Steve Ballmer: America's Knight in Shining, $2 Billion Armor

An entire generation of NBA players learned this the hard way after Michael Jordan retired from the league in 1999: In few realms does the "tough act to follow" idiom ring more true than the noisy, hyper-scrutinized and testosterone-laden world of sports

Successors are examined, criticized and endlessly compared to the demigods who came before them. It's a trap, but one that can't be avoided

Steve Ballmer, however, is poised to experience the opposite effect. If and when — despite Donald Sterling's alleged intention to sue the NBA for a $1 billion — he is eventually allowed to buy the Los Angeles Clippers for the whopping price tag of $2 billion, the former Microsoft CEO will be hailed as the sporting world's knight in shining armor, here to rescue a hamstrung franchise and outraged public from the ogre that is Sterling Read more...