Mike's post on the possibility (however remote) that Elgin Baylor was a victim of age discrimination reminds me of some things I wrote after the $10-million verdict against the Knicks and Isiah Thomas for sexual harassment. I criticized the NBA's refusal to take any action action Thomas or the Knicks, and particularly its rationale that this simply was a "civil matter."
At the time, I asked the following:
Suppose a white team executive fired his Black head coach because of the coach's race and explicitly used racial slurs in doing it and the coach prevails on a race discrimination claim, recovering major compensatory and punitive damages. Would Stern really do nothing to the executive because it is a "civil matter"? And what is the difference from what happened here? Is it a matter of coach as opposed to a non-basketball executive?
Age discrimination does not carry the same social outrage as race discrimination. But if Baylor does pursue this and prevails, maybe we are about to get some answers to my questions.
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