This afternoon Jim Rome had David Stern on his radio show. Near the end of their conversation, Rome asked the NBA Commissioner if the NBA Draft Lottery was rigged. Stern's response caught set off a bit of a Twitter firestorm:
Obviously my first thought (and what I imagine most people's first thought) was, "I can't believe he just said that." Followed closely by, "Jim Rome used to beat his wife? I had no idea." But unless The Commish has some inside information that Google doesn't, that's not the case.
What Stern actually did was use the question in a rhetorical manner to illustrate how inappropriate and loaded he thought the radio host's accusations were. "Do you still beat your wife?" or "When did you stop beating your wife?" are stock rebuttals to unfair questions that presume the guilt of their subject. That said, maybe it's not the best idea to use that particular expression if you run a league that has featured many players who have been accused of domestic violence (Ron Artest, Matt Barnes, Jason Kidd, among many others).
The Audio:
