I spent last weekend at a family wedding in Missouri. It was a nice
wedding, but, sadly, my family is going through a bit of a rough patch.
It started a little over a week ago, when the St. Louis Cardinals were
ignominiously booted from the baseball playoffs by the Los Angeles
Dodgers. On that same tragic night, our beloved and then-undefeated
Mizzou Tigers suffered a humiliating defeat by Nebraska. (On a side
note, did you know that the “N” on the Nebraska helmets stands for
“Knowledge”?)
Then, as if having the St. Louis Rams go winless wasn’t bad enough,
my family’s favorite NFL team became embroiled in political controversy when a group that included conservative radio-talker Rush Limbaugh attempted to buy the franchise.
Limbaugh is a Missourian, and for many years he was a subject my
family and I didn’t discuss. They listened to him every day and liked
him. I thought — and think — he’s a self-inflating
douchebag. But recently, El Rushbo has fallen from favor with my mostly conservative family. I’m not totally sure why, but this makes me happy. We can make fun of him together, a family bonding experience if ever there was one.
At any rate, the NFL owners quickly quashed the idea of Limbaugh
becoming a team owner. They didn’t see the benefit of allowing into
their millionaire’s club a man who has trashed their league as a “Crips
versus Bloods” gang fight and made numerous other racially insensitive remarks, including suggesting that Super Bowl quarterback Donovan McNabb was overrated because the “liberal mass media” wanted a black quarterback to succeed.
But rather than admit that his own words and deeds might have scared off the NFL owners, Limbaugh blamed … President Obama? Yep. And I quote: “The Obama people have got their hooks in the NFL now.”
This is beyond moronic. And hypocritical in the extreme. The NFL
owners are rich, white businessmen. They didn’t want Rush in their club because they knew it would be bad for their business. They knew
Limbaugh’s presence would generate controversy and tick off most of the league’s players (their employees) and many of its fans. It was a
business decision, and Limbaugh knows it.
As a football fan, Limbaugh should be well aware that — in
life and football — personal fouls draw a penalty.
