Phil Jackson Is Still Kind Of Awesome

by Ricky O'Donnell on January 18 at 12:00PM

So a reporter asked Phil Jackson recently if he thought the Clippers were cursed after finding out Blake Griffin would miss his entire rookie season. And Jackson replied, "Fuck no, only the Cubs are cursed!". Just kidding, he didn't actually say that. But he did say something pretty cool.

"I don't," Jackson said before the Lakers played the Clippers Friday night. "I'm of that generation that believes in karma. I do think there is karma in effect, ultimately. But I can't proclaim anybody else's karma. That's their own making. If you do a good mitzvah [a Jewish term for an act of kindness], maybe you can eliminate some of those things. You think Sterling's done enough mitzvahs?"

In case you don't know, The Zen Master is talking about Clips owner Donald Sterling, the man Deadspin deemed "the most evil person in sports". Here's a sample:

In 2003, 19 tenants and the Housing Rights Center filed a housing discrimination lawsuit against Sterling, one of the biggest landowners in Los Angeles. (That case, too, was settled.) According to depositions given by one of Sterling's property supervisors and obtained by ESPN The Magazine's Peter Keating, Sterling didn't like renting to black people ("they smell"), Mexican-Americans ("just sit around and smoke and drink all day") and people with children ("brats"), though he did like Koreans because "they will take whatever conditions I give them and still pay the rent."

(Fighting off temptation to use Simmons' "The NBA, it's faaaaantastic line")

A few things here: a) the fact Phil Jackson believes in the mighty powers of karma should be the cover story in next month's Duh Aficionado Magazine. I bet he made Sasha Vujacic read a book about karma just last week. B) The idea that terrible things happen to terrible people is comforting and often effective. For example...

My friend/nemesis Oral is arguably the worst person I know. You may remember him and his USA shirt from my Toronto story a few years ago. He's the worst. I'd tell you more - like about that time he stole a fucking car - but pretty much every Oral story is NSFTUP. Just trust me, he sucks.

As such, Oral has really bad luck. He does something awful, something awful immediately happens to him. It's delightful.

Here's his most recent Facebook status.

In conclusion: Phil Jackson is still cool, Donald Sterling will soon be playing poker with Hitler in Hell, and someone puked in Oral's freezer. Everyone's a winner!

Phil Jackson Is Still Kind Of Awesome

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