Free Republic

The woman at the center of the Donald Sterling racism scandal, the ex-Los Angeles Clippers owner’s gal pal V Stiviano, was badly beaten up by two white men in New York City on Sunday night, her lawyer has confirmed exclusively to RadarOnline. Around 7pm, as Stiviano was leaving the Gansevoort Hotel in Manhattan’s Meatpacking District, “two white men descended on her,” attorney Mac Nehorary said. “They were about 5’7 and they knew exactly who she was. They began to hit her and called her the N word. “Other disgusting slurs were made against her. She was able to run away...

I guess the PC sports press was hoping for a high-tech lyching of sorts, wherein Donald Sterling, the owner in limbo who is soon to be former owner of the National Basketall Association's Los Angeles Clippers, would be frog-marched out of his office and dumped onto Skid Row, never to be heard from again, for his undeniably racist remarks to his now ex-girlfriend about how he didn't want her bringing blacks to Clippers games while directing racial invective at other specific persons. It's not working out that way. In fact, quite the opposite. Former Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer is reportedly...

Donald Sterling is preparing to sue the NBA for $1 billion, according to a report from NBC News. The report comes a day after it was announced the Sterlings, actually via Shelly Sterling, had reached an agreement to sell the Los Angeles Clippers to former Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer.

The U.S. stock market is trading at all-time highs, the yields on U.S. government bonds are at eye-popping lows and the nation’s professional basketball teams are selling for more than most observers previously thought possible. That the U.S. economy shrank in the first quarter of the year is the disturbing backdrop for this stunning surge in asset prices—call it the basketball bubble. Forbes first reported early on Thursday that former Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer had submitted a $1.8 billion bid for the Los Angeles Clippers and that the team could go for $2 billion before all was said and done....

On Friday, Rush Limbaugh opened his radio show by diving into recent comments Dallas Mavericks owner Mark Cuban made about how own struggles with “bigotry” and “prejudice.” Limbaugh did not seem to have any particular problems with what Cuban said, but was rather offended by his subsequent apology to Trayvon Martin’s family for using a “black kid in a hoodie” as one example of who he would avoid on a dark street. “I know I’m prejudiced and I know I’m bigoted in a lot of different ways,” Cuban said at Nashville, Tennessee’s GrowCo Conference. “If I see a black kid...

When and how the Los Angeles Clippers officially are put up for sale — and by whom — are yet to be determined, but two more former NBA headliners reportedly are lining up separate ownership groups to bid on the franchise. ESPN’s Marc Stein reports Grant Hill and Yao Ming are actively preparing to make a run at becoming NBA owners. Hill and Ming join a list of former players and celebrities linked to having interest in owning the Clippers, including former Lakers star and Dodgers owner Magic Johnson, Oprah Winfrey, former Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer and Oracle CEO Larry...

Even though Warren Flagg, the retired FBI agent who's at the center of this brewing piece of news, was pretty definitive with his words, Dallas Mavericks owner Mark Cuban isn't having any of it: To set the record straight. I have never hired or consulted with any former FBI agents to investigate our 2006 Finals.

Twitter users in Spain posted 17,500 messages of anti-Semitic abuse after Israeli basketball team Maccabi Tel Aviv beat Real Madrid on Sunday to win the Euroleague Championship, Jewish associations said Tuesday.

For the record, if you're thinking Maccabbi Tel Aviv is just another European team, living off the leftovers of players who failed to make it into the NBA, well, you'd be mostly right, except that MTA was also the first European team to defeat an NBA team (Washington Bullets, 1978), and then, in 2005, beat the Toronto raptors 105-103. Otherwise, they've lost all their NBA matches.

The question raised by NBA’s Stephen A. Smith, Spike Lee, and several NBA players, current and past, is “Why is it taking so long to fire Donald Sterling?” NBA Commissioner Adam Silver was so strong and strident in his announcement that steps would be taken “immediately” to do just that. There was no ambiguity about whether they were going to fire Sterling for his racist comments against African Americans. It is a done deal. Commissioner Silver surely would not have made such a profound announcement without having consulted the other NBA owners. So why hasn’t the first shoe dropped? Like...

The Western Conference semifinal series between the Oklahoma City Thunder and Los Angeles Clippers has been a back-and-forth battle. Matchups on the interior as well as on the perimeter have been physical, but OKC point guard Russell Westbrook doesn’t want anyone to mistake "flopping" for "chippyness." Per CBS Sports’ Royce Young, the talented floor general said the following: It’s fair to say that Westbrook is frustrated following Game 4's blown opportunity. After leading by a 22-point margin, the Thunder managed to blow a double-digit fourth-quarter lead. Instead of OKC taking a commanding 3-1 series advantage, the Clips knotted things up...

LeBron James said Sunday that no one in the entire Sterling family should be allowed to own the Clippers, according to Brian Mahoney of the Associated Press, who spoke to James during the team’s shootaround in Brooklyn before the team readies for Game 4 vs. the Nets on Monday. James said it’s the right thing to do, from the players’ perspective, to disallow any kind of transfer of ownership within the Sterling family: ”As players, we want what’s right and we don’t feel like no one in his family should be able to own the team.” The comments come less...

So, here I am, still in Denver, a lovely city, but too high up. Herewith, a few lowly thoughts about Mr. Donald Sterling, his private conversations with his mistress, the media lynching of him, and the actions of the NBA sanctioning him severely for those private thoughts and comments. “It’s a slippery slope,” said billionaire sports club owner Mark Cuban when asked about the sanctions. I am not sure what he meant, but he’s right. Sterling is being punished for his thoughts. He is being punished for actions that make the NBA look bad even though they were not actions...

The good thing about the Donald Sterling mess, as Mark Jackson pointed out when the scandal was raging, is that it got people talking about racism. The more open discussion we have, the better chance of changing and healing. Hey, maybe the Los Angeles chapter of the NAACP should give Sterling another achievement award. But seriously, race discussion continues, even as Sterling sinks into the sunset. The focus is still on the NBA - on David Stern and Adam Silver, team owners and the players - for giving Sterling a pass for so long. But now the spotlight is also...

WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. -- Baseball Hall of Famer Tommy Lasorda says he's not surprised by his friend Donald Sterling's racist remarks. The former Dodgers manager tells West Palm Beach station WPBF after 30 years of friendship with Sterling, "It doesn't surprise me that he said those things. And he shouldn't have said it." Lasorda also offered his thoughts on the woman Sterling was talking to on the tape, V. Stiviano, saying: "I don't wish that girl any bad luck, but I hope she gets hit with a car."(continued)

Donald Sterling may be down, but he’s not out and he’s out looking for a law firm to help him sue the NBA, who are attempting to force him to sell the LA Clippers. According to media reports the combative and controversial Clippers boss is preparing to sue the NBA and fight attempts to make him sell the lucrative franchise. The reports are not entirely authoritative, coming from TMZ, but they are likely true given the nature of Donald Sterling, 80, and his humiliation over what has occurred in recent times. For him, the issue is of his own making...

(VIDEO-AT-LINK)Was Golden State Warriors head coach Mark Jackson fired for his Christian views on gay marriage? That's what Ann Killion is asking at sfgate.com, noting that Jackson's lukewarm reaction to the coming-out of Jason Collins, last year was something of a mismatch for the Bay Area, which is the global capital of gay politics and culture. Killion writes: Everything about Jackson was under scrutiny, which includes his very public persona as a religious man. It was probably not at the top of the list, but was probably on the list.... When Jason Collins made his historic pronouncement last year that...

Oregon State has fired Head Basketball Coach Craig Robinson after six seasons and a 94-105 record with no NCAA/NIT post-season appearances. He had 3 years left on his contract and will receive a $4 million dollar buyout.

Donald Sterling’s reputation had a bad week, but his pocketbook has never looked better. The punishment meted out by NBA Commissioner Silver—the maximum league fine of $2.5 million—pales in comparison to the billion dollars Sterling stands to make from selling the Clippers. Ironically, the league’s nuclear option—a forced sale—could also end up lining Sterling’s pocketbook with millions in tax savings. Instead of his just deserts, will Sterling end up with a sweet tax treat? First, there’s never been a better time for Sterling to sell, financially speaking. The Clippers have historically been regarded as one of the worst teams in...

Los Angeles Clippers guard J.J. Redick says that owner Donald Sterling was hesitant to sign him last summer because he’s white. Speaking to USA Today, Redick went into detail about how his four-year, $27 million sign-and-trade deal almost fell apart despite being initially agreed upon. “I’ve been told both ways: one, that he didn’t want to pay me because I was white, and that he didn’t want to pay me because I was a bench player,” Redick, the former Duke University star told USA Today. “I didn’t know until after the face. I just got a weird phone call from...