- National Football League owners could be on the verge
of a catastrophic error in judgment. In a league that is 70 percent African-American,
an unapologetic racist is in talks to buy a team. Yes, Rush Limbaugh, along
with St. Louis Blues owner Dave Checketts, is close to buying the St. Louis
Rams. In his last NFL intervention, the man who claims "talent on
loan from God" lasted less than a month as an NFL commentator on ESPN
after saying the Philadelphia Eagles' Donavon McNabb was overrated because
the media wanted to see a black quarterback succeed.
-
- Limbaugh said to KMOX radio, "Dave and I are part
of a bid to buy the Rams, and we are continuing the process. But I can
say no more because of a confidentiality clause in our agreement with Goldman
Sachs." So Rush Limbaugh, champion of East Coast elite-bashing, is
in financial cahoots with bailout world champion Goldman Sachs.
-
- But financial scuzziness aside, Limbaugh's bid must be
stopped. The NFL owners have the power to nix any prospective owner, and
if they have a shred of conscience in their overfed, underworked bodies,
they should collectively veto Limbaugh's joining their exclusive club.
-
- This has nothing to do with Limbaugh's conservative politics.
Most NFL owners are to the right of Dick Cheney. Over the last twenty years,
officials on twenty-three of the thirty-two NFL clubs have donated more
money to Republicans than Democrats.
-
- Most of them are also anonymous figures on the sports
landscape. However, with Limbaugh at the helm, the face of one of the most
valuable sports properties in the world would officially be a person who
has a history of brazen contempt for people of African heritage.
-
- How can the NFL in good conscience embrace an owner who
once said , "The NFL all too often looks like a game between the Bloods
and the Crips without any weapons. There, I said it."
-
- In a league that has practiced historic partnerships
with the NAACP, how can you have an owner who has said, "The NAACP
should have riot rehearsal. They should get a liquor store and practice
robberies.:
-
- In a league with an all-white ownership and a paucity
of African Americans in front office positions, how can you have an owner
who says,
-
- "We didn't have slavery in this country for over
100 years because it was a bad thing. Quite the opposite: slavery built
the South. I'm not saying we should bring it back; I'm just saying it had
its merits. For one thing, the streets were safer after dark."
-
-
- In a league that has long had a mutually beneficial interaction
with whoever was occupying the oval office, how can you have an owner who
compares the President to a Nazi and says about " life in "Obama's
America" :
-
- "The white kids now get beat up with the black kids
cheering, 'Yay, right on, right on, right on, right on."'
-
- And finally, in a league made up of predominately African-American
athletes, how can you have an owner who says , "[Black people] are
12 percent of the population. Who the hell cares?"
-
- You might think that NFL players with their nonguaranteed
contracts and short shelf life may not be the first people to speak out
against Limbaugh. But you'd be wrong.
-
- New York Giant Mathias Kiwanuka said in the New York
Daily News , "I don't want anything to do with a team that he has
any part of. He can do whatever he wants; it is a free country. But if
it goes through, I can tell you where I am not going to play."
-
- McNabb said in his weekly press conference, "If
he's rewarded to buy them, congratulations to him. But I won't be in St.
Louis anytime soon."
-
- New York Jets linebacker Bart Scott said, "I can
only imagine how his players would feel.... He could offer me whatever
he wanted; I wouldn't play for him."
-
- In the NFL there has always been one code of conduct
for players and one for ownership. Retired player Roman Oben called out
the hypocrisy perfe ctly: "Character is a constant point of emphasis
for NFL and team officials when it comes to the players; potential owners
should be held to the same level of scrutiny and accountability."
-
- Oben is absolutely right. In a league where commissioner
Roger Goodell constantly drones on about "character," the idea
that a prominent bigot could rise to a position of power would be an example
of unforgivable hypocrisy. Tell your local NFL owner: you must flush Rush.
-
- [Dave Zirin is the author of "A People's History
of Sports in the United States" (The New Press) Receive his column
every week by emailing dave@edgeofsports.com. Contact him at edgeofsports@gmail.com
.]
|