Time Machine Needed in LA

Time Machine Needed in LA

So the LA Clippers’ owner bought his girlfriend a Ferrari, two Bentleys, and a Range Rover…but what he really needs is a time machine.

Last week, I posted a Facebook comment regarding Georgia’s new gun law that allows locals to pack weaponry in some schools, bars, and churches. Since Augusta National is the closest golfing place of worship to the Crystal Cathedral minus the crystal, I wondered about the impact of the new legislation.

I’ve actually been to the Masters and cell phones are absolutely not tolerated…but what about a 9mm Glock 19 on a long par-4 or better yet, Amen Corner?

Well, I couldn’t think of anything more moronic but what would you expect from a region with a track record including slavery as part of the business plan and evolution as some nasty little rumor?

Yeah, I felt pretty good about myself…on Friday. Played a nice round of golf on a typically beautiful SoCal spring day and the South was still what I thought it was. The Clippers had stolen one from the Golden State Warriors the night before and I was already living into Sunday and the chance to see the Clips go up three games to one.

I’ve been a Celtics fan since I was a little kid; I’ve been a Clippers fan since their arrival here in 1984. The Celtics have been perennial winners; the Clippers have been long-term losers. The Celtics-Lakers arch-rivalry has been the historic NBA Gold Standard. The Clippers have been the Washington Generals to the Showtime Lakers’ Globetrotters.

Even though I’ve loved ‘em, the Clippers have been my favorite metaphor…for losing (as in, smog will become obsolete and local anesthetic will taste just like chocolate chip gelato…when the Clippers win an NBA championship.) And if you’re a Celtics fan, the second best possible basketball experience is seeing the Clippers beat the Lakers.

Yesterday, TMZ played a taped private conversation between a bimbo gold digger and a super-rich old man who happens to be a racist.

And for a long time, it’s been no secret that you wouldn’t want to belong to any club that would accept the Clippers’ owner as a member. The owner’s rap sheet includes multiple sexual harassment and racial discrimination court appearances as well as a $2.73 million settlement and almost $5 million in court costs for one 2006 discrimination case alone.

He’s been a horrible boss only if you think having total contempt for your employees and seeing them as not quite human enough is itself contemptible.

Slavery didn’t work out so well 150-years ago and it took a war and hundreds of thousands of lives to tear up that business plan. And I wonder if I’m the only one who feels embarrassed for having ignored the same mentality that’s substituted elite athletes for sharecroppers even here in Los Angeles, arguably the most diverse city in the nation.

Don’t know about you guys but I think maybe it’s time for Donald Sterling and Jim Crow to find a time machine and use it. And I realize it’s time for me to look past the game, appreciate the larger context, and become a better listener.

As President Obama observed, “When ignorant folks want to advertise their ignorance, you really don’t have to do anything, you just let them talk. That’s what happened here.”

And now I’m listening for the door to hit an old bigot’s butt on his way out of the NBA.