Don Jones rams Michael Sam with 'Mean Girls' tweets; fined and suspended

Don Jones apologizes to Michael Sam for "OMG" and "Horrible" tweets.

(photo credit:  Don Jones via his Twitter page)

Donald Sterling isn’t the only sports figure whose mouth is getting him in trouble these days.  Athletes have often had not-so-delicate locker room conversation, but what was said in the locker rooms stayed in the locker rooms.  These days social media (in this instance Twitter) makes it so much easier for bloopers to go viral.  Sunday the NFL’s Miami Dolphins organization fined safety Don Jones for mouthing off about fellow football player Michael Sam.

Michael Sam is the first openly gay player taken in an NFL draft. (Continue reading full story here.)

Basketball Commissioner swings the Pete Rose bat; Sterling banned for life

NBA Commissioner Adam Silver announced at a press conference

today that Donald Sterling is banned for life!

(photo credit:  Elsa/Getty Images)

It’s really too bad Donald Sterling and a Philistine named Samson couldn't have talked, but they were separated by hundreds of years.  Samson and Delilah could have been the modern day Donald and Vanessa.  How ironic that both of these powerful men were brought crashing down by women who happened to be outside of their own ethnicity.  Today NBA Commissioner Adam Silver announced that Sterling is banned from basketball “for life.”

This all stems from a leaked recording, which no one admits to leaking, of an argument between married Sterling, 80, and his lady friend Vanessa Stiviano, 38, on April 7^th.  Sterling was disappointed and embarrassed that people had called him regarding a picture Stiviano had posted of herself, basketball legend Magic Johnson, and another woman on Instagram.  The three were fully clothed and innocently smiling at the camera.  But what infuriated Sterling was that Stiviano had posed with a black man.   During the phone conversation, Stiviano calmly led Sterling down a yellow brick road of admitting he sees blacks as the “enemy” and asking Vanessa not to bring them to his games.

Of course the late night talk show hosts were all over it.  Last night Jimmy Fallon said that even Mel Gibson told Sterling, “hey man, that’s just going too far.”  The ban for life means that Sterling can no longer have an active role in the leadership of the Los Angeles Clippers or any NBA team ever again.  In addition to the ban, Silver announced that the commission has fined Sterling $2.5 million.

As of right now, Sterling still retains ownership of the Clippers, but it has been reduced to a mere ceremonial title.  He cannot make any money or brand affecting decisions regarding the team.  But the story doesn't end there.  It takes a two-thirds majority of all of the NBA team owners to vote out another owner. Commissioner Silver is in talks with the other owners at this time to see if they want to move in that direction.

Colorful Maurice's BBQ founder dead at 83, Confederate flag comes down

Master Barbecue Kingpin Maurice Bessinger  (photo credit:  BBQroadtrip.tumblr.com)

Maurice Bessinger, founder of Maurice’s Gourmet Barbecue and Piggie Park Enterprises, is dead at 83. In a 2000 interview with The State newspaper Bessinger said, “I’m just a fair man. I want to be known as a hard-working, Christian man that loves God and wants to further (God’s) work throughout the world as I have been doing throughout the last 25 years.”

In stark contrast, The State broke the news of Bessinger’s death with the glaring headline “Barbecue eatery owner, segregationist Maurice Bessinger dies at 83”. Bessinger, a Korean War veteran, was as infamous around Columbia for his belief in a racial divide as he was known for his barbecue sauce and restaurants.

When The State ran a story exposing the fact that he was giving discounts to customers who agreed to take pro-slavery pamphlets being handed out in his restaurants, many blacks and whites began boycotting his restaurants and products. This, in addition to his refusal to take down the huge Confederate flags flying over his restaurants, led Wal-Mart and many other stores to snatch his barbecue sauce from their shelves.

Bessinger allowed blacks to pick up takeout orders, but refused to have them dine in his restaurants. He defended his stance by saying that “South Carolina had biblical slavery”, not the harsh kind. This stirred up so much agitation that South Carolina electrical power giant SCANA ordered its employees not to patronize any of Bessinger’s establishments.

Bessinger’s restaurants and barbecue sauce business are now being run by his children. His son, Lloyd Bessinger, said that his father had battled Alzheimer’s disease the past seven years and had not been active in the business. Several months ago Bessinger’s children removed the last of the Confederate flags from the restaurant in West Columbia, SC.

According to The State, funeral services for Bessinger will be held at 2 p.m. Thursday at First Baptist Church in West Columbia.