Suns Owner Robert Sarver Accused of Racism, Sexism, & Sexual Harrassment

[Ed Monix]

If the NBA removed Robert Sarver as the Phoenix Suns owner…

Greta Rogers:

[nickagneta]

What a sad state of affairs is going on with teams in American sports. The Chicago Black Hawks just settled a lawsuit and fired their president and GM over a cover up of a sexual assault by a member of the organization on a player. We have this Sarver situation with the Phoenix Suns. The Washington Football Team had it's owner removed and they were fined millions for possible sexism, sexual harassment, homophobia and bad working environment. The NFL appears cool with covering it up. Jon Gruden, the coach of the Las Vegas Raiders had to resign in disgrace over emails uncovered in the WFT investigation.  Bob Kraft of the New England Patriots got out of being prosecuted for solicitation of a prostitute. And on and on it goes.

Are pro sports just inherently corrupt?

[Donoghus]

Are pro sports just inherently corrupt?

Don't forget about college too.

[Celtics2021]

Are pro sports just inherently corrupt?

Don't forget about college too.

It all comes back to the age old truth of power corrupting.  Sports has a lot of inherent power dynamics involved, so it's not surprising these things occur much more frequently than we would ever hope.

[Moranis]

Are pro sports just inherently corrupt?

Don't forget about college too.

It all comes back to the age old truth of power corrupting.  Sports has a lot of inherent power dynamics involved, so it's not surprising these things occur much more frequently than we would ever hope.

I'm not so sure they happen more frequently than the real world, the real world just doesn't make the news.

[nickagneta]

Are pro sports just inherently corrupt?

Don't forget about college too.

It all comes back to the age old truth of power corrupting.  Sports has a lot of inherent power dynamics involved, so it's not surprising these things occur much more frequently than we would ever hope.

I'm not so sure they happen more frequently than the real world, the real world just doesn't make the news.

But, in both cases, we only know about the people getting caught. How much is happening that doesn't get caught or is covered up?

Look at the WFT investigation. The NFL refuses to release info and now Congress(that bastion of integrity) might be trying to force the NFL's hand into making those emails and their findings public.  But if the NFL succeeds in keeping a lid on things, the public won't know for sure the true extent of the problem in Washington.

[Csfan1984]

If the NBA removed Robert Sarver as the Phoenix Suns owner…

Greta Rogers:

Tp

[Moranis]

Big story has dropped.

https://www.espn.com/nba/story/_/id/32440987/phoenix-suns-robert-sarver-allegations-racism-misogyny

[Moranis]

Read the article it is a lot of little things that don't seem like a big deal, but collectively lead to a toxic work environment with at best an out of touch immature owner (I mean the depantsing incident he acknowledges makes it seem like he was running a frat and not a professional basketball team).

Doesn't seem like enough to remove him as owner, but wouldn't be surprised if the league stepped in and required all sorts of training though.   

[celticsclay]

Read the article it is a lot of little things that don't seem like a big deal, but collectively lead to a toxic work environment with at best an out of touch immature owner (I mean the depantsing incident he acknowledges makes it seem like he was running a frat and not a professional basketball team).

Doesn't seem like enough to remove him as owner, but wouldn't be surprised if the league stepped in and required all sorts of training though.

I would not be surprised by this either, but some of the stuff included in this article is so vague it should not have been included and is actually weird they ran it. Like the part about the pitch to steve nash where he made a comment where he "too loosely used the term black guy" but the people in the room could not remember the specifics. Like what kind of story/journalism is that to include?

I will also add that a lot of the stories center around Watson who clearly has a bone to pick. It is interesting James Jones went on the record to say Watson had a lot of issues.

Overall, certainly sounds like Sarver is a jerk with a lot of issues, and I agree with Mo he needs training along with the rest of the org) but this seems like a pretty weird project that ESPN puts together. I'm pretty sure they could run an expose on many of the owners and GMs in professional sports (Jerry Jones and Mcnair come to mind in football)

[Roy H.]

Read the article it is a lot of little things that don't seem like a big deal, but collectively lead to a toxic work environment with at best an out of touch immature owner (I mean the depantsing incident he acknowledges makes it seem like he was running a frat and not a professional basketball team).

Doesn't seem like enough to remove him as owner, but wouldn't be surprised if the league stepped in and required all sorts of training though.

The one thing that jumped out as beyond the pale was referring to players as the N word.  Not when repeating a story Word for Word. I guess you can chalk that up as misguided, but not racist.  But the “N words want to play for a N word” comment is a slur directly attributed to him.

[celticsclay]

Read the article it is a lot of little things that don't seem like a big deal, but collectively lead to a toxic work environment with at best an out of touch immature owner (I mean the depantsing incident he acknowledges makes it seem like he was running a frat and not a professional basketball team).

Doesn't seem like enough to remove him as owner, but wouldn't be surprised if the league stepped in and required all sorts of training though.

The one thing that jumped out as beyond the pale was referring to players as the N word.  Not when repeating a story Word for Word. I guess you can chalk that up as misguided, but not racist.  But the “N words want to play for a N word” comment is a slur directly attributed to him.

I agree with that as probably the worst of the things included that was specific. However, the way this whole story is put together and how vague it is makes me kind of question if some of this stuff is not pretty embellished/exagerrated. Again, I am sure he is a jerk with a lot of issues that could probably be sued for some stuff, but this is not the best journalism by ESPN and some of this stuff should not have even been mentioned. Also, in these instances where they claim they have 3-4 witnesses, why wouldn't some of these people sue for damages? The story around the pregnant worker would seem to be a pretty cut and dry legal case.

[Donoghus]

Sarver sounds like a real P.O.S.

Lots of terrible stuff in that article.  The stuff with impregnating strippers was abhorrent.

[gouki88]

Read the article it is a lot of little things that don't seem like a big deal, but collectively lead to a toxic work environment with at best an out of touch immature owner (I mean the depantsing incident he acknowledges makes it seem like he was running a frat and not a professional basketball team).

Doesn't seem like enough to remove him as owner, but wouldn't be surprised if the league stepped in and required all sorts of training though.

The one thing that jumped out as beyond the pale was referring to players as the N word.  Not when repeating a story Word for Word. I guess you can chalk that up as misguided, but not racist.  But the “N words want to play for a N word” comment is a slur directly attributed to him.

That quote puts him in a position near-impossible to come back from

[Moranis]

Read the article it is a lot of little things that don't seem like a big deal, but collectively lead to a toxic work environment with at best an out of touch immature owner (I mean the depantsing incident he acknowledges makes it seem like he was running a frat and not a professional basketball team).

Doesn't seem like enough to remove him as owner, but wouldn't be surprised if the league stepped in and required all sorts of training though.

The one thing that jumped out as beyond the pale was referring to players as the N word.  Not when repeating a story Word for Word. I guess you can chalk that up as misguided, but not racist.  But the “N words want to play for a N word” comment is a slur directly attributed to him.

That quote puts him in a position near-impossible to come back from

He denied saying it though.