equal time Phil Mushnick Sports are reaching once-unthinkable levels of insanity By Phil Mushnick Published March 7, 2026, 1:35 p.m. ET Magic City Nightclub on July 18, 2015 in Atlanta, Georgia. Getty Images Being a beneficent fellow, I to declare this Benefit of the Doubt Sunday.
So let’s say that Adam Silver was blindsided by this; he had no idea that the NBA’s Hawks had declared March 16 a “cultural” salute game to an “iconic” strip joint in Atlanta, replete with a vulgar, N-word chanting rapper and the sale of strip-club hoodies to commemorate the game and celebration.
But given more than a week to pull the plug on this malodorous idea — which would leave the NBA and the Hawks in disrepute, and relegate Silver to the legions of leaders without civilized conditions — the league has done nothing.
