Well look at whether they are from something or if they are off the mark and for the first time well hear more from the cockpit. And more on breaking news, and weather news. And well break in when doc rivers conference begin. Barely four days since the tape of him ranting to his girlfriend about the nba, he is banned from life and is in the process of being forced to sell the team. We have new video. Sterling and his wife leaving a downtown l. A. Steak house just hour hours after she publicly trashed him calling him prejudiced and despicable. That must have been quite a dinner. In it, she defends him when asked by the paparazzi if her husband is a racist. Are you a racist . People want to know . Are you a racist, a the accusations, are they true . No, of course not. Clearly a complicated relationship. Tonight he vows not to sell the team. Were learning about pressure that was brought to bear on the league, pushing him. More on the highspeed comeuppance. Reporter this posted on line touched off a fire storm for the l. A. Clippers owner, Donald Sterling. It bothers you . Yeah, it bothers me a lot that you want to broadcast that youre associating with black people. Do you have to . You dont associate with black people. Im not you and youre not me. Youre supposed to be a delicate wife. According to the nba commissioner, sterling confirmed it is his voice on the tapes. He is speaking with his girlfriend, a woman who is nearly 50 years younger than he is. If you dont feel it, dont come to my games. Dont bring black people and dont come. Do you know the guy that plays for you . Do i know them . I support them and give them food and clothes and cars and houses. Who gives it to them . Does someone else give it to them . Do i know . Who makes the game, do i make the game or do they make the game . The lead commissioner adam silver promised a swift investigation and if warranted, punishment. Today, that punishment came. I am banning mr. Sterling for life from any association with the Clippers Organization or the nba. Mr. Sterling may not attend any nba games or practices. He may not be present at any clippers facility and he may not participate in any business or player personnel decisions involving the team. As fast as the condemnation came for sterlings comments, so too, did the praise for silvers decision. Michael jordan said in a statement he applauded the commissioners swift and decisive response. On twitter, lebron james thanked him for protecting the league. And Magic Johnson said the commissioner showed great leadership. It was another prominent person in california, kevin johnson, that stressed how the strong message sent by the nba would spread way outside the world of basketball. I hope that every bigot in this country sees what happened to mr. Sterling, and recognizes that if he can fall, so can you. Rachel nicoles joins us now, you have been talking to players all day long, by and large, what is the reaction . Very, very positive. They feel like adam silver stepped up for them. And there was a lot of pressure in that regard because several players had been talking about a boycott of tonights games if they didnt feel he went far enough. So there was a little bit of an anvil, there is a lot of eyes on the league. If those guys had not gone out on the court tonight it would have been a very big deal. But they were happy. Rachel, stick around, there is late word on how the cloud of the clippers may already be lifting. Indeed, how they will rebuild the relationship with the team, state farm, car max, kia suspended their partnership moments after this. After the team posted this on their website, we are one, i t d reads, unclear whether selling the clippers will proceed at any of the pace weve seen so far. Sterling stands to make a fortune if he decides not to fight. Joining us, former nba great, chairman of National Basketball retired players association, and jay williams who is now with espn. Otis birdsong, let me start with you, todays decision, what is your reaction. Well, first of all, thank you for having me. Wolf anderson. Im thinking of wolf because wolf was at the legends weekend in connecticut and i got a chance to spend some time with him. He is far older than i am. Yeah, youre much better looking, too. Im getting myself in trouble. No, what was your reaction to the commissioner . Well, first of all i was very, very pleased and want to commend commissioner silver for how he handled the process. He took his time with the investigation. And was swift and decisive, once he gathered all the facts. Im very pleased with the decision and the punishment definitely meets the crime. You know, otis, when you look at this guy, sterling, in the past he paid one of the largest settlements, although he admitted no guilt in the settlement. There were some that said what took the nba so long . Do you buy the statement by the commissioner that basically they didnt act because he won a lawsuit or settled out of Court Previously . I do buy it. In fact, when elgin baylor sued mr. Sterling, we sat back and waited to see what the courts decided. They decided he really didnt have a case so what is the nba to do if the courts decided that they didnt have a case there is nothing the nba could do. Jay, in todays press conference, roger makclemens mason, the Vice President , said they would walk, have you heard that from players youre in contact with that they were talking about walking . I heard gossip of a potential boycott. I thought boycott, pending the decision by adam silver if it was not harsh, was going to be the right decision. You need that tv revenue, you need sponsors to step up to the table and there is no game. You get an answer swiftly. Just to answer the last question to otis, i do fault the nba for not handling the situation properly before. I think adam silver as first year as deputy commissioner, did a great job in handling this all of these issues that have gone on with racism and by setting the precedent, yes, a guy like Donald Sterling will still make a huge lump sum of money. He set the precedent in not allowing the racism to occur in a very diverse group. So you think the nba should have acted previously before, even though lawsuits happened without him admitting any guilt at all. And elgin silver o i wish they could have, did they have factual evidence . No, it was more he said, she said. Regardless this is where it becomes murky water. A person should be allowed to have a conversation within the confines of his own house. That is a slippery slope when you start to allow this material to leak out when it did not become a public statement. But it did in fact become a public statement. He reportedly made it clear to Fox News Contributor jim gray that he has no plans to sell the team. This was apparently a conversation before the commissioner came forward. It sounds like the league could be in for a fight. How would this actually play out . Well, the way it plays out, there is a constitution, the bylaws of the nba, and Donald Sterling signed onto it. There was a provision that said if three quarters of the owners insist, vote to make another owner sell the team he has to sell the team. Now, there are certain circumstances in which that is allowed. I imagine that sterling could go to court and say this is a violation of the agreement. But look, this thing has been lawyered up from the beginning. Adam silver is a lawyer. The nba has had lawyers on this from the very beginning. They are not going to do this casually. Donald sterling is not going to be able to fight this in court to any success. Look, anybody can file a lawsuit. But he is going to be in a position of take his 600 million, whatever it is, and go home. That is how this thing is going to end sooner rather than later. And just to play devils advocate, i got emails from people saying what about free speech, what he said it is horrible. But dont people have a right to their opinions . Well, certainly, but what is important to note is while it was a private conversation it did become public. He is an owner, so did the belief system filter into the way he treated the employees and conducted his business. So i think youre getting into this situation where you say well, this is a private matter. It was public, it was made public and think there were ramifications. I want to bring up the point where jeff is not going to be the owner. The person we need to look at is shelly sterling. She is part owner. It is californias Community Property. If you look at the lawsuit, because she actually sued his mistress, the girlfriend, saying all the gifts he gave her are Community Property and she wants them back. So this is a woman that is very, very active. I suspect this suspension, and correct me if im wrong, this penalty has no application to shelly. And so does she continue to go to the games . Does she become this straw person shelly this has become a big deal now in the past couple of hours. She came out with the statement distancing herself from Donald Sterling earlier in this process. Well, they she says, me and my children, we distanced ourselves. We think it is disgusting, all that stuff. And in the press Conference Today adam silver is asked does this ban apply to shelly and other people in the family, and he says no. It only applies to donald. Well, this video surfaces, suddenly she is not only condemning him. In fact, she is defending him. This raises a lot of questions, maybe theyre a little more in cahoots more than you think. If you look at the lawsuits with the housing discrimination, the allegations is that shelly would go into the buildings and pose as a housing inspector. And those allegations were by the justice department. So i really think that she is a significant player here that no one is talking about. Jay the idea that you know, his wife or estranged wife is going to go to games and portray herself. Unless the identity is that she is so wrapped up, she would just take the money and go. Lets also remember, this is the first step that adam silver has taken in a series of steps. He alluded to that earlier. I dont condone the things she said, she was on his side, then she was not on his side. So i dont see how a lady like that could walk back into you know, the Staples Center and she is never going to be appreciated by the fans or the players. And so i think this is a series of steps by adam silver to work this whole thing out in due process over time. She was there the last game, the game he was asked to stay away from. And it will be very interesting to see if she is in the seats tonight. She has portrayed herself as being separate from him, being the white knight. And she is driving the car from the restaurant. The clippers today were asked in the announcement said okay, well, who is in charge of the team . They basically said give us tonight to figure this out. And one of the names were brought forward. Otis, can you see a situation where she remains one of the owners . Well, anderson, i agree with jay. First of all were early in the process. But when the dust settles, i dont see anyhow any member of the Sterling Family will be involved with the clipper organization. There is just no way. Out of the question. Remember, adam silver has been riding a wave of support that is really extraordinary that ranges all the way from current players, retired players, and even mark cuban, the owner of the Dallas Mavericks who has not been a friend to the management all the time. If he were to let anyone in the Sterling Family to continue to own this team it would wreck all the good will he has. He is too smart to let that happen. Money solves everything. She will get a lot of money and go away. But he does not have the power is my understanding to control shelly sterling. He does have the power to control Donald Sterling. And i dont think he also has the power to control the other owners so there is that question there, isnt that right . Yes, but he is going get the 3 4 vote. He knows that, no owner has come out against him and no owner will, i dont think. But she she doesnt have the she can go to the games. I mean, that is true, he said she can go to the games. But he decides who the owners of the team are. He is in charge and he is simply not going to allow it. She can go to the games, but so wha what . Jeff toobin, sunny, rachel, thank you so much. Well see all of our panel again when doc rivers speaks to reporters expected soon. Of course, well bring that to you the moment it happens, as always, set your dvr, coming up next, team owners behaving badly. Donald sterling is certainly not the first. Well introduce you to others. Believe it when we say it, bringing her dog onto the field was not what got her into trouble. Find out what did when ac360 continues. Hey, i heard you guys can help me with frog protection . Yeah, we help with fraud protection. We monitor every purchase every day and alert you if anything looks unusual. Wow youre really looking out for us. We are. And if there are unauthorized purchases on your discover card, youre never held responsible. Just to be clear, you are saying frog protection right . Yeah, fraud protection. 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Helping the world keep promises. Breaking news tonight, l. A. Clippers coach doc rivers will speak shortly. Well bring it to you when he does. He no doubt looks at the sanctions. And joining us now, stephanie elam. As we wait for this press conference from doc rivers, you actually had a chance to speak to him and ask him questions, what would you say . It was interesting to me, i asked if he had heard from Donald Sterling. It was very interesting the way he put it. I was asked if i needed to speak to donald and i took a pass. I didnt feel like it was the right time. Since then, we heard the commissioner today, commissioner silver saying he did speak to Donald Sterling but Donald Sterling did not have any remorse or say anything beyond the fact that that was him on the recordings. It is an interesting point because if there was remorse he would have come out and said it at this point. None of that has happened here and we do expect to hear from coach doc rivers before the game, something he said he was pondering before the nba had their presser this morning. So were waiting to see how they handle it. But you can almost feel the tensions, anderson, sort of ease away after the commissioner spoke and came down very hard on sterling. You have been at the Staple Center all day, and what has the atmosphere been like since the press conference . Into there are people out here who have signs up. One big sign looked like l. A. Clippers, but instead of that it said racist. They were prepared here at the Staple Center. They have the barricades up. I can see the Police Presence is very thick. They were not taking any chances here but i do feel like the people i talked to including one really huge fan of the clippers, darrell has been a huge fan to 22 years. He said he was not sure what he was going to do but felt relieved after silver spoke. But all in all, the people seem like they will come out and support the players but it will be interesting to see what the energy is like once the game starts. It is not shocking, given his history, nor should the idea that a wealthy, powerful individual with stone age attitude. Also the person may find himself or herself in very hot water, or as randi kaye explains, shot happens. Reporter it was not long before the toughtalking Cincinnati Reds owner opened her mouth and got herself in hot water. In an interview in espn in 1996, she said this about adolf hitler. Everybody in history knows he was good at the beginning but just went too far. Shaw defended jews, gays, and african americans. In 1994, she didnt want her players to wear earrings because only fruits wear earrings. Before that, she was reportedly overheard saying never hire another n word, i would rather have a trained monkey work for me. Still, she was a favorite, often seen smoking cigarettes at the ballpark, while walking her dog, schotzi. But they saw a different side of her when a veteran player died of a heart attack on opening game. She was more concerned about the game. I was more concerned about 50,000 people who came here to enjoy opening day and came with their families and everything. And i just could not believe it happened. Reporter her behavior caught up with her. She was facing two suspensions for her comments and an order to undergo multicultural training. For years she tried to reverse the damage. I know in my heart i am not a bigot. Reporter it didnt work, in 1999, she was forced to sell the club. We find based on considerable evidence that her practice of using language that is racially and ethnically offensive has brought substantial embarrassment to the game. Comments about race also proved to be a problem for Minnesota Twins owner calvin griffith. He explained he moved the team from washington, quote, when i found out you only had 15,000 black people here. Black people dont go to ball games. We came here because you have good, hardworking white people here. Griffith was never punished. But the Cleveland Cavs owner made an offcolor remark saying his roster should be at least 50 white for marketing concerns, since fans