ESPN 30 for 30 The Sterling Affairs
ESPN 30 for 30 follows up its previous excellent miniseries, “ Bikram ,” by profiling the former owner of the Los Angeles Clippers, Donald Sterling. The self-made lawyer and real-estate tycoon bought the Clippers for $12.5 million in 1981 and was forced to sell them for $2 billion in 2014, after audio of reprehensible comments he’d made about black players became public. But even before the exposure of his racism, Sterling had a notoriously bad reputation as a team owner. The Sterling Affairs complements Sonic Boom in rethinking the ownership class in professional sports, as the basketball journalist Ramona Shelburne reports on Sterling’s plantation mentality, the intrigue surrounding the tape of his racist remarks, and the changing landscape of the NBA. Shelburne accomplishes the difficult task of lifting the veil on an opaque old boys’ club. You won’t get many glimpses this good.
Storyline
ESPN 30 for 30 follows up its previous excellent miniseries, “Bikram,” by profiling the former owner of the Los Angeles Clippers, Donald Sterling. The self-made lawyer and real-estate tycoon bought the Clippers for $12.5 million in 1981 and was forced to sell them for $2 billion in 2014, after audio of reprehensible comments he’d made about black players became public. But even before the exposure of his racism, Sterling had a notoriously bad reputation as a team owner. The Sterling Affairs complements Sonic Boom in rethinking the ownership class in professional sports, as the basketball journalist Ramona Shelburne reports on Sterling’s plantation mentality, the intrigue surrounding the tape of his racist remarks, and the changing landscape of the NBA. Shelburne accomplishes the difficult task of lifting the veil on an opaque old boys’ club. You won’t get many glimpses this good.
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