although pro referees make a good salary). Let me ask you guys: do you have a friend that you send even 300 text messages a month to? I mean, not on these Apple or Android phones. On the ones where you had to hit the button three times to get the right letter?
LOLOLOL
Don't think I don't know that every league is going to go this way. Like I said in the baseball thread, I'm having a really hard time betting on our culture being intact after twenty more years without disaster or massive upheaval, so it probably won't matter too much in the long run, although I am a doom and gloom sort of guy and have been very wrong before about societal collapse while at other times way too hopeful about totally doomed ****, so ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
Who knows?
Silver’s comments were expected, and, in my opinion, reasonable. Apparently a lot of owners are pissed though. If the Clippers are found to be in violation, punishment will be more than a slap on the risk. Other owners have power. This has more in common with the Joe Smith scandal than the Donaghy scandal.
Oh, I wasn't saying they were analogous. I'm sure the other owners are pissed right now. Perhaps I shouldn't have been so bold and cackling about it. I should say that if the owners figure out that no or token punishment hurts their bottom line, then there will be stiff punishment, but I don't think that's likely. Here's what I think will happen: They'll be pissed internally because not only were they not on a level playing field with Ballmer (and maybe others), but the players now have incentive to go to each individual owner and ask for something similar to Leonard and the owners really don't want that. But I think the way Silver was already talking that he will gently remind them that if they scream bloody murder and insist that sunlight is the best disinfectant, the sunlight might turn into a story that really blows up and threatens that $76BN kitty. And that's when, instead of getting to the heart of the matter and doing something like rooting out the officiating and gambling problem, they'll all realize that Stern was right and that the only way this pie gets threatened is to continue exposing corrupt practices far and wide until all of our culture is aware of it. So they're gonna speed this up and slam it shut.
In the end, they're all going to protect the bottom line before the integrity of the game. That's really my point. If indeed their bottom line is hurt by token punishment, they'll be the first to encircle Uncle Dennis and Steve Ballmer with a firing squad. With bells on! But I think the only thing that hurts their bottom line is a long, drawn-out and extraordinarily far-reaching inquiry that makes every corner of the news. And all day. Otherwise, they're just gonna shut it all down and take their money and run.
