NBA commissioner David Stern has had to deal with people talking about the possibility of a fix at the NBA Draft Lottery for a long time.
Wednesday on the Jim Rome Show, a nationally-syndicated sports radio show, Stern came on for an interview about all things basketball, but when the commissioner got offended by a question, things went awry.
Rome asked Stern a pretty reasonable, legitimate question about the general public’s perception about the Draft Lottery, and Stern flew way off the handle, attacking Rome’s credibility in a shockingly unprofessional manner.
Already, people are talking about Stern’s comment to Rome, “have you stopped beating your wife yet?”
To be clear, at no point was Stern ever implying anything about Jim Rome’s family life, and Rome understood that. Stern was using an awkward example to imply that Rome’s question was unfair.
Rome disagreed, pointing out that the perception about a lottery fix is a popular opinion, and that his question was simply giving Stern an opportunity to dismiss that notion.
I understand that Stern was peeved, but there are a million better ways to handle a tough question. His comments were totally uncalled for, and they give a black eye not only to Stern but to his entire league.
I’m a Jim Rome fan. I think he’s one of the better sports radio guys out there, and although he’s never one to shy away from controversy, everything he asked Stern was respectful and never crossed a line, in my opinion.
Stern was the one who lost his composure and made a fool out of himself, acting like a petulant child after he took offense to a legitimate, reasonable question.
It’s a credit to Rome that he was able to defend himself without stooping to Stern’s level. It was an impossible situation and he comes out with his credibility in tact, for better or for worse. Stern can’t say the same.
Quite frankly, it’s pretty silly that Stern would make such a big stink about that question anyway. After all, this is the same league that had a referee scandal that rocked the sports world just a few years ago.
At the end of the day, when you’re representing an entire major sport, you should know better than to start firing off personal attacks at a radio host, especially on a nationally-syndicated program like the Jim Rome Show.
Honestly, Stern would’ve come off looking better if he had simply dismissed the offending question as a “clown question, bro” and just moved on. Instead, he clowned himself.
Jon Presser is www.RantSports.com’s lead New York Jets columnist. You can follow him on Twitter @metsjetsnets88 and contact him at
