NBA commissioner Stern was a guest on Rome’s radio show today, and Rome asked him if the draft lottery was fixed. Now, this is a question that many people have asked since the lottery because of the circumstances (the New Orleans Hornets, owned until very recently by the NBA and finally unloaded to Mr. Benson, won the #1 pick). Rome, who has a reputation as a fire-starter (just ask Jim Everett…), asked the question respectfully. Stern denied the allegation, but then responded with “Have you stopped beating your wife yet?” This is a question often used to make a point about defense-less questions, but I’m sure many people listening aren’t aware of that. They went back and forth a bit more before ending the interview.
Indeed, it was wholly inappropriate. Rome’s question was reasonable, given that million of people think it IS fixed, and Stern’s question was not logically equivalent to Rome’s.
I like Stern. Sure his comment wasn’t an exact reflection, but on another level, it made sense. There was a bit of accusation in Rome’s question. Stern took it to the extreme to make a point. Stern gives Cowherd a hard time too. It makes sports talk more enjoyable.
Rome was JAQing off in support of a conspiracy theory.
A lot of people think the president wasn’t born in the U.S. It doesn’t mean a good journalist has to lend and air of legitimacy to the crackpots by asking the question.
Possibly, but Rome isn’t a journalist. He’s a guy who does 3 hours of opinions every day.
I listened to it live and Stern totally ducked the call. Rome said right after that he knew it was going to be a bad interview right off the bat, based upon his previous interviews with Stern.
Oddly enough, I was thinking this morning about David Stern and that it was likely time for him to retire, coming up on his 30th year as Commish as he is.
Is there no independent supervision of the NBA draft lottery? If not, why in the world wouldn’t the participating teams would insist on it, if there was a sense that the NBA isn’t trustworthy enough to run it? Surely any credible allegations of fixing should have the non-winning teams up in arms.
I wish I could find it. There is a good article written by one of the journalists who was in the room when the lottery was done. The real one, not what they show on TV. If anyone reads that and still thinks its fixed they have bigger problems. Jim Rome has that information and he was asking a dishonest question.
ETA Don’t know about the past, but the current draft process is pretty transparent. Every owner and several independent journalists would have to be involved.
The participating teams = the NBA. They’re one and the same. If the NBA is fixing the draft it means that the individual teams are colluding to fix the draft. This is how American professional sports leagues are generally structured.
