It's the off season and a slow day so for anybody who saw the interview last night I want to play devil's advocate and ask does Sterling have any point at all regarding Magic Johnson? He basically said that his lifestyle of having affairs in every city (which Magic basically copped to) which led him to HIV positive makes him no role model for kids even if he has brought awareness to the disease. Number two, Sterling intimates that Johnson's development of inner city areas with movie the lawers etc. is strictly a good for profit business activity and not a charitable venture. Number three Sterling alleges that Magic told him to lay low for a week so he could help him, Sterling thinks he wants the team. Any truth here?
1. You don't have to be perfect to be a role model. Magic Johnson has been an exemplary member of society as an NBA player and a businessman. If getting tail as an NBA player disqualified you from being a role model, AC Green would be the only role model in the history of the NBA. The number of cocktail witnesses banged by Donald Sterling probably exceeds the number of blacks and latinos he wrongfully evicted from his properties, and that's a lot.
2. In college I performed a case study of community activism in Newark. One thing I learned was the importance of taking the chance of bringing commerce to lower-income communities. Chains are often hesitant to enter the inner city. When Magic Johnson opens a movie theater in a downtrodden area, he may be doing it because he thinks it's a good investment, but he's also doing because he thinks believing in that community is a good investment. That says something to the community. It also happens to prove to other businesses that the community can support them. It's not charity. Who cares? You know who was a huge philanthropist? Bernie Madoff. Most of the biggest fraudsters have been big philanthropists.
3. See BigErn's comment.
EDIT: What is up with the filter on site? I type "movie the ater" (without the space) and it comes out "movie the lawer"? Huh???
