Uh huh. So comparing David Stern -- the chief of an entertainment group -- to brutal dictators is about the same in your mind? You do realize that the owners are the ones who keep Stern in power, right? If the owners had a problem with him then you would've seen him gone years ago.
You don't think Stern is a brutal dictator? Do you realize who kept those two other guys in power? If you don't understand a lot of the posts in this thread are intentionally exaggerating, you probably shouldn't be posting here.
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Yeah see it's not about the "exaggerations" here (or the bizarre death wishes); it's the general anti-Stern fetish that's a bit perplexing in that it seems no one really wants to consider the fact that he grew the game and contributed mightily to its success. So let's go ahead and **** on him, right? I think he's an ass. He knows he's an ass, but he's a good businessman and gets the job done well enough that he hasn't been forced out yet. My biggest complaint was the debacle of the way the new basketball was introduced a couple of years ago (though the players were being childish too).
Most of us hardcore basketball fans don't care about basketball being a big business. We just want good, fair, and competitive basketball. We understand that money makes the game more accessible. But a lot of us feel that Stern is too good a businessman. He cares only about marketing and images, disregarding fair play. And being an arrogant prick doesn't help his popularity. You mentioned about the owners. You know what the owners care about? All dictators need powerful supporters who share in their interests. Yeah, the parallel with folks like Mubarak and Gaddafi isn't that farfetched.
