There's a small part of the Blob -- the Liechtenstein of its body, if you will -- that feels sorry for NBA commissioner Adam Silver. He and his league bent over and said ah in the pursuit of a lucrative market over there in China, and everyone knows it, which is why he's trying so pathetically hard to make it look otherwise.
"Did not!" is pretty much the gist of it.
No, by God, the NBA stood up for American values over there in China, Silver maintained in an interview this week. The Chinese tried to get us to fire Daryl Morey, who bruised their tender feelings! But we said, heck, no, we're not gonna do that! Because we believe in freedom of expression here in the Association! Look at how many of our employees are bravely speaking out on this iss--
Well, OK. So they're all lickin' Chinese boot, too. (Dammit, LeBron!) But, darn it, there's a lot at stake here! And by refusing to fire Daryl Morey, even though it was strongly considered, like, two seconds after his tweet about the Hong Kong protests, we're takin' a significant financial hit!
Which I suppose is Silver desperately trying to make it look like the NBA isn't just another money-grubbing mega-corporation wedded to its bottom line, and only to its bottom line. It is exactly that, of course. Last week's cringing acquiescence to every humiliation heaped on it by the Chinese government -- the media restrictions, the canceling of NBA-sponsored events (including Silver's own news conference), the refusal to air NBA games -- spoke far more loudly than Silver himself yesterday. And deep down he surely must know it.
Poor guy.
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