Posts Tagged ‘NFL’

Bob Parks

Commisioner Goodell, Is THIS Divisive?

by Bob Parks

NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell spoke out against Rush Limbaugh’s being a potential minority owner of the St. Louis Rams because he was “divisive”. Since then, two minority owners of the Miami Dolphins (Jennifer Lopez and Fergie) have engaged in present and past conduct that could be considered divisive, but nothing that caught the attention of Goodell or the NFL.

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How about this…?

Let’s Get Retarded
This song was remixed for The Black Eyed Peas’ fifth studio album The E.N.D. as “Let’s Get Re-Started. “Retarded” is considered a derogatory term for the mentally impaired, making the song unsuitable for play on some radio stations and at sports games. In 2004 the song’s lyrics were edited and “Let’s Get It Started” found its way onto radio airwaves, movie soundtracks, and video games.

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Posted Feb 7th 2010 at 4:04 pm in Culture | 43 Comments

Joe Escalante

NFL Vs. American Needle; Sherman Act, Schmerman Act

by Joe Escalante
GOOD NEWS: Joe did not play the McCotter card!
NFL Vs. American Needle; Sherman Act, Schmerman Act
Soon the U.S. Supreme Court will hear an important anti-trust case to decide to what extent the NFL can conduct itself as a single entity in negotiating certain agreements or if it must operate as 32 individual entities.
I don’t have a problem with the Sherman Anti-Trust act. It prevents companies from doing things like charging a penny for a gallon of milk in a certain territory, driving out all competitors, then raising the price of milk to a million dollars. Muwhahahahaha!!!!!
However, the Act has also made me lose interest in professional sports. You can interpret the Act to prevent Ron Cey, Davy Lopes, Steve Garvey and Steve Sax from being forced to stay in the same infield together forever all you want, but it still made baseball a lot worse for me at least.
It helped make millionaire ball players into potential billionaires, and there are a lot of lower tier ball players that went from lower middle class to millionaire; but I’m more concerned about the irritating sight of Garvey in a Padre uniform, or Eric Dickerson playing for the Colts.
There are decent arguments on both sides of this issue and the New Orleans Saints QB Drew Brees lays out the NFL player’s view in Sunday’s Washington Post. His points fall flat with me however. I’m not concerned about whether a hat maker gets to make NFL hats or if they have to make hats for someone else. I fail to see how I benefit if NFL players get to drive up their salaries through this kind of competition and play for different teams every couple years if they choose.
Free and unfettered competition is always a compelling argument but it hasn’t made these sports better. I know the arguments. I took all the anti-trust classes in law school, somehow I got published in the field, but the truth is that the Act’s application to sports has made sports worse.
What has the fan gained from all this free agency? Spoiled players with guns, bad tattoos, bling, steroids, and high ticket prices?” Is this what they we’re fighting for? I’m glad the court is taking a second look at this. My free advice to the players is that before they gain sympathy by griping about the Sherman Act, they will need to clean up their own act. oooooh. Sick burn!

Soon the U.S. Supreme Court will hear an important anti-trust case to decide to what extent the NFL can conduct itself as a single entity in negotiating certain agreements or if it must operate as 32 individual entities.

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I don’t have a problem with the Sherman Anti-Trust act. It prevents companies from doing things like charging a penny for a gallon of milk in a certain territory, driving out all competitors, then raising the price of milk to a million dollars. (Muwhahahahaha!!!!!)

However, the Act has also made me lose interest in professional sports. You can interpret the Act to prevent Ron Cey, Davy Lopes, Steve Garvey and Steve Sax from being forced to stay in the same infield together forever all you want, but it still made baseball a lot worse for me at least.

It helped make millionaire ball players into potential billionaires, and there are a lot of lower tier ball players that went from lower middle class to millionaire; but I’m more concerned about the irritating sight of Garvey in a Padre uniform, or Eric Dickerson playing for the Colts.

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Posted Jan 16th 2010 at 3:41 pm in Justice/Legal, News | 30 Comments

Publius

NOW They Tell Us: Media Matters Comes Clean Over Rush Smears

by Publius

The Radio Equalizer blog has published audio of Media Matter’s Karl Frisch admitting to Stephanie Miller on liberal talk radio that Rush Limbaugh never made the two famous racist statements defending slavery and praising Martin Luther King Jr. assassin James Earl Ray.  These statements were resurrected and proliferated by the media once it became known that Limbaugh was pursuing part ownership of the NFL’s St. Louis Rams:


FRISCH: You know, in fairness to Rush, those two out of literally dozens of racist things were not necessarily accurate. We were never able to find them. We’ve had people call us trying to find it. We don’t know where they came from. They could just be Internet apparitions. But you know, that being said, anyone who wants to know how racist he is, we’re happy to give them other examples.

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Posted Oct 21st 2009 at 6:18 pm in Uncategorized | 34 Comments

Michael Franzese

Rush or Reverend Al?… Will the Real Racist Please Stand Up?

by Michael Franzese

Like everyone else who is a fan of the NFL, I have heard of the recent firestorm over Rush Limbaugh being ousted by Roger Goodell in his bid to become part owner of the St Louis Rams. Apparently Limbaugh has been accused of being racist in some way towards African American players.

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I listen to Limbaugh’s radio show quite a bit and as a result I know he is a huge fan of the NFL. That’s the very reason why these charges of racism just don’t sit well with me. Common sense alone would lead a reasonable person to question how such a huge fan of the NFL, or of any professional sport for that matter, could be racist towards the very players whose tremendous talents and athleticism create the excitement that contributes to one’s being such a huge fan of the sport. It’s just not logical. There is no denying that Limbaugh is a lightning rod for controversy. There is also no denying that he makes statements that some people might find offensive. Even he doesn’t deny that. But to charge him with racism towards the very players he loves to watch and was willing to invest his money in, just doesn’t make sense. (more…)

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Posted Oct 20th 2009 at 2:45 pm in News | 91 Comments

Mike Flynn

The Mau-Mauing of Rush

by Mike Flynn

Rush took to the pages of the Wall Street Journal to address the mau-mauing that scuttled his NFL dreams. Personally, I’m a little mystified why Rush would want to own part of a football team. Oversized, preening and pampered athletes set in strictly defined roles and running elaborately orchestrated “plays” designed by a full bureaucracy of coaches seems, frankly, I dunno…unAmerican.  Quite unlike the other football, where there are no plays, few coaches and wide latitude for individual initiative and improvisation. (How did we get stuck with the collectivist top-down heavy sport?) But, to each his own.

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Of course the NFL is a private institution which can invite–or deny–whomever they’d like to join their owners’ club. But the manner in which Rush was sidelined is, at best, distasteful and definitely more than a little troubling. Alas, it was also utterly predictable. To wit:

Shortly thereafter, the media elicited comments from the likes of Al Sharpton. In 1998 Mr. Sharpton was found guilty of defamation and ordered to pay $65,000 for falsely accusing a New York prosecutor of rape in the 1987 Tawana Brawley case. He also played a leading role in the 1991 Crown Heights riot (he called neighborhood Jews “diamond merchants”) and 1995 Freddie’s Fashion Mart riot.

Not to be outdone, Jesse Jackson, whose history includes anti-Semitic speech (in 1984 he referred to Jews as “Hymies” and to New York City as “Hymietown” in a Washington Post interview) chimed in. He found me unfit to be associated with the NFL. I was too divisive and worse.

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Posted Oct 17th 2009 at 1:57 pm in Culture, Obama, Politics | 79 Comments

Publius

**Breaking**: ESPN Reports Limbaugh To Be Dropped From Group Bidding to Buy St. Louis Rams

by Publius

From ESPN.com:

Rush Limbaugh is expected to be dropped from a group bidding to buy the St. Louis Rams, according to three NFL sources.

Dave Checketts, chairman of the NHL’s St. Louis Blues and the point man in the Limbaugh group attempting to buy the Rams, realizes he must remove the controversial conservative radio host from his potential role as a minority member in the group in order to get approval from other NFL owners, the sources said.

Three-quarters of the league’s 32 owners would have to approve any sale to Limbaugh and his group. Earlier this week, Indianapolis Colts owner Jim Irsay predicted that Limbaugh’s potential bid would be met by significant opposition. Several players have also voiced their displeasure with Limbaugh’s potential ownership position, and NFL Players Association head DeMaurice Smith, who is black, urged players to speak out against Limbaugh’s bid.

Ultimately, the sources said, Checketts must reconfigure his group and find another investor to make his bid more viable.

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Posted Oct 14th 2009 at 2:06 pm in Politics | 161 Comments

Kurt Schlichter

Rushing To Trouble

by Kurt Schlichter

I hate football. Not as much as I detest baseball and basketball and NASCAR, but the mere thought of sitting in a stadium watching a football match or game or whatever it’s called makes me dream of the sweet release of death. So when I heard that Rush Limbaugh wanted to buy one of these teams or crews or squadrons or whatever they are called, I shook my head. If I had a couple hundred loose mil to spend, it would be on a tropical island, not a bunch of ‘roided-up dudes bashing into each other and preempting my favorite shows. But its Rush’s money and this is America.

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Well, it was America. Apparently, that’s changed in the last few days because now it appears that Rush cannot be allowed to spend his own money as he wants to because his political views are unsatisfactory. He’s conservative, and therefore the rights, privileges and immunities or any other American citizen no longer appear apply to him. Just ask Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee (D-Texas), who urged the NFL not to allow Rush’s bid to buy some team (The Rams? The Raiders? The Yankees? I really don’t follow this stuff).

Let me get this straight, because this is more disturbing than the thought of having to attend a hockey doubleheader: An American political leader is demanding that a private business not do business with an American citizen because she does not approve of his politics.

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Posted Oct 14th 2009 at 12:30 pm in Culture, News, Politics | 119 Comments

Derek Hunter

A Rush to Judgement: Limbaugh and the NFL Players Union

by Derek Hunter

As soon as news broke that Rush Limbaugh was mentioned as part of one of the groups interested in purchasing the St. Louis Rams I knew it was only a matter of time before someone in a position of influence lost their tongue and came out against it on grounds unrelated to NFL ownership. The grounds upon which ownership of a pro-sports franchise should be determined is whether or not they can pay the bills the team already owes and whether or not the owners can and will make the investments necessary to improve the team’s financial situation and nothing more.  But that’s not good enough for the man whose tongue could no longer remain calm, NFL Players executive director DeMaurice Smith.

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On Saturday, Smith sent an email to the union’s executive committee attacking Limbaugh on the grounds that he doesn’t bring people together enough to successfully join the NFL family.  Smith wrote:

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.

In reading Smith’s email you would think NFL some random island of harmony and peace.  If you’ve read a sports section in the last few decades you’d know Utopia on the gridiron is as elusive as anywhere else, except perhaps Hollywood’s fictional Cuba.

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Posted Oct 12th 2009 at 2:07 pm in Big Labor, Politics | 142 Comments