LOS ANGELES -- The Clippers moved on from months of ugliness Tuesday, with Steve Ballmer officially becoming the teams new owner in a record US$2 billion sale that ousted Donald Sterling as the NBAs longest-tenured owner. Sterling bought the team in 1981 for $12 million and presided over decades of losing seasons before engaging in a fierce legal battle with his estranged wife to hold on to his most prized asset. The team said the sale closed after a Los Angeles court confirmed the authority of Shelly Sterling, on behalf of the Sterling Family Trust, to sell the franchise to the former Microsoft CEO. The NBA Board of Governors had previously approved the sale. "Really excited -- in a pretty hardcore way -- to continue the path to making the Clippers a better and better basketball team, and a better and better citizen of the Los Angeles community," Ballmer told The Associated Press in a phone interview. The bizarre drama began in April when a recording surfaced of Donald Sterling scolding his girlfriend for bringing black men to Clippers games. The audio spurred the NBA to ban Sterling for life and fine him $2.5 million. Sterling was apologetic after the audio recording went viral, but his mea culpa backfired when he criticized Lakers great Magic Johnson, who had been photographed with Sterlings girlfriend, as a bad role model for kids because he had HIV. The 80-year-old real estate mogul was roundly condemned from locker rooms to the Oval Office, where President Barack Obama called Sterlings remarks "incredibly offensive racist statements." With the NBA threatening to seize the team and auction it, Sterling initially gave his wife of 58 years permission to negotiate a sale but then refused to sign the Ballmer deal. He said he would sue the league instead and then revoked the trust, which his lawyers said effectively killed the deal. Shelly Sterling removed Donald as a trustee after doctors found he had symptoms of Alzheimers disease. Adam Streisand, Ballmers lawyer, said Tuesday that Superior Court Judge Michael Levanas signed the order authorizing the sale even if Donald Sterlings attorneys filed an appeal. He said even if Donald Sterling seeks an emergency order directing the judge to vacate his order, the lawyer is confident an appellate court would agree that Levanas made the correct decision. Donald Sterlings lawyers werent immediately available to comment. The sale ends some troubling concerns that had surrounded the team in recent months. Doc Rivers would possibly have quit as coach if Sterling remained the owner, interim CEO Richard Parsons had testified. All-Star point guard Chris Paul, who also is president of the Players Association, might have sat out and convinced other players to join him. Sponsors who already started to flee after the Donald Sterling recording was released might have stayed away for good. None of that appears to be a problem with Ballmer taking over what could be a powerhouse team next season. By agreeing to the record purchase price, hes already proven hes willing to spend in contrast to the famously frugal Sterling, long regarded as the worst owner in the NBA. "The topic of conversation with Doc earlier was to focus in on what does it take and how can I help support him in achieving our mutual mission and in a pretty intense way continue to improve, be tenacious," Ballmer said. "If we do all that, good things will come our way." Ballmer was nearly an NBA owner last year before owners chose to keep the Kings in Sacramento, rather than allow them to be sold to a group that included Ballmer and moved to Seattle. Now hes got his own team to share with his wife and three sons. "Were a family that likes basketball," he told the AP. Ballmer said he fell in love with the sport as a seventh-grader in his hometown of Detroit. He was manager of his high school team, which included keeping statistics. Two of his sons have played the game, while the youngest has been a statistician for his high school team in the Seattle area, where the family lives. Ballmer said he hopes to attend a lot of Clippers games next season. He said Parsons has agreed to stay on as CEO for the interim. "That gives me a chance to figure this all out," he said. Ballmer wants to put the controversy in the past and focus the team on being "a great citizen in the community for a diverse set of folks," including the NBAs predominantly black players. "Were going to do our best on that," he said. "I know that is high on Docs list, its high on my list to do that. We also have to be a phenomenal basketball team, play really well as a team and have great success on court. Were going to work on all those things." Ballmer agreed to give Shelly Sterling the title of "owner emeritus." "I am confident that Steve will bring the city a championship team in the very near future," she said. NFL Jerseys Wholesale .com) - Sporting Kansas City announced Thursday that club has signed former on-loan midfielder Jimmy Medranda to a permanent contract from Colombian side Deportivo Pereira. Wholesale Nike NFL Jerseys .com) - Pavel Datsyuk and Gustav Nyquist both scored in the shootout as the Detroit Red Wings denied the Minnesota Wilds comeback bid with a 5-4 win on Tuesday. http://www.wholesalechinajerseyscheapnfl.com/. Anaheim Ducks Reassign D Colby Robak to Norfolk Admirals (AHL). - Team Website D Eric Brewer (foot) removed from injured reserve. NFL Jerseys Cheap Authentic . Join World Soccer Pickem 2014 for your chance to win $5,500 in cash prizes by picking the winner of each game all the way through to the tournament final. 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The 31-year-old Okubo, last seasons top scorer in the J-League, made the squad despite having only been called up once by Zaccheroni since the Italian took over from 2010 World Cup coach Takeshi Okada. His eight goals this season for Kawasaki Frontale made it difficult for Zaccheroni to leave him off the squad. Forward Yoichiro Kakitani, who scored 21 goals in 34 games last season but has only one goal in 12 games for Cerezo Osaka this sseason, was among 11 J-League players included in the squad.dddddddddddd Japan, which co-hosted the World Cup with South Korea in 2002, is preparing for its fifth consecutive World Cup campaign and faces Ivory Coast, Greece and Colombia in Group C. ___ Squad: Goalkeepeers: Eiji Kawashima (Standard Liege), Shusaku Nishikawa (Urawa Reds), Shuichi Gonda (FC Tokyo) Defenders: Masahiko Inoha (Jubilo Iwata), Yasuyuki Konno (Gamba Osaka), Yuto Nagatomo (Inter Milan), Masato Morishige (FC Tokyo), Atsuto Uchida (Schalke), Maya Yoshida (Southampton), Hiroki Sakai (Hannover), Gotoku Sakai (Stuttgart) Midfielders: Yasuhito Endo (Gamba Osaka), Makoto Hasebe (Nuremberg), Toshihiro Aoyama (Sanfrecce Hiroshima), Hotaru Yamaguchi (Cerezo Osaka) Forwards: Keisuke Honda (AC Milan), Yoshito Okubo (Kawasaki Frontale), Shinji Okazaki (Mainz), Shinji Kagawa (Manchester United), Hiroshi Kiyotake (Nuremberg), Yoichiro Kakitani (Cerezo Osaka), Manabu Saito (Yokohama F Marinos), Yuya Osako (1860 Munich) ' ' '