Donald Trump's latest, shall we say, misadventures cast new light on the man who many support to be the next president of the United States. Considering his indiscretions, his election would be more shocking than his deeds.
It takes a bit of history to see Trump has a past as a sports owner that is, shall we say, as interesting as his present, and that includes his treatment of women.
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Those who ignore history …
Legions of sports fans have no idea that Trump was owner of a professional football team. Not in the NFL, a bastion of staid conservatives that smacks of a gentlemen's club.
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Trump owned the New Jersey Generals of the USFL, a secondary league that lasted all of three seasons, 1983-85, before folding before its 1986 season.
There are many stories about Trump as a football team owner, and they include his treatment of women.
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Trump isn't alone in being, shall we say, a Neanderthal in his ways with women. Before delving into Trump's football story, it's instructional to review the actions of two other team owners: Donald Sterling and George Shinn.
Their stories are far more sordid in their treatment of women.
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Donald Sterling
Worth a reported $3.4 billion, Sterling offers echoes of Trump. He was a self-made man (which Trump claims to be) and got his money in real estate (which is Trump's supposed business prowess).
Sterling owned the NBA's Los Angeles Clippers … but a was forced out of the league after comments revealed in his affair with one V. Stiviano, who was his mistress.
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Sterling was recorded making racist remarks to Stiviano, whom Sterling's wife claims seduced him and got him to give her assets that belonged to Donald and Shelly Sterling.
"Everything that I have you've given me from your heart without me begging or asking or throwing myself all over you," Stiviano said in a recording played at a 2015 trial. In that trial, Shelly Sterling sought and got the return of millions in property her husband lavished on Stiviano. The loot included cars, cash and a $1.8 million duplex.
Stiviano, by the way, identifies herself as black and Latina.
Sterling courtside with Stiviano (Getty Images)
Once the NBA got wind of Sterling telling Stiviano not to associate with black people, whom he degraded, the league banned him for life and fined him $2.5 million.
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Donald and Shelly Sterling were married for nearly six decades when the scandal broke. He was 80; Stiviano was in her late 20s.
Shelly has reconciled with Donald, but she sold the Clippers to Steve Ballmer in 2014. Donald failed in a bid to regain ownership.
Stiviano, according to New York magazine, was born María Vanessa Perez and changed her name in 2010. She also went by Monica Gallegos, Vanessa Perez and Maria Valdez.
Sterling was no stranger to problems regarding race. He tangled with the government in two federal cases involving treatment of minorities in housing, and he was sued by NBA legend Elgin Baylor in 2009. Baylor's allegations of racial discrimination were dropped and other claims were rejected by a jury.
George Shinn
Also a self-made man, Sterling bought the NBA's Charlotte Hornets in in 1987. He also owned minor league baseball teams and failed in an attempt to own an NHL expansion franchise.
George Shinn in 2008 (Getty Images)
He built his wealth from humble beginnings through purchases and sale of educational institutions. At one point, he was worth more than $100 million. In the end, he told The Charlotte Observer in 2008: "I messed up."
His troubles involved sexual misconduct. He was tried on sexual assault charges in 1999. While a jury sided with him in that trial, he admitted in court to sexual relationships outside his marriage.
The relations led to Shinn's decision to move the Hornets to New Orleans. The current NBA Hornets were an expansion team originally named the Bobcats. The current NBA team in New Orleans became the Pelicans in 2013 and returned use of the name Hornets to the Charlotte franchise.
The Hornets were Shinn's primary business during 22 years of ownership. He sold the team after a successful fight against prostate cancer.
The 1997 case involved allegations that Shinn kidnapped a woman and forced her to perform a sexual act. He claimed the incident was consensual. The jury agreed.
In a 1999 retrial, with live coverage on Court TV, Shinn admitted to a sexual relationship with a Hornets cheerleader.
Ostensibly, Shinn left town because Charlotte officials wouldn't give him more money for the team's arena. Voters rejected a new-arena proposal.
Charlotte-based Creative Loafing, a weekly magazine, listed Shinn's indiscretions among celebrity affairs in the city. Figures included a high-ranking Army general, a former U.S. senator and vice presidential candidate, and a nationally known televangelist.
In 1998, The Village Voice put Shinn and Sterling in a list of infamous team owners it called the "billionaire boys club."
An ESPN article in 2005 might have nailed the man with its headline, Shameless Hornet: George Shinn.
Donald Trump
Trump owned the USFL's Generals during its final two seasons, spending heavily, exerting influence in player acquisitions and building his image. But as he did, media members learned Trump knew little about football.
Trump in 1989 with then-wife Ivanka (Getty Images)
That cheerleader became actress Lisa Edelstein. In a 2015 article on the Huffington Post website, Edelstein said she was a teenager at the time on a squad of women in their 20s and 30s. Because she was under legal age, she wasn't involved in some of the more unsavory deeds the women were asked to do.
"They were being asked to do these signings in their little uniforms in these sleazy bars all over the place, and they weren't protected and they were feeling really unsafe and uncared for and just sort of thrown into these environments," Edelstein said in the interview.
The SI article also noted that Trump wanted to buy an NFL team, reportedly the Baltimore Colts.