Another Reason Why He Is The Donald

At quick look, what happened with the Clippers and the Pond of Anaheim was pretty routine Thursday. The deal fell through, the Clippers will stay in Los Angeles, and Clipper fans in L.A. were relieved. All 97 of them.

There I go again, making fun of the Clippers. It’s such sport. Everybody does it. They are fodder for the fun makers, potshots for the pundits. For years, it has been fashionable to characterize this NBA team in unfashionable terms.

Considering we are talking about pro sports here, what happened with the Clipper deal in Anaheim was really unfashionable, not to mention unthinkable. Owner Donald Sterling had a chance to take the money and run.

And didn’t!

Holy Art Modell. Can this be? In a pro sports world whose concept of greed is a gimme, where money is seen less as a vehicle to do business than as a birthright, somebody actually just said no.

That somebody was Sterling, himself as large a target of jokes as his team. He is frequently called, in various publications--including this one--The Donald. I’ve never been sure what that meant, but it isn’t exactly a term of endearment.

Nevertheless, what Sterling did Thursday for the sports fans of Los Angeles should trigger some endearment.

Sure, this is the guy who, years ago, ran to center court after a last-minute Clipper win and jumped into the arms of a player. And this is the guy whose team not only seems incapable of ever winning much, but also seems to let go of every potentially great player it gets its hand on. No matter what the Clippers do, there always seems to be an Abbott and Costello element to it. Who’s on first with the Clippers has always been why because how never knew when.

So let’s concede that Sterling is a little nutty sometimes. But remember one thing: He’s our nut. And, in the case of the Pond deal, he turned out to be our very loyal nut.

I must confess, I kind of like the guy. Always have. Drum me out of the business. Take away my Sigma Delta Chi pin. I’ll take quirkiness over evil, any day, and lots of people I know who sit in owners’ seats appear to be more diabolical than anything else. Some of them even wear black shirts a lot.

Look at it this way: I get 27,000 letters to the sports editor a year saying that fans are tired of greedy pro teams. Those 27,000 letters probably reflect the feelings of 42 zillion sports fans in this country.

So when a pro sports owner, no matter who he or she is, decides to hang around out of old-fashioned loyalty to both the city he grew up in and lives in and to the fans of that city who want to continue to have easy access to his games, that’s a pretty significant happening.

Let’s be clear here. This didn’t fall through because the deal wasn’t good. It was $95 million, with tax incentives and money for lockers and offices and a loan package and all the goodies. Matter of fact, don’t be surprised if Georgia Frontiere starts looking for a basketball team soon.

Nor did it fall through because the Ogden Corp. or the city of Anaheim screwed something up. According to sources, Sterling was telling friends Thursday that he had been treated “wonderfully” during the negotiations.

Nor is it likely that this is one of those Disney ploys: The deal is off, meaning it will be on again in about a week.

Nope. My gut feeling is that Sterling’s gut didn’t feel right when it came to leaving L.A. He went, he saw, he listened and he got queasy at the thought of it.

For years, Donald Sterling has been saying he wants to win a championship. In Los Angeles. To many, that’s a belly laugh. To some others, it sits kind of nice and warm in the tummy.