Classic Rant #1,220 (June 3, 2014): Sterling Messes

Messes are things that have to be cleaned up, and there are two messes that are collecting now that need to be sopped up as quickly as possible.

One of them involves embattled Clippers owner Donald Sterling, who, it appears, will fight tooth and nail to retain his NBA franchise.

Sterling, you might remember, uttered some nasty things in private, had them tape recorded, and what he said was brought onto the world's stage, where people didn't take kindly to an old, wealthy Jewish guy making disparaging remarks about blacks.

What was worse, he said them to either his personal secretary or mistress or both, since he is going through a divorce.

The NBA banned him, forcing him to sell, and there is a buyer. But throw his ex-wife in the mix, the fact that it is illegal to tape record someone without their knowledge in the state of California, and that Sterling is a top lawyer, and you have a mess that won't go away.

Making it even worse is the fact that the credibility of his "Girl Friday" has always been in question. She is a wannabe, no doubt about it, but she seems to also be someone that I wouldn't trust on a bet.

Also, Sterling himself might be suffering from some type of dementia himself.

The other mess is in Washington, where a service man who was held captive in Afghanistan for the past five years was set free in a prisoner exchange last week.

That would be all fine and good, but there appears to be much more to this story that meets the naked eye.

First off, there are allegations that we gave up too much for one man, five prisoners at the Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, prison that are supposedly high-level operatives for the Taliban, or at least a few of them are.

Giving up one for five was never good in baseball cards, and it doesn't look good here.

Second, and this just came out late yesterday, it appears the captive that we are bringing home might not deserve the heroes welcome that he will get when he is finally goes home.

Some fellow service men say he is nothing but a deserter, someone who was fed up with what he was doing and decided to take a hike--in the wilds of Afghanistan, without any body armor or weapons.

Smart, eh?

Others who were in the same command that he was also say that men were wounded and killed looking for him, which makes the whole matter even worse if true.

Anyway, these two messes really have to be cleaned up soon, because the credibility of the NBA and the President of the United States look pretty bad now.

First off, in the NBA thing, the league knew about Sterling way before this incident, but did nothing about him. He is the senior owner in the league, was an owner before most of the players were born, but there were always questions about him.

Now, with things coming to light, Sterling might actually have the upper hand here, at least legally. Can the NBA force an owner out because of things he said in private that were recorded without his knowledge? I don't know.

And as for the other thing, which, of course, is so much more important than the NBA fiasco, if what certain people are saying is true, then we traded five "Mickey Mantles" for one "Ross Mosschito," and sorry, that doesn't make much sense, does it?

And to treat the guy like a hero because he basically got up and walked, what does that say about our own intelligence, not just brain-wise but also strategically?

These things don't make any sense, and they should be cleaned up immediately, before these messes fester into things that are so large that they can't be contained.