Stupid choice of a comeback being defensive. Makes it seem worse than it probably is. The question wasn't loaded, but obviously irritating enough to him to make an insensitive reactionary comment that wasn't really even appropriately placed.
Uh, no. No one would ever expect anything like that from a person in such a position as Stern. Are you serious? One person was being professional in that interview, and it definitely wasn't the commissioner of the NBA. Let's put it this way - what do you think Stern would have done had a coach/player conducted himself that way in a nationally televised interview? You think nothing would have happened?
You might have a point if Rome wasn't a jerk who has a massive history of making self serving outlandish statements. Stern wouldn't do anything to a coach conducting an interview like that. Pops destroys reporters on a daily basis.
Did anyone hear about this part? The commissioner went on to accuse Rome of trading in “cheap thrills” and, when Rome objected, said, “Jim Rome is pouting,” a play on the name of Rome’s former ESPN show “Jim Rome is Burning.” He closed by saying, “Listen, I gotta go call somebody important like Stephen A. Smith back.” http://blog.chron.com/sportsmedia/2012/06/stern-rome-trade-rhetorical-barbs/ That is hilarious.
Rome wasn't acting outlandish in the interview. His tone was even dismissive of the very question he was asking ("I know you're a fan of conspiracy theories..."). Rome's interviews are always vanilla anyway. I'd like to know the last time Pop asked a reporter if he'd stopped beating his wife. I'm quite sure he doesn't do that on a daily basis.
ROme only said that because he knew it would get a massive negative reaction and he was cya. beating ur wife is a classic "gotcha" question. Stern was just using it to make a point. No one is. This is like watching Stockton and Fisher have a cage match fight to the death. No matter who loses, we (society) win.
They're both idiots. The problem with the situation is that Stern put the NBA in a terrible position. It doesn't matter if the lottery was rigged or not. Stern made it so the lottery COULD BE RIGGED and provided a GREAT MOTIVE for it to be rigged and DID NOTHING TO AVOID THE APPEARANCE OF IMPROPRIETY. After that, evidence is virtually irrelevant. It will forever be the rigged lottery. The league should not own a team... particularly one that could get the #1 pick in a lottery. IT SHOULD NEVER HAVE HAPPENED. Add to all that... David Stern is a power hungry douchebag.
Just like Dr. Kevorkian shouldn't hang out socially in terminal cancer wards, the NBA shouldn't own a freaking team that is in the draft lottery.
I'm sure Roger Goodell throws around such 'gotcha' questions as "have you stopped beating your wife yet?" to media types to make a point all the time. Maybe you can send me a link to the most recent incident of something similar.
Rome was indeed looking for "cheap thrills" with that line of questioning. What kind of thought-provoking response was he looking for from Stern by asking "was the fix in?" Durr. I thought for sure Stern would say "yes, I admit - the fix was in". That being said, Stern's use of the old loaded question example of "have you stopped beating your wife" made no damn sense to me in the context. I still can't believe I used to listen to Rome religiously ... not sure what I saw in his show. lol.
I think he should have given him the machine gun treatment.... Do you like basketball? Do you enjoy your job? Do you love your family? Did you fix the draft?
You might have never heard that before, but it isn't an uncommon argument against a certain line of questioning. I agree with Dr. of Dunk, it doesn't really fit. And of course Goodell is a much better human than Stern.
I don't know what to think. On one hand, this just shows how big a douche Stern is. OTOH, I actually agree with Stern that lottery conspiracy theories have absolutely no basis and should not be asked without at least some proof. And quite frankly, that comeback is pretty funny since I'm not a fan of Rome. I still want Stern to step down though.
