By: Dan Hauser
I’m sure by now all of you have
either heard or heard about the altercation between the commissioner of the NBA
David Stern and national syndicated radio host Jim Rome. For those of you still
in the dark I will quickly recap it. Stern came on Rome’s radio show and was
asked what seems like they yearly question, “Was the draft lottery fixed?”
Stern responded by asking Rome if “he still beats his wife” and said he has
made a career out of “cheap thrills”. Below is the entire radio conversation.
I’m sure
most of you are thinking, “Was this the commissioner of a major sport in this
country or just some idiot caller?” And to answer your question, no, that was
not some hack trying to get his 15 seconds of fame. That was the commissioner
of the National Basketball Association asking a member of the media if he still
“beats his wife”. Yes, it was Stern using a loaded question to try and show
that Rome had asked him a loaded question; however, that does not make it any
more appropriate for him to act that way. Not to mention the fact that a lot of
people thought he was seriously asking the question.
Stern has
become that “grumpy old man” that we see portrayed in television and movies.
Except in this case it is happening before all of our eyes and last week was
just another example. He has done an amazing job over his career turning the
NBA into a global entity and bringing excellent talent from all over the world
to this country to play. He orchestrated the first, and arguably only “Dream
Team,” and the league has been incredibly successful and profitable in large
part because of him, but I think it is finally time for him to step down. Stern
says that he has a few good years left in him but I think he needs to trust
that he did a great job in training deputy commissioner Adam Silver and let him
take over. No owner has come out and called for Stern to step down or question
his actions as of late publicly, but you have to believe that there are some
rumblings in the private sector of the front offices throughout the league.
Hopefully
this whole situation with Jim Rome will not be a black eye for what has been a
great career for the commissioner, but if he continues this “angry old man” act
this might not even be the worst thing to happen before he steps down. I can
only hope that he leaves on his own terms and doesn’t get forced out but things
like this will not help.
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