You remember the rabid enthusiasm.
You remember the incantations of "developers, developers, developers[1]."
And you try to forget how he laughed at the idea that Apple could make a successful phone[2].
Steve Ballmer's life has surely been interesting, if not always garlanded with absolute success.
This week, however, the former Microsoft[3] CEO ascended to a place that few may have imagined.
In a poll of senior people in and around the NBA, Ballmer was voted the best owner in basketball.
The poll, conducted by The Athletic[4], saw Ballmer rise far above the rim of NBA ownership, ascending to a level of respect few might have imagined when he first bought the Los Angeles Clippers a mere six years ago.
The Clippers, after all, were a joke. A bad, sad joke. They were owned by Donald Sterling, who was banned for life by the NBA for racist comments[5]. They were also a routinely terrible team, where players went to wilt. Only in the last couple of years of Sterling's ownership did they begin to show signs of (playing) competence.
Yet Ballmer wafted in, offered ever more ludicrously peculiar bodily movements during games[6], and went about creating something respectable and even admirable.
Their playoff record remains disappointing. They haven't gone beyond the conference semi-finals.
In The Athletic's survey, however, Ballmer is described as an owner who "will spend unapologetically and pays," which sounds like only some tech executives I know.
Moreover, according to a scout, Ballmer "lets his people do their jobs." Not the worst advice for a tech executive, that. But we'll return to the idea of