When some thing happens in a single recreation -- specifically while that some thing includes a social trouble -- it eventually has an effect on other sports activities. Golf isn't immune, so Tuesday's NBA drama caught my attention.
For the ones of you who failed to listen, Donald Sterling, the owner of the Los Angeles Clippers (a basketball crew, for those of you unusual with the NBA, and Sterling is pictured at the proper inside the above image) has been in the middle of a scandal due to a few racist feedback he made final week. Sterling has, shall we say, a "terrible document" wherein race members of the family are worried... But this time the remarks have been taped and made countrywide news. To say that this has brought about a few outrage is a sarcasm -- you could examine this SI article for extra information -- however allow's just say that this problem struck a deep nerve in this united states and turned into on the verge of erupting into something definitely ugly the various NBA groups.
The man who had to address that is NBA Commissioner Adam Silver (at the left in the photograph), who has been in workplace less than 3 months for the reason that retirement of mythical commissioner David Stern. This newbie observed himself inside the midst of a hassle that would have given Stern and his 30 years of enjoy pause. Something had to be completed and there was a number of speculation approximately what the new guy would do. Most of the hypothesis I heard earlier than his press convention Tuesday turned into that he could deliver Sterling an indefinite suspension. You see, the Commish works for the owners and it's no longer desirable to alienate your bosses.
But Silver did something that no person dared trust he would have the center to do. He claimed every bit of strength that the NBA bylaws gave him and proceeded to prohibit Sterling FOR LIFE, no longer simplest from the Clippers however from taking any component within the NBA. He gave him a $2.Five million best, the largest he became legal to give. And he introduced that he was calling on the alternative owners to force Sterling to sell the crew to someone else... And that he could do the whole lot in his electricity to make sure it came about quick. And possibly most especially, whilst asked how much problem he might have getting the 75% aid of the proprietors that he wanted, he honestly stated he believed he already had it.
Now there are those who say this should have been done long ago, given Sterling's record. They're probably right. But this was Adam Silver's first chance to do something about it, and I think the real magnitude of what he did may have been overlooked.
You see, the players in any sport not often trust the Commissioner because he is employed by using the owners to oversee the proprietors' interests. You can see this within the NFL, in which the gamers' union and the commissioner have a somewhat antagonistic dating. Silver were in steady touch with the NBA gamers' union over the previous few days and, when his news convention become finished, the players' reps announced in no unsure phrases how pleased they have been. They stated (and these are nearly the precise phrases) that Silver wasn't the NBA's commissioner, he turned into the players' commissioner.
There's a number of communicate about "bonding" inside corporations. In an elite institution like NBA crew owners -- the Clippers are expected to be really worth round $600 million, so there are not many oldsters in that institution! -- that bonding tends to join them pretty strongly. But Silver were speakme to owners as properly, and through the quit of his information convention a number of the owners had been already tweeting their help for what Silver had carried out.
Think about that, parents. A today's commissioner correctly getting the players and the owners -- two companies who're generally at contrary ends of any issue -- to agree and pull collectively. That is an amazing accomplishment! And bear in mind that Silver is educated as a attorney, so he's well privy to the potential problems of the path of motion he has chosen.
But perhaps maximum sudden became how the fanatics reacted to all this. It regarded to resonate with everyone, no longer just the folks who are the everyday objectives. As Charles Barkley stated, nearly anybody has been the sufferer of a few kind of prejudice, no matter what color they may be. Sex, age, social popularity... You can discriminate in a whole lot of approaches. And fans all around the us of a rallied across the players -- not just the Clippers, however all of the NBA gamers.
Nobody likes to be omitted.
Golf hasn't had anything resembling a scandal like this. However, the fact remains that if golf really wants to "grow the game," it faces some perception problems that will eventually have to be dealt with. The changes at the grassroots level haven't reached the powers-that-be at the top, the "players" who control the public face of the game. Up where the power is, it's still very much a rich white male's game. While the Masters Committee, the USGA, the R&A, and the PGA are trying to deal with some of these, a lot of the money players seem to have other ideas.
When Mike Whan called out Golf Digest for putting Holly Sonders and Paulina Gretzky on the cover while consistently ignoring players like Inbee Park and Lydia Ko who are making history, did anybody really understand what he was saying? There's still a belief that women's golf isn't "real" golf and that their real value in the golf community is as eye candy to sell magazines.
My skin crawls every time I hear golf described as "our product." I have no doubt that other sports have financial advisors who think in those terms, but I can't remember ever hearing baseball or tennis referred to as "product" during a broadcast.
And don't get me started about the expensive teaching aids sold to teach players (for example) how to "hold their wrist cock during the downswing" when all players really need to learn is how to keep their trailing elbows bent until their hands are down around waist level. (Wow. That's really hard. Probably takes all of 60 seconds to teach that.)
If I want to learn to play basketball, I can get a ball for $15 and a hoop for $20. I can bolt the hoop on a cheap scrap of plywood, mount it on the garage, and we're ready to go. I can get a good football for less than $20; all we need is a yard or vacant lot. How many players learned to play baseball with a ball and a stick in a city cul-de-sac? But I need several hundred dollars' worth of equipment plus greens fees to play golf, not to mention that I have to meet a dress code before they'll even let me on the course. Yeah, that's gonna encourage more people to play.
Tell me, what's wrong with this picture?
The more blatant prejudices may be fading somewhat -- or perhaps my patronage of public courses keeps me from seeing them as much -- but the image of golf as a sport for the rich and male is still far too prevalent. And we don't have a commissioner who can simply deal with the problems for us. They aren't going away on their own. It's up to us.
The big question is... how are we going to deal with them? Or will we ignore them until it's too late?
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