David Stern to Jim Rome: Have You Stopped Beating Your Wife Yet?

[guava_wrench]

Funny stuff from Stern.

[Eja117]

As much as I may not like to admit it Stern hit the nail on the head when he said Rome made a career off cheap thrills. Kinda funny when he said he needed to talk to someone more important, then named one of his apologists (Stephen A Smith). Last I checked the Stephen A Smith show flopped, he gets burned daily by Skip Bayless, and Jim Rome is still going strong

[KGs Knee]

Hmm...

So people are actually defending Stern?  Stern is an indefensible human being.  There is nothing good about him.

Jim Rome, well, he just a notch below.

These two will likely be sharing a special place in hell.

[Eja117]

Hmm...

So people are actually defending Stern?  Stern is an indefensible human being.  There is nothing good about him.

Jim Rome, well, he just a notch below.

These two will likely be sharing a special place in hell.

So I guess the cheap thrill was just having Stern on the show actually.

[D Dub]

As much as I may not like to admit it Stern hit the nail on the head when he said Rome made a career off cheap thrills. Kinda funny when he said he needed to talk to someone more important, then named one of his apologists (Stephen A Smith). Last I checked the Stephen A Smith show flopped, he gets burned daily by Skip Bayless, and Jim Rome is still going strong

You're forgeting that Steven A is under the ESPN/ABC/NBA gag order.

I think that's what ticked Stearn off, that Rome isn't in his pocket & surprised him with an 'off limits' question.

Even Vince McMahon had better poise...

[freshinthehouse]

Hate everything about Jim Rome, Stern is the man for that.

[Scribbles]

I find it almost comical people are taking Stern's side. The guy gets asked a question he doesn't think anyone would ask him and he responds like that? There is some serious guilt in Stern, and there was no need for him to get so defensive. I mean seriously Rome is one of the biggest Edited.  Profanity and masked profanity are against forum rules and may result in discipline.s going, yet got Stern to look like an even bigger one.   

[hpantazo]

Surprising from Stern. That type of response, no matter how legitimate or not the question was, is immature and a strong indication of a defensive behavior implying guilt imo. If he truly has nothing to hide, he would answer in a clear and respectful way and make Rome look stupid. Instead his answer gives Rome credence imo.

If an NBA player or coach answered a question that way to a reporter, Stern would fine them. I would love to see a federal investigation into potential NBA corruption. It's long overdue.

[Eja117]

Surprising from Stern. That type of response, no matter how legitimate or not the question was, is immature and a strong indication of a defensive behavior implying guilt imo. If he truly has nothing to hide, he would answer in a clear and respectful way and make Rome look stupid. Instead his answer gives Rome credence imo.

If an NBA player or coach answered a question that way to a reporter, Stern would fine them. I would love to see a federal investigation into potential NBA corruption. It's long overdue.

the government probing corruption is a little like the Vatican trying Sandusky

[hpantazo]

Surprising from Stern. That type of response, no matter how legitimate or not the question was, is immature and a strong indication of a defensive behavior implying guilt imo. If he truly has nothing to hide, he would answer in a clear and respectful way and make Rome look stupid. Instead his answer gives Rome credence imo.

If an NBA player or coach answered a question that way to a reporter, Stern would fine them. I would love to see a federal investigation into potential NBA corruption. It's long overdue.

the government probing corruption is a little like the Vatican trying Sandusky

Good point, I have to agree with that.

[esel1000]

Hmm...

So people are actually defending Stern?  Stern is an indefensible human being.  There is nothing good about him.

Jim Rome, well, he just a notch below.

These two will likely be sharing a special place in hell.

haha I was going to say I hate both of these men with a passion... says a lot about Rome though that people would actually stand up for Stern over him though, though in this case I might even agree Jim Rome is intolerable...

[LarBrd33]

Its the classic illustration of the type of question that assumes a fact without evidence. ie A classic trick question, now I don't think Rome structured his question that way but Stern clearly viewed it as an unfair question to ask him.

That's how I saw it too. I think a lot of people though around familiar with what the question actually implies.

To those who don't know, its a known 'trick question' technique like Fafnir said, where you have to assume something, whether true or not, to answer the question as a whole, in this example, Rome would have to assume he had 'beat his wife' just to answer the question at all.

Stern felt that Rome was implying that his question was a legitimate one, while Stern felt it was as outlandish as the example he used. I don't think Rome framed it in the classic context, but really asking a commissioner of a professional sport whether or not a major element of keeping their  league's integrity intact was 'fixed' is a pretty offensive question to even be asked with a straight face.

"loaded question", that's what I was looking for.

Nailed it.  Indeed sums it up here.  

It was a stupid question for Rome to ask.  The lotto isn't fixed.  Of course, people are going to interpret Stern's reaction with any possible negative spin they can give it, because it's as popular to hate David Stern as it is popular to hate LeBron James right now.  Neither of those guys can do no right by the public at this point.  

[Eja117]

I wish Rome had been slightly more prepared for that.  There are just so many places he could have gone

"Ok. So you don't want to talk about that. Could you just tell us what bodies you buried and where they are then?"

"We talked about this last week. It was around the same time you stopped"

"No I haven't, but could you tell me if the lottery is fixed"

"I stopped in 2007, but could you tell me if the lottery is fixed"

"The only wife I beat is yours when we play bondage games, but it's all in good fun. She warned me you wouldn't like this question and you might try to sorta turn it around like this"

"I'm not married."

"Beating wives is what you think about?"

"You'd be hard pressed to find neighbors or coworkers of my wife that think I do that, but multiple owners and players in your league don't believe you. Why do you think there's that difference?"

[LarBrd33]

I know a lot of you guys actually believe the lottery is fixed despite the fact that it would be almost impossible and every team has a representative in the room when it happens:  http://nba-point-forward.si.com/2012/05/30/nba-draft-lottery/

Seems the people who think the lotto is rigged are the same people who believe that Stern fixes playoff games, favors superstars (like LeBron) and has an army of evil ref minions who pre-decide the results.  As I explained before, if you're willing to believe these conspiracy theories, you by extension must believe that Stern attempted to fix the 2007 lotto for us (giving it to Boston would have been the most beneficial to the league), but when that didn't work out he forced Minny to trade us KG... then "fixed" the playoffs for a Lakers/Celtics Finals... then "fixed" it so we could win our first title in 20+ years.

Thing I don't get is... With all these awesome boneheaded conspiracy theories...  where you live in this fantasy world where the NBA operates like the WWE, our 2008 title is tarnished, all the results are fixed and the superstars are fabrications... Why do you even bother continuing to watch?  If it's happening it didn't just start happening... it's been happening since the mid 80s.  Either accept that you're watching theater (and thank Lord Stern for scripting our championship) or Go Away.  

Personally I think all of this bull**** just devalues the league, tarnishes the perception of it from the general public, and creates a completely unnecessary negative view of the best professional sports league in the world.  The story right now should be about two otherworldly talents, two supernova teams clashing on the NBA's biggest stage.  Kevin Durant vs LeBron James... two of the greatest talents the world of basketball has ever seen.  Both unquestionably earned their trips to the Finals fair and square.   That's the story right now... not some garbage conspiracy theory about a "fixed" league.  I don't blame Stern for reacting EXTREMELY negatively... Tim Donaghy wasn't Stern's fault.  There is only so much they could have done to prevent that situation... but they have been fighting that perception of a "fixed" league ever since.  I get Stern's point here completely.  Rome asking the question just continues an unnecessary discussion that the general public is too stupid to sift through.

[goCeltics]

if you wanna know if it is fixed just look at the combination each team gets they are sequenced so they all have one number in common, very easy to rig it this way

stern has turned nba into wwe, his gimmick since coming into the league has been marketing star players, including make sure they get favourable call from refs

Look at the NFL, they built their league marketing teams and there growth has dwarfed the nba

Also Tim Donaghy was 100% stern fault, the guy was able to rig games with even rigging them! he just gamble with knowledge of the ref/stern agenda and that was enough to predict outcomes to 80-90%, if he was really rigging games and blowing calls the nba would had fired him instead Tim  Donaghy was able to do what he did for 10 years without the nba having the slightest clue and he would still be doing if the FBI hadn't picked up the phone.