NEWS: Donnie Nelson sues Dallas Mavericks

[ItsGoTime]

The following story is 100% true.

In 2010, I attended a job fair for the Texas Legends at Dr. Pepper Arena.  I was already employed, but saw this as an opportunity to see what positions were available and gage the potential, however remote it was, at starting on the ground floor of a basketball franchise.

After arriving I realized this was essentially just two lines of people dropping off resumes and that the Legends were really only looking for people to sell tickets on commission or be vendors during games. I wasn't interested in either, but, "No harm, no foul", it was interesting to just explore. In fact, Mike Fisher was there and I introduced myself as both my regular name and as "Rasheed". If you know our adversarial history, it was a funny ten seconds.

However, just as I had dropped off my resume and was preparing to leave, Donnie Nelson came in. Quickly, I noticed he was much taller than I realized, which was heightened by the cowboy boots he was wearing. Donnie was chatting with a fellow executive and a couple of other applicants. I am never one to shy away from meeting new people so I introduced myself.

For the next few minutes we chatted. He asked me about my experience and I gave him some information about a bar I had owned and had recently sold. It was then that he said, "You know, you are really good looking." I smiled, took it as a quick compliment and let it roll off (I don't say this to be cocky, but in my past I've modeled and been told this before.)

The four of us continued talking about basketball and business, when, suddenly, Donnie interjected, "No, you're like really good looking." The conversation stopped awkwardly for a moment, but continued on. Then about a minute later Donnie looked at me and said, "I mean, you look like a movie star."  It was at this point that it was just weird.  This, after all, was essentially a job interview and there was no place for the repeated comments.   Hey, had this just been at a "Fan Jam" and we were just hanging out, then cool. If we were just two guys at a bar, that's cool as well.  But it was out of place and, by the third comment, I could see the others thought so as well.

Do I feel like I missed out on a job because of how this conversation may or may not have gone? No.  But it was certainly odd and, as the Mavericks repeated history of harassment has come out over the years, that conversation has always played in my head. If Donnie was as casual with comments like that and he was in a leadership position, what example does that set?  Again, as someone who's owned a business, I would NEVER make repeated comments on someone's appearance.

Hey, you can take or leave this story, but I just thought I'd finally share this.

You ARE really freakishly good looking!