You can say that white player if over-rated and no one will bat an eye. Goodell is just another sorry self-hating reverse racist.
Rush Bids on Football Team, Exposes Bias
According to ESPN, DeMaurice Smith, executive director of the NFL Players Union, has sent a message in which he, with ugly insinuations, objects to a purchase of the St. Louis Rams by radio talk-show icon Rush Limbaugh.
“I’ve spoken to the commissioner and I understand that this ownership consideration is in the early stages. But sport in America is at its best when it unifies, gives all of us reason to cheer, and when it transcends. Our sport does exactly that when it overcomes division and rejects discrimination and hatred,” Smith wrote in an e-mail sent to the union executive committee.
Neither the NFL nor the players union has any role in deciding who does or does not get a football franchise.
Rather, the final decision is made by the 32 team owners who vote on the matter after the completion of a background check.
The Ram’s purchase price is reportedly in the neighborhood of $750 million.
Some in the sports media have already launched an attack on the transaction. A columnist for CBS’ Web site wrote a piece titled “NFL’s Greatest Nightmare,” in which he penned that his “head exploded after hearing this Limbaugh news.”
A USA Today reporter described Limbaugh as “controversial” and “polarizing.”
The sports media are jumping at the chance to kick around the idea of whether Limbaugh’s potential ownership position would be good thing for the team, fans, and the virtual stability of the planet.
A few NFL players have claimed that as African-Americans they would refuse to play for the St. Louis Rams if the radio personality were one of the owners.
Now a union official has decided to mouth off about something that’s not within the scope of his responsibilities.
Meanwhile when billionaire Mark Cuban bought the Dallas Mavericks, the press didn’t exactly give him the proverbial exam. In fact, some like-minded sports media pals may have grinned in private when Cuban, as a franchise owner, used his media holdings to distribute “Loose Change,” the independent Internet film that suggests some U.S. government officials may have staged the 9/11 attacks.
If Limbaugh qualifies under the rules and can meet the asking price, he should be able to become owner of the Rams. Period.
An NFL franchise is a property. A prospective buyer shouldn’t have to pass a political litmus test as part of an offer to purchase. That spells discrimination in other contexts.
Maybe it’s time we added “political affiliation” to the list.