{"id":4058,"date":"2026-09-06T16:39:19","date_gmt":"2026-09-06T16:39:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.learningaloud.com\/curmudgeonspeaks\/2026\/09\/06\/when-winning-meant-something\/"},"modified":"2026-09-06T17:49:08","modified_gmt":"2026-09-06T17:49:08","slug":"when-winning-meant-something","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.learningaloud.com\/curmudgeonspeaks\/2026\/09\/06\/when-winning-meant-something\/","title":{"rendered":"When winning meant something"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">You have to feel sorry for the ticket holders, fans, and players of the LA Clippers.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Team owner, ex-Microsoft executive, Steve Ballmer worked with team sponsors to funnel compensation to star Kawhi Leonard beyond the amount allowed by league rules. Ballmer\u2019s behavior violated the rules of professional sports. In order to maintain a reasonable level of fair competitiveness among teams, professional sports leagues require multiple methods to prevent those teams with the most money from simply buying up the best talent. For example, the yearly draft of new players gives those teams with poorer records more favorable picks. Teams also operate, with some exceptions, under a cap on the total of team member salaries. The idea is that no matter how much money owners and supporters might have, they cannot pay significantly more than other teams.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">As a penalty, the league:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Stripped the team of 5 years of first round draft choices<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Fined the organization $30 million<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Blocked Ballmer from league activities for one year (e.g., he cannot attend games)<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Leonard, who argued he did not know where the money given him came from &#8211; payed a fine.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>Ballmer is just one of several from a group with these values<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Ballmer is just one more individual I have added to my list of the pathological wealthy &#8211; those who are not just greedy, but someone who believes that the rules do not apply to them. They seem to believe that their money should not be viewed as a privilege they happen to have, but a reason they feel that the constraints on others can be negotiated. I read somewhere this might be explained as penalties are simply operating costs, rather than strikes against their character. When winning, preserving a competitive advantage, or protecting a personal legacy become the only things that matter, rules become obstacles to be managed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Whether it be sports, politics, or massive corporations, we all are fans and potentially complicit in the corruption that has not only spread, but is now quite visible throughout our country. I have no idea if Clippers fans support Ballmer and his corruption or see themselves as powerless victims. The situation with the Clippers seems so similar to the AI tech bros, some politicians, and other ultra-wealthy business leaders. It is hard to find leaders to look up to anymore. Playing by the rules used to be a thing. Winning used to mean something. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>You have to feel sorry for the ticket holders, fans, and players of the LA Clippers.&nbsp; Team owner, ex-Microsoft executive, Steve Ballmer worked with team sponsors to funnel compensation to star Kawhi Leonard beyond the amount allowed by league rules. &hellip; <a href=\"https:\/\/www.learningaloud.com\/curmudgeonspeaks\/2026\/09\/06\/when-winning-meant-something\/\">Continue reading <span class=\"meta-nav\">&rarr;<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"activitypub_content_warning":"","activitypub_content_visibility":"","activitypub_max_image_attachments":4,"activitypub_interaction_policy_quote":"anyone","activitypub_status":"federated","footnotes":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-4058","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.learningaloud.com\/curmudgeonspeaks\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4058","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.learningaloud.com\/curmudgeonspeaks\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.learningaloud.com\/curmudgeonspeaks\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.learningaloud.com\/curmudgeonspeaks\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.learningaloud.com\/curmudgeonspeaks\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4058"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.learningaloud.com\/curmudgeonspeaks\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4058\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4068,"href":"https:\/\/www.learningaloud.com\/curmudgeonspeaks\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4058\/revisions\/4068"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.learningaloud.com\/curmudgeonspeaks\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4058"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.learningaloud.com\/curmudgeonspeaks\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4058"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.learningaloud.com\/curmudgeonspeaks\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4058"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}