dagger wrote:J Dilla wrote:exactly what i said as before, each and every owner thinks the same way as sterling.
the hip hop stuff is from another galaxy for these rich ass white old ass billionaires
YOU sound prejudiced. He has some racially biased stereotypes, but if you think this reaches even a 3 on the Donald Sterling scale of disrespect for African Americans, you're crazy. Sterling reached back into the 1950s by seeking to exclude blacks from his circle, by forbidding his mistress from associating them out of some uber-racist stereotypes about race and sex, i.e if she was bringing them to games, they'd end up banging her because she had some kind of jungle fever.
Levenson strikes me as well intentioned but expressing stereotypes that are detrimental to the league's image. He wrestles with a real problem, but in the manner of an outsider (He is not an Atlanta native, his background is Washington, DC). There is a strong racial divide today in the South (by which I include every part of the US below and along the Mason Dixon line, including places like St. Louis.) A white cop shoots a black male, and an incredible number of whites assume the cop's innocence. It's racism, because just maybe the cop effectively murdered the guy. Due process should cut both ways. Don't assume the innocence of a police officer, just as one should not assume the guilt of a police officer, until a full and fair trial is held.
You only have to look at the Hawks' attendance to know there is something wrong with the current setup, and that has been true for a long time. Racial mixing in the South is nothing like you would find in, say, New York. And the issues in Atlanta are complex. The arena is downtown, and at night, downtown Atlanta tends to empty out. The Georgia Dome is nearby, and Turner Field only a little bit further away, and yet the Braves are building a new stadium in the outer burbs - in another county! Why do you think they are doing that? I can assure you there are some very large parking lots in downtown Atlanta where you could build a new stadium - and the Falcons are building a new stadium right downtown - but of course, they plan mainly on Sunday afternoons, and only eight regular season games at that.
In Montreal, author Hugh McLennan coined the phrase the Two Solitudes to describe the often separate worlds of English and French, but I suggest it also applies to a city like Atlanta which is an uncomfortable blending of old and new South. Levenson stumbles into this debate inelegantly. How do you get crowds of all races and ethnicities to come to the arena? He does make whites sound like more valuable customers, and that's racist, but also makes a valid point that Thrasher fans – at least those who came – bought a lot more merchandise.
However, I suspect something else is at play, here. He's a majority owner who has always had a fractious relationship with his minority partners, and one of them may have leaked the email to force him to sell his share, or to sell the entire team. Wojnaroski is saying his sources claim the email wasn't self-reported to the league at all. The only people who would have been copied in on such an email would be senior operations officials, and perhaps his fractious partners.
Since the Clippers sale for $2 billion, there must be a few teams where owners are licking their chops at the idea of cashing out. In Atlanta's case, the minority owners might have had to find a way to force Levenson's hand.
