There was a time when the National Football League ownership ranks were filled with hard hitting men. Guys who had played the game and knew how to take a hit. Now it is full of preening prima donnas who would rather play politics than football. Many of them are frustrated athletes or dilettantes whose daddies left them a football team in their wills. These armchair quarterbacks have proved their football and business ineptitude by fielding “professional” teams that go season after season with fewer wins than the fingers on the hand of an inept shop teacher.
Recently, conservative talk show host Rush Limbaugh was asked to bring his considerable financial help to a group trying to buy the St. Louis Rams in order to keep the team in St. Louis. Rush is a Missouri native and a huge fan of the game, so it seemed like a natural fit. Rush was to be a minority partner in the group. He wouldn’t be picking in the draft or calling plays, just putting his money up and perhaps switching his allegiance from his beloved Steelers to the lowly Rams.
The mention of Rush’s name is like nails on a chalkboard to some liberal elements in America. No opportunity to try to reduce his stature or influence on the political discussion is ignored. Any chance to stop anything Rush does is seen as a political statement. There is a far left-wing in the Democrat party that hates him and what he stands for so deeply that I think if Rush really wanted to stop the government takeover of health care all he would have to do is say that he supports it and those folks would assume it to be evil and walk away from their plans.
So when Rush was mentioned as a part of the group bidding to take over the Rams, the call was sounded on the far left. The usual suspects hurried to get in front of the cameras and denounce Mr. Limbaugh with lies and misquotes. Under political pressure, the NFL owners folded like the Lions’ defense and chose anti-Semites and race pimps for their new minority partners rather than a man who worked for his money. The excuse given was that Rush was too divisive a figure to be involved with the NFL. As if having Keith “Overbearing” Olbermann on the sidelines or the press box as an official part of the game isn’t enough to make a large percentage of NFL fans consider switching over to the figure skating on another network. There seems to be a bit of bias against conservatives in the NFL, and even though a number of RINO’s and country club Republicans own teams. Not a single owner spoke up for Rush, not one.
Don’t misunderstand, I believe it is the NFL owners’ proverbial ball and they are free to do as they wish. They want to pick appeasing the left over allowing Rush a few shares of a team, that’s their business. I won’t even get into the people that already own teams or parts of teams and what their backgrounds may be.
However, the next time they come to me and ask for my support to buy a ticket, watch a game or vote for a bond issue for a stadium, they can ask someone else. As of today, for me, the NFL no longer exists. I am thinking that there are a lot of folks who feel the same way. This past Sunday I watched no NFL football. You know what? I’m still alive! Next Sunday I don’t know what I’ll be doing but it will be something besides watching the NFL.
Join me if you wish and maybe we can show the owners how capitalism works.