D'Alessandro: "Everyone already knew that Donald Sterling was a despicable human being."

It seemed prudent to wait until I found a writer at a higher pay grade capable of saying it better than me, and here he is: Dave D'Alessandro, who used to be the NBA columnist for The Sporting News (has it really been nine years?)

Donald Sterling’s candid moment? It’s business as usual, and NBA business is often ugly, by Dave D'Alessandro (Star-Ledger)

... We’re not here to put Donald Sterling’s racism on a scale with other social sins practiced by Adam Silver’s business partners, which stretch from here to Seattle.

We can only remind you that everyone already knew that Sterling was a despicable human being. If you didn't know it, you simply weren't paying attention, or – like Stern and Silver and everyone else in the NBA – you chose not to care.

Racism is an indelible part of what he is. If he issues a thousand mea-culpas today, nothing changes that. He has stood courtside with a what-me-worry visage for decades, because he is part of a lunatic fraternity that always embraced him as a bit eccentric, but always One of Ours ...