Watch: Jim Rome VS. David Stern Arguing About The NBA Draft Lottery Being Rigged Deserves To Go Viral Again.. "Have You Stopped Beating Your Wife Yet?"
HAH, cracked myself up with that one. Phe-nom-en-al throwback. Hilarious.
Don't get it twisted, this is very much a PRO Jim Rome blog. For my money he's still 1 of the most entertaining media personalities today and a dude with way more depth than some cheesedick hack like Bill Simmons.
Rome is so comfortable on the solo throne he's built for decades, he's barely trying to grow the brand at this point. Just still logging on for love of the game and TAKES he needs to get off (and then enjoy Italian vacations & his stable of racing horses)
Of course he still has a 101 mph fastball to bust out here and there… in this case it's a retro-slurve. People always bring up his contentiously violent interview with Chris Everett but rarely bring up this 2012 interview with then NBA Commissioner/Godfather David Stern, which might be even juicier.
This went down after the New Orleans Hornets won the lottery despite some of the lowest odds AND had just recently been sold by the NBA to Saints owner Tom Benson. Did they grease the wheels for ol' Tommy?
HAH, Rome HAD to find out live from El Se-gun-do…
"You know, New Orleans won the draft lottery, which, of course, produced the usual round of speculation that maybe the lottery was fixed," Rome said. "I know that you appreciate a good conspiracy theory as much as the next guy — was the fix in for the lottery?"
"Uh, you know, I have two answers for that," Stern said. "I'll give you the easy one — no — and a statement: Shame on you for asking."
"You know, I understand why you would say that to me, and I wanted to preface it by saying it respectfully," Rome replied. "I think it's my job to ask, because I think people wonder."
"No, it's ridiculous," Stern answered. "But that's OK."
"I know that you think it's ridiculous, but I don't think the question is ridiculous, because I know people think that," Rome said. "I'm not saying that I do, but I think it's my job to ask you that."
"Have you stopped beating your wife yet?" Stern asked.
"Yeah, I don't know if that's fair," Rome responded. "I don't know that that's fair."
"Well, why's that?" Stern asked.
"Because I think that there are — and I know you read your emails and I'm sure you follow things virally on Twitter — people really do think it, whether it's fair or not," Rome said. "You don't think the question's fair to ask if your fans think it?"
"People think it because people like you ask silly questions," Stern said. "I expect it to be written about — and actually, I commented last night in my presser that there was one guy who I won't dignify by naming who says, 'I have no reason to know anything, and I don't know anything, but I tell you, I believe it's fixed.' OK, that's good. Why is that? 'Well, because this team won.' And if that team won, it would've been fixed also, and if that team won, it would've been fixed also. And if every team was invited to have a representative there, and there were four members of the media there, and if Ernst and Young certified it, would you still think it? 'Yes.' So, I guess …"
"I think two things, which responds to this," Rome interjected. "Number one, I don't think so. I don't think so — and I'm not covering myself — I don't think so, and I think by asking the question, it would not suggest I think so. But the one thing I would say: The league does own the team, does it not?"
"… Yes," Stern said, a question mark at the end of his sentence.
"Does that not make the question fair?" Rome asked.
"I don't think so," Stern said. "Number one, we sold it. We're gonna close this week. We already have established our price. I think that if it had gone to Michael Jordan, which was the next team up with, in terms of a high percentage, they would've said, 'Oh, David's taking care of his friend Michael.' And if it had gone to Brooklyn, which is going into Barclay Center, it would have been fair to speculate, I suppose, that we want to take Brooklyn off of the mat. So there was no winning. And people write about it, and it's OK to write about it, and we sort of expect it, but that's not a question that I've been asked before by a respectable journalist."
"I think I understand why you're frustrated by that; I think that I understand why that would upset you," Rome said. "I would hope that you would not hold that against me."
"I wouldn't hold it against you — you know, you and I have been into more contentious discussions than that," Stern said.
"I don't know, I'd put that one right up there," Rome replied.
"Well, you know, it's good copy, and you do things sometimes for cheap thrills," Stern said.
"I did not do that for a cheap thrill," Rome answered.
"Well, that's what it sounds like," Stern said.
"No, not at all," Rome answered. "See, that's where you and I — that's our point of disconnect. That was not a cheap thrill and I was not throwing anything against the wall, and I was trying to be as respectful as possible. I'm just saying that people wonder about that. And here's what I don't want to do — I don't want to say, 'Hey commissioner, people would say …' Because I'm going to ask a direct question. But people do wonder. But that was not a cheap thrill. I got no thrill out of that."
"Well, it's a cheap trick," Stern said.
"No, flopping is a cheap trick," Rome said.
"Well, no. But listen, you've been successful at making a career out of it, and I keep coming on, so …" Stern said.
"Making a career out of what, though, commissioner?" Rome interrupted. "See, I take great offense to that. Making a career of what? Cheap thrills?"
"What offense are you taking? You're taking offense?" Stern asked.
"I am. Now I am," Rome answered. "If you're saying I've made a career out of cheap thrills …"
"… taking on the world, and now Jim Rome is pouting? I love it," Stern said.
"I'm not pouting; I take offense," Rome said. "There's a difference between pouting and taking offense. I take offense like you took offense to the question. What if I said — were you pouting when I asked the question?"
"What offenses? Do you want to hang up on me?" Stern asked.
"No, I can't hang up on you, because I'm running out of time — I would never hang up on you," Rome said.
"OK," Stern said. "Listen, I've got to go call somebody important, like Stephen A. Smith, right now. He's up next."
"All right, you go make that call, and I'll go talk to somebody else, too, I guess," Rome said.
"All right," Stern said.
"All right, commissioner. Have a nice day," Rome said. "I did not hang up on him — we are officially out of time. We will come back and reset that momentarily. Stay tuned."
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Look even as a big Rome fan, credit where credit is due. David Stern put him in an absolute blender with those retorts. And quite possibly invented the term "serving cunt" more than a decade ago. But The Godfather knew what he was talking about and did bring the NBA into a pretty glorious era during his tenure. Still hilarious that he gave that quote in 2004 about his dream NBA Finals matchup… The Lakers vs The Lakers. It does make you wonder… Anyway,
J-Stew, cut that mans vine! We've got GYM GUY coming up next after bud addict is booted from The Jungle…
If only we had sports commissioners with sacks like that today though. Stern had his faults but was truly a 1/1. And NOT a clone.
If you're betting I won't end this blog without the Chris Everett clip, well you're damn wrong.
I bet I will, CHRIS.
And of course I can't fully close it without paying homage to the realest Rome out there, Frank Caliendo. Just terrific stuff. Also why does all TV media from the 2000s look like it was filmed in 1975? WE NEED TO PRESERVE THE ARCHIVES. Ah-ru-gu-la.
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HAH. Back to you, Jim.