Sterling's lifetime ban from NBA a fitting punishment

"I didn't poll the owners" about support to force Sterling out, Silver said, but that is because he didn't have to poll the owners. He knew how they felt.

Michael Rosenberg | Apr 29, 2014

Sterling's lifetime ban from NBA a fitting punishment /

Donald Sterling has owned the Clippers for 33 years, but the NBA is seeking to force a sale. — Donald Sterling has owned the Clippers for 33 years, but the NBA is seeking to force a sale :: Mark J. Terrill/AP

"I didn't poll the owners" about support to force Sterling out, Silver said, but that is because he didn't have to poll the owners. He knew how they felt. Everybody around the league knew. Very quickly Tuesday, owner after owner released statements supporting Silver's desire to kick Donald Sterling out of the league. Thirty-three years, and they can't wait to get rid of him.

Now the NBA views Donald Sterling as cynically as he viewed everybody else. He served them no purpose any more, so goodbye. He is 80 or 81 and they will fight him until he is 85 or 86, or 97 or 98. Whatever it takes, for however long it takes. What a sad way to end a life.

Published Apr 29, 2014

MICHAEL ROSENBERG

Michael Rosenberg is a senior writer for Sports Illustrated, covering any and all sports. He writes columns, profiles and investigative stories and has covered almost every major sporting event. He joined SI in 2012 after working at the Detroit Free Press for 13 years, eight of them as a columnist. Rosenberg is the author of "War As They Knew It: Woody Hayes, Bo Schembechler and America in a Time of Unrest." Several of his stories also have been published in collections of the year's best sportswriting. He is married with three children.