Great scene and spot on about Stern. I love how he hasn’t taken the foot off the arrogant a-hole pedal since this thing broke. He’s got his talking points and he’s sticking to them no matter what. I’m reminded of Stephen Colbert’s great line about President Bush during his infamous roasting at the correspondant’s dinner: “He’s a man of principle. He believes the same thing Wednesday as he did on Monday…no matter what happened on Tuesday.” Of course, for both Bush and Stern, principle has nothing to do with their stubbornness. Stern’s job is to make massive amounts of money for his owners and he has done a very good job of doing so. When he does act out, you can bet your bottom dollar that he is doing so in response to things that cost the owners money. What costs the owners money? Apparently cornrows and hip hop gear on the sidelines. Thankfully, Stern neutralized the cornrow mennace and solved the league’s image problem. As for the image problems of piss-poor reffing, wacky in-season trades, loosely applied character rules (see Leaving the Bench, Phoenix), and supporting arena pushes for owners that don’t mess with Paul Allen’s fan base…well, I’m shocked to find that Mr. Stern hasn’t found the time to deal with these sorts of image problems.

PS: I’m betting there are loads of embarrassing Clay Bennett-esque emails that would make it look like the league has the fix in for certain teams and ownership groups. I’m not saying there is a fix, but rather a good ol-boy network that caters to those with the top dollar.