re: Clay Travis article on Michael Sam, Sterling, etc.

quote:

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He mostly compared Sterling's opinion spoken in his own home and secretly recorded (and a few other examples) to professional athletes and coaches committing actual crimes, and noted how there's a serious disconnect there when it comes to punishment. And he's correct.

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He is correct except that sports is a consumer driven business and the owners are in the business of getting as many consumers as possible to spend as much money as possible on the product. The decisions made by respective leagues and owners are made to protect their product, nothing more nothing less.

That's why a perceived white racist owner in the NBA is a big fricking deal. The other NBA owners probably don't give a shite that Sterling thinks less of black people and they probably think Kobe is a bigger sack of shite for his sex crimes. However, their decisions are based on business and according to their consumers a white racist owner is worse for the bottom line than a player who sexually assaulted someone. That may be screwed up (it is), but the owners aren't making moral judgments, they are making business decisions to protect their investment. They don't care if the punishment fits the crime, and I don't blame them. They aren't in the business of justness.

If and when their consumers change, the owner's will change with them. That's business 101. This issue is really about economics and capitalism, not whether the punishment fits the crime.