Category: Sports

Donald Sterling is in the news this week for private comments made regarding his feeling about some folks that are a different race. The conversation was recorded without his permission. The release of the recording is a violation of California law but nobody cares.

The race baiters and self-appointed PC police in and out of the media have condemned Sterling and pressured the NBA to ban him for life. As the owner of an NBA team, Sterling has the right to run his business but cannot do so in person? Really?

Why is it that words are so offensive but actions are excused? Professional athletes have murdered, raped, robbed, attacked fans, and done other acts and these folks aren’t banned for life. Yeah, Pete Rose placed a few bets on games and was banned but he is the rare exception. Michael Vick, O.J. Simpson, Tiger Woods, Ron Artest, Barry Bonds, Oscar Pistorius risked civil punishment but their sports didn’t rush to judgment and ban them for life—at least not that I can recall.

John Rocker, Jimmy “The Greek’ Snyder, Rush Limbaugh, Donald Sterling, Don Imus and a host of others have paid a price for their words. Men like these have lost businesses, paid fines and lost jobs and been castigated by the liberal media for statements that were declared racist. Snyder was canned for making a comment on a well-documented historical fact that some slave owners bred slaves to be good manual laborers. Limbaugh has lost sponsors on more than one occasion for stating his feelings on the news of the day. He also was not allowed to be part of an ownership group seeking to purchase an NFL team. Rocker said some folks in New York are freaks. I still haven’t heard what Sterling said that have everyone so up in arms.

I think people have the right to say what they want—whether I agree with them or not. The people mentioned above are all white; nonetheless, my problem is with the hypocrisy that Blacks or Hispanics or people in other groups somehow cannot be racists. Why is the myth perpetrated that only whites are or can be racist. Why can’t Jeremiah Wright, Al Sharpton, Jesse Jackson, and Louis Farrakhan be called racists also? Why do they get a pass?

Lest you think I’m reducing this to Black v White, what about California’s SCA-5? It pits Chinese and Asian Americans against the Hispanics. The “Latino” folks in the state capitol want to re-introduce race (and other categories) of discrimination into the California Constitution and barely a word of this ever appeared in the mainstream media.

I just wish the hypocrisy would cease. MLK was right when he referred to an America “where they will not be judged by the color of their skin but by the content of their character.” I think every year we are further from this ideal.

By far the biggest winner was Tim Tebow. The T-Mobile ads that he did were not only funny in their own right but a not so subtle “in your face” to the NFL. “No contract”, what a campaign—Tebow vindicated on a national stage.

The biggest loser was Tebow’s replacement at Denver, QB Peyton Manning. Denver fans will require vast quantities of federally prohibited pharmaceuticals to get past their team’s blow-out. Fans hoping for a victory celebration in the Rocky Mountains will be holding their breath until next season…Bummer.

Oh, in another stroke of irony, the Seattle QB’s first words in his interview were to thank God for the performance that he had—probably about the same speech that Tebow would have given if he had lead Denver to victory. I hope this defeat will haunt Denver’s management for many years.

Yesterday, amongst much fanfare, it was announced that a group of local politicians had gone toe-to-toe with the owners of the Sacramento Kings and after much vigorous negotiation they gave the Kings ownership everything they had demanded. Then these same politicians declared victory for all concerned parties. This rather “French” version of victory disguised as complete and unconditional surrender is in the form of a quarter percent sales tax. It has been argued that this new 1.2 billion dollar tax will bring millions in new business to the Sacramento area.

This is nuts. If I offered you ten cents for every dollar that you gave me, you would rightly conclude that I either was insane or perpetuating some type of fraud.

That is unless you hold elected office. Then you would proclaim my virtue for giving you a dollar in additional taxes and then being grateful for the ten cent return on my tax dollar that I have been promised at some future date. If I go along with this scheme then I am called enlightened and community minded. And if I dare to call it a fraud and a money grab to cover-up some of the looming debt crisis that is built into the system supported by these local government politicians then I am selfish and anti-community.

Let’s look at the facts.

○ This tax is projected to result in more than double the amount of money required to build this project.
○ This over taxation serves two purposes: first it attempts to get around the law that a sales tax that is earmarked for a dedicated purpose requires a two-thirds majority of voter approval and secondly spreading more money around various cities within Sacramento County is a way to deal with shortfalls in revenue that have been papered over by developer fees.
○  Neither the City, County nor anyone else acquires any ownership percentage of the Kings. The taxpayers are only buying a very expensive building that will never pay for itself.
○ There is no land that is currently owned either by the Kings or local government on which to put the new arena. The rail yards are in limbo and may not be the ideal spot for this project. Everyone knows that the rail yards are a toxic waste zone and there are still many unresolved issues.
○ In the final analysis, all the sales tax money will go into the general fund of Sacramento County. The County will then spend it as they see fit.
○ If voters approve the tax and the Kings leave Sacramento after the November election, the tax will still be collected, even if the arena is never built!

This last point is important. Once the tax is authorized it will be collected. How it is spent is up to the Board of Supervisors.

Remember when Al Davis was looking to move the Raiders from Los Angeles back to the northern part of California and Sacramento Mayor Joe Serna got an authorization to raise fifty million dollars? Well the Raiders went back to Oakland and not Sacramento. So what happened to the fifty million dollars earmarked for the Raiders? The city of Sacramento quietly spent every last dime on other projects.

This sales tax is a one-way street. Once you head down this road you can never stop or turn around.

My preference is for the sales tax to fail. However, if there is to be a true stadium tax then let that be the sole purpose of the tax. Go for the supermajority approval. My other condition for building a new arena is that our community acquires some reasonable percentage in the ownership of the Kings in exchange for buying a new arena.