Adam Silver bound himself personally and his league eternally to justice today. This was not a business decision, the color of money never entered into it, this was a moral decision made by a man who felt the outrage viscerally as described in this article by Ben Watanabe for NESN:
Adam Silver’s Fury Shines Through In Lifetime Ban Of Donald Sterling
The first thing you noticed was the anger. There was fire in Adam Silver’s eyes as he took the podium Tuesday afternoon. He was nearly shaking with rage. He used the word “distraught” multiple times to describe his feelings — not at what he was forced to do, but that anyone under his survey could possibly hold such disgusting morals as Donald Sterling does. Silver was harsh and definitive, laying down a lifetime ban on Sterling as owner of the Los Angeles Clippers and announcing that he would seek approval from the other 29 NBA owners to force Sterling to sell the team. Minutes before Silver arrived to announce the league’s ruling in its investigation into the recorded racist rant that came to light last weekend, multiple reports indicated the NBA merely would institute an indefinite suspension and a $5 million fine. It merely would have been a slap on the wrist for a confirmed and unrepentant bigot. And Silver would have none of it. The lifetime ban was the only acceptable result here, plus the $2.5 million fine on top that is hardly worth mentioning. The fine was not the point. It was immaterial to both the mega-rich Sterling and to the punishment itself. The message was sent that Silver would not tolerate Sterling’s ideology in his league. Any amount of money pales in comparison.
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But all that is secondary to the rage. You can’t be a fair-minded human being and have felt anything other than broiling anger while listening to that recording. Silver felt the same fury and felt little need to mask it Tuesday. As a commissioner, as a human being, he simply let that fury guide him to the right conclusion.
