Wednesday, October 19th, 2011 at 9:30 am  |  176 responses

Video: David Stern Called a ‘Modern Plantation Overseer’

Bryant Gumbel shares his thoughts on the NBA lockout.

Bryant Gumbel of HBO‘s “Real Sports” teed off on David Stern last night, calling the NBA Commissioner a “plantation overseer” on television. Yikes.

(H/T: PBT)

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  • http://slamonline.com Allenp

    That was a very good comment Scot. Good points and you laid them out well. I’ve never heard someone bring up so many of Stern’s missteps.

  • vtrobot

    Daaamn, race-related posts get almost as many comments as the Kobe vs. LBJ/Kobe vs. Mike posts. I just hope that, if there’s ever the threat of an NHL lockout, GB remembers to describe Commissioner Bettman as acting like a plantation overseer, because that will be a totally appropriate analogy, won’t it? Peace.

  • LA Huey

    Scot, tell us how you really feel about Stern.
    As a Sonics fan, I appreciate someone recognizing how mean he was towards the city of Seattle and its NBA fans. He did us dirty and killed a lot of casual fan interest in the NBA.

  • http://gmail.com z

    @TC…it’s a dam shame that there aren’t more white males in the usa who are as at peace with (and knowledgable about) history as you are.

  • http://gmail.com z

    americans…we really are probly the WORST country in the world when it comes to dealing with race. maybe that’s bc from the start of the country racial exploitation in some form or another has been woven into the fabric of the status quo. idk it’s tough to understand when there are so many cats who just go ballistic and shut down altogether if you try to have an open and honest dialogue about it…

  • http://gmail.com z

    i’m looking at you here juks. for a gay guy (i think), you seem kinda intolerant.

  • http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WNKNu4j_y1Q nbk

    LMAO

  • BRYANT GUMBEL

    Man, I am really sorry I got you guys so worked up. Sincerely, BG

  • http://www.bulls.com Enigmatic

    LMAO too

  • TC

    Z, it is a shame. I’m sure it’s about the role of race. It doesn’t bode well either white people can’t even discuss ANYTHING even the SLIGHTEST bit critical of ONE WHITE DUDE (not that I need to tell anyone of color). It always blows my mind that people say-well, it’s millionaires vs. billionaires, so I don’t care. Wait…..if it IS millionaires vs. billionaires (which doesn’t fully explain the situation, but fair enough), go for the millionaires. That white people will side with billionaires over millionaires just tells me the Stockholm Syndrome has taken control of peoples’ minds. Scott – great post about Stern.

  • http://sajkflf.com Jukai

    Hahaha… as a gay man, what would you like me to explain, Z?

  • EJ

    Allenp, I remember in some convo you had with Lakeshow, where Lakeshow was talking about how he is color blind. And you said, or at least agreed with somebody who said that color blind people tend to think that everybody shares their views.
    So on the dresscode, yea it’s a stereotype and people shouldn’t judge people by them, but not everybody is gonna agree with that. So you could make the arguement that the dresscode helps remove that stereotype, since there’s gonna be people with prejudices.

  • http://sajkflf.com Jukai

    EJ: Why don’t we just paint all the players faces while we’re at it, get rid of that stereotype.

  • http://slamonline.com nbk

    LMAO…..2 time

  • http://sajkflf.com Jukai

    Glad you’re entertained by all this, NBK.

  • http://www.bulls.com Enigmatic

    *smirk*…

  • http://slamonline.com nbk

    Your paint our faces comment was classic – and my first LMAO was because of the way Z was walkin on egg shells, if it was inappropriate I apologize.

  • http://gmail.com z

    Well lemme start by sayin that I’m pretty humiliated by the fact that lotsa black ppl are homophobic, but black intellectuals (just like ALL intellectuals) understand that gay marriage (and lack thereof) is a HUMAN RIGHTS issue. That being said I’ve been a reader long enuff to know that jukai is an intelligent guy who (I think) has identified himself as gay (and jewish?) at some point. I would think that blacks and gays\jews should be natural allies since we all face a common enemy: hatred of WHO we are…I’m just surprised that juks so consistently disengages when the topic turns to race.

  • http://sajkflf.com Jukai

    LOL, oh no, laugh away, I sure as hell did. I think Z was being sincere and not insulting, so it is definitely a laugh-er. My internet alias is clearly far more effeminate than I realized.
    I’m kind of mystified where this “Jukai doesn’t want anyone to talk about race!” hate is coming from, but I’m not compelled enough to find out.

  • http://gmail.com z

    I guess the idea of a racist homosexual is something that I don’t want to believe exists.

  • http://slamonline.com nbk

    Oh I knew Z wasn’t trying to be offensive. I just know that some of the gay people that I know would have been rollin on the floor laughin when those situations occur, and others would have been offended, well they are basically offended whenever someone brings up their sexual orientation in public. so i digress

  • Jer Dawg

    Everything cited by Scot Pierson is right on. Stern is a master manipulator and is very two faced. He stands there and lies to people and allow the owners to muck up their teams. Teams who don’t do their homework get poor teams. Houston GM,Daryl Morey or whatever his name is, uses that PER rating on players. He gets competitive guys, but no superstar talent. David Kahn of Twolves is a damn lawyer of sorts. No real discernable eye for talent.Who was smart ass that paid Gilbert Arenas? Abe Pollin, the former Washington Wizards owner. Who was dumb enough to trade for Gilbert? The GM of Magic, otis Smith. Who also overpaid Rashard Lewis. The owners and their right hand people did stupid things and Stern acts like its the players fault.
    examples of Eddy curry, Steve Francis, Tariq Abdul Wahad,who signed fat checks and checked out are THEIR own fault. But there’s more guys who paid the price to carry the NBA. Lebron, Wade, Kobe, Nash, Durant,ect… even Joe Johnson is overpaid, but he’s working and working. I wouldn’t say he isn’t earning his keep. He’s overpaid, but not resting on his laurels.

  • Scot Peirson

    Allenp and LA Huey, thank you. I just have felt that it is past time to look at so much of what has gone WRONG with the league during Stern’s tenure, and while much of it may have been cultural issues–especially when Iverson came to the league–there were problems boiling long before that. Stern should have fined the Pistons $5 million for walking out before the end of Game 4 of the ’91 ECFs…and also fined Isiah Thomas $1 million for leading it. To me, Stern has always picked on obvious targets–Artest, Cuban, Pat Riley in the ’90s…but never played hardball with other cases. As I said, Sterling should have been LONG GONE from the Clippers. Pollin should have been made to let go of the Buzzards (Bullets+Wizards=BUZZARDS)when he let Juwan Howard go to Miami.
    In many ways, Stern is like an IOC president who has hung on way too long. He makes dumb pronouncements, thinly veiled threats, talks down to EVERYONE, and just believes that, because so many of the fourth estate like him, that he CAN get away with it. I would never consider Stern as dumb as Bud Selig–but in a way, because he’s reasonably intelligent, that makes him worse to his sport and more of a danger than Bud has been to MLB.

  • http://gmail.com z

    this scott pierson guy understands the psychology of stern incredibly well…i first began to think that it was time for stern to give up his mantle about a year and a half ago, as i considered the way that he basically stopped there from ever being any inquiries into whether there had been more “rogue refs” and thought that he was being dishonest about it all…i’m curious when scot first realized that stern’s time to go is NOW…actually it was at least a couple years ago

  • Scot Peirson

    Thank you, Z–the unfortunate thing about talking about getting rid of Stern…is that because he’s populated the NBA front office with his sychophants, the problems won’t go away when Stern goes. If La Commish were to quit tomorrow, Adam Silver would take over. Think Stern, just younger. I’ve probably thought that Stern should have stepped down after the first lockout, so say I’ve been believing that he has needed to go for about twelve years. But when one takes into account how he handled the Donaghy affair, and his blatant disdain for Seattle and King County in the Sonics/Clay Bennett affair, that should have opened eyes about the guy.
    I keep telling friends that I have in OKC that in four years, Bennett is going to hit the city up for a new, THUNDER-ONLY facility; claiming they need the new place to pay/keep KD and Westbrook (Or whoever is playing point at that time). Bennett doing that is following a pattern that Stern believes–that localities should be paying for new cribs for the teams. Stern knew Seattle had redone the Key Arena. If he had allowed Steve Ballmer to buy the team, Ballmer could easily have built a new place on the outskirts of Seattle. But Stern doesn’t want an owner that can afford to build a place for the team he owns. That would mean that he would actually have an owner who was fiscally responsible.

  • Innis Taylor

    I applaud Bryant Gumbel for his analogy of David Stern. Years ago Bryant would never have spoken such words, but today he is not afraid for his career or reputation. What Bryant Gumbel said will not be understood by the majority of “white” men or boys. They will never understand because they are “white” and are privileged. You must walk in the shoes of the oppressed to understand the mentality of Bryant’s comments. Yes, it indeed is about “money”. Yes, indeed David Stern represents the owners, but he definitely has disdain for the players because he does not make the money that they do running up and down the court playing the sport of “basketball”. Personally I think all sports are over-paid. Pay the tearchers, scientist, and people who add value to life the salaries that are paid to sports and entertainers. I applaud you Bryant Gumbel for “speaking the truth”.

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