would the league be better if david stern left?

[Justin V]

BQ: did jim rome literally crap his pants after stern's recent question?

[Bosnian]

Probably less ref's ruining important games and letting us enjoy it

BQ : i think Rome had a right to ask him...Stern was a total D Bag backed in a corner'

[Eric B]

Answer broken down into segments:

A1. There is a misconception surrounding sports media, based almost entirely in 24 hr. info-tainment sound-byte media (Twitter, Facebook, Fox Sports, and Jim Rome for example) that report stories that are at times sorely lacking in journalistic standards.

A2. THAT is why Commissioner Stern barked back at Jim Rome during their radio interview.

B1. Many fans in the sports stratosphere (we fans here for example) tend to follow the latest tidbit of news without complete KNOWLEDGE of the source nor aware of any lack of credibility by these "sources".

B2. We (fans) pounced collectively on the Stern Vs Rome interview and immediately place blame against David Stern without a grasp of legally binding statistics, facts, sources, nor knowledge of the greater picture NOT being disclosed to the public by the NBA, the (now privately owned, just recently sold) New Orleans' Hornets franchise, and the teams of people involved behind the sale of the Hornets to a private owner nor of the teams of staff involved in the NBA Draft.

B3. What happened to the Hornets was a legally binding situation (money was transferred) so we tend to forget that behind the stories in sports, there is a Mega-Million Dollar business. The NBA is just that and at times they (fans) are not allowed to know the greater picture when THE PRODUCTS, AKA: THE PLAYERS, ARE TRANSFERRED IN SALE*. (* trades, cuts, firings, etc). [when you sell your car to a buyer, for example, no one else knows the intricacies of said sale/transfer.]

C1. A ton of fans are jumping to conclusions about the Lottery being fixed when they forget that the New Orleans Hornets were NOT THAT FAR from the # 1 pick in the first place. The Hornets were not the defending champions of 2011, they were in LAST PLACE in their division and deserved a competitive shot along with Charlotte and Washington DC.


Counter Points =
1. Where Commissioner Stern makes a valid point = Rome is a shock-jock Radio Sports Host who for decades has fed his daily stories, ''Takes", and general content on sports BASED off of somewhat silly sports-news stories. In other words you could call Jim Rome the Howard Stern of Sports Radio and we the fans feed off of his content whether or not it is 100% truthful**. THAT is not to say Rome has low quality sports content and to his credit he has decent stories probably 80-90% of the time. That other percentage is somewhat circumspect!

** - Lottery Fixing A Draft:
This falls into that category and to corner the Commissioner Live, On-The-Air knowing full well that it would "get a rise" out of the Commissioner WAS FOR A FACT Rome's intent. Do not assume Rome's innocence is just that, innocent. Perhaps Jim intended to get a rise from the Commissioner, after all, that is what Shock Jock Radio hosts are good at.