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ATLANTA -- Less than one month after the Clippers sale ended Donald Sterlings ugly downfall, another NBA team is on the market following a racially charged disclosure from its owner. Atlanta Hawks co-owner Bruce Levenson said Sunday he is selling his controlling interest in the team, thanks in part to an inflammatory email he wrote two years ago. Levenson said he wrote the email in an attempt to bridge Atlantas racial sports divide. Instead, he offered his divisive comments, including his theory that Hawks black fans kept white fans away. Levenson said he regrets the email sent to the teams co-owners and general manager Danny Ferry in 2012 as inappropriate and offensive. In a statement released by the team, Levenson said he sent the email due to his concerns about low attendance and a need to attract suburban whites. He says he later realized the email made it seem white fans were more important. He voluntarily reported the email to the NBA. I have said repeatedly that the NBA should have zero tolerance for racism, and I strongly believe that to be true, Levenson said in the statement. That is why I voluntarily reported my inappropriate email to the NBA. After much long and difficult contemplation, I have decided that it is in the best interests of the team, the Atlanta community, and the NBA to sell my controlling interest in the Hawks franchise. NBA Commissioner Adam Silver said Sunday the league will work with the Hawks ownership group and CEO Steve Koonin, who now will oversee all team operations. Silver said the leagues independent investigation regarding the circumstances of Mr. Levensons comments in the email was ongoing when he was told Saturday night of Levensons plan to sell his share of the team. Silver said he supported Levensons decision. As Mr. Levenson acknowledged, the views he expressed are entirely unacceptable and are in stark contrast to the core principles of the National Basketball Association, Silver said. He shared with me how truly remorseful he is for using those hurtful words and how apologetic he is to the entire NBA family -- fans, players, team employees, business partners and fellow team owners -- for having diverted attention away from our game. I commend Mr. Levenson for self-reporting to the league office, for being fully co-operative with the league and its independent investigator, and for putting the best interests of the Hawks, the Atlanta community, and the NBA first. Sterling was forced to sell the Los Angeles Clippers after a recording surfaced in April of the owner scolding his girlfriend for bringing black men to Clippers games. Steve Ballmer officially became the teams new owner on Aug. 12. In the email sent in August 2012, Levenson said southern whites were uncomfortable at games. My theory is that the black crowd scared away the whites and there are simply not enough affluent black fans to build a significant season ticket base, Levenson said in the email released Sunday by the Hawks. Please dont get me wrong. There was nothing threatening going on in the arena back then. I never felt uncomfortable, but I think southern whites simply were not comfortable being in an arena or at a bar where they were in the minority. Levenson said Hawks crowds were 70 per cent black, the teams cheerleaders were black and hip-hop music was played. Then I start looking around at other arenas, Levenson said. It is completely different. According to the U.S. Census Bureau, Atlantas population was 54 per cent black and 38.4-per cent white in 2010. For metro Atlanta, the ratio is 55.4 per cent white and 32.4 per cent black. Levenson said he often heard fans say the area around Philips Arena in downtown Atlanta is dangerous. This was just racist garbage, Levenson said. When I hear some people saying the arena is in the wrong place I think it is code for there are too many blacks at the games. Though he said he disagreed with the conclusion, he said he told team executives to add white cheerleaders and music familiar to a 40-year-old white guy. Added Levenson in the email: I have even (complained) that the kiss cam is too black. Atlanta mayor Kasim Reed said the comments in Levensons email were reprehensible and offensive. The statements do not represent the city of Atlantas history of diversity and inclusion, and we will be clear and deliberate in denouncing and repudiating them, Reed said. I applaud the NBAs efforts to enforce a no-tolerance policy of discrimination. As a city, we will continue to stand behind the Atlanta Hawks organization as they work to find new ownership that reflects the values and ideals of a city that is too busy to hate. The Rev. Al Sharpton released a statement encouraging Silver to continue vetting all owners. The announcement by Bruce Levenson is welcomed and appropriate by those of us in the civil rights community, that raised the issue of Donald Sterlings need to be removed, and that other owners must be held accountable, Sharpton said. Though the NBA investigation of the email was ongoing, Levenson apparently concluded he couldnt continue in his ownership role. If youre angry about what I wrote, you should be, Levenson said in Sundays statement. Im angry at myself, too. It was inflammatory nonsense. We all may have subtle biases and preconceptions when it comes to race, but my role as a leader is to challenge them, not to validate or accommodate those who might hold them. This is not Levensons first effort to sell the team. In 2011, the Hawks ownership group, headed by Levenson and Michael Gearon Jr., made an unsuccessful attempt to sell to California developer and pizza chain owner Alex Meruelo. The group acquired the Hawks and the NHL Thrashers from Time Warner in 2004. 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Venable and Jeremy Hermida drove in three runs apiece, and the Padres beat the Colorado Rockies 7-2 on Sunday to snap a nine-game losing streak.Over the winter, we wrote about the Blue Jays coming to terms with a pair of pitchers who were trying to become knuckleballers. They were Josh Banks and Tomo Ohka. Banks had been a Blue Jays draft pick who had a brief stint with the club in 2007 before moving on to San Diego and then Houston, compiling a career record of 4-8. The other was Ohka, a journeyman from Japan who spent time with six organizations, including the Blue Jays in 2007, where he went 2-5. Ohka, who turns 38 next week, was already sent to the minor league camp last week. Now there is a third. Hes 30-year-old Frank Viola III. If the name is familiar, it should be. Hes the son of former big league star lefty, Frank Viola Jr. Frank Jr. had a very good career, predominantly with the Twins and the Mets. He was the MVP of the 1987 World Series - the Twins first win ever - and won the Cy Young Award in the American League the following season - his final full season with the Twins with a 24-7 season. Frank "Sweet Music" Viola, as he was affectionately known, is a member of the Twins Hall of Fame. Viola actually finished off his major league career in a short stop over with the Blue Jays in 1996. He went 1-3 for the Jays and ended his career on May 28 of that year. His son chased that major league dream as well and pitched in the White Sox organization thtough 2007 before injuries appeared to cut his career short. He dabbled in the media doing Florida State League games and even had his own fishing show, but Viola III never gave up his dream of pitching in the majors. The next step was trying to master the knuckleball. He worked with the likes of R,A Dickey, Tim Wakefield and Hall of Famer Phil Niekro and finally impressed the Blue Jays enough that they signed him last week. This doesnt necessarily mean the 30-year-old will make it to the big club. The Jays game plan is to have a knuckleballer or two in the minors to work with their catching prospects. That way, if they get called up to the Jays theyll be ready to work with Dickey without any major adjustment. Still, it would be great to see one of these knuckleballers eventually make it to the majors. Frank Viola Jr. incidentally is entering his second season as the pitching coach with the Mets Triple A farm club, the Las Vegas 51s. After writing about the passing of Dr. Frank Jobe, the man who pioneered Tommy John surgery last week, I discovered another interesting twist to the Tommy John story.dddddddddddd Back in 1968, in a game at old Tiger Stadium, John was pitching against Detroit. In the first inning he hit Dick McAuliffe with a pitch. He later scored on an RBI single by Al Kaline. When McAuliffe came up again in the third, threw one pitch high and tight and then a 3-2 pitch behind McAuliffes head that sent him sprawling in the dirt. When he got up he dusted himself off and started to head to first glancing out towards John. McAuliffe claims that John taunted him by saying "What the F are you looking at?" That was the final straw for McAuliffe and he charged the mound. John got into a defensive position and the knee of the charging McAuliffe dug into Johns left shoulder. He suffered a separated shoulder and torn shoulder ligaments and missed the rest of the season. McAuliffe was suspended for five games and was fined $250.00. The interesting thing about John is that he resisted the advice to have surgery and let the shoulder heal with rest and rehab. The plan worked, though it took a while for John to get back to peak efficiency. 1974 was different. When Tommy John blew out his elbow, he said his arm simply felt dead. This time he agreed to surgery, which not only changed his career but revolutionized baseball in terms of treating this type of elbow injury. The Detroit Tigers have made history over the last three years, winning five of the six major awards handed out. They have won three straight MVP awards - the last two by Miguel Cabrerra and three straight Cy Young awards. The Tigers have made the postseason in each of the last three years. The only other time the organization did that was in the hay day of Ty Cobb in 1907, 1908 and 1909 when they dropped three straight World Series - two to the Cubs and one to the Pirates. This season under rookie manager Brad Ausmus, they will be trying to make the playoffs for the fourth straight time and for the first time in franchise history. Over the weekend, Tigers GM Dave Dumbrowski denied rumours he was listening to offers for starting pitcher Rick Porcello. In fact, he denied trying to trade any of his starters. But considering the Tigers have question marks at 3rd base and left field, you have to wonder a bit. Its still a bit too early to get too excited or too worried about this but Baltimore is 8-2 so far this spring and is scoring nearly eight runs-again, even without a rehabbing Manny Machado (knee) at full strength. ' ' '