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Who'll Play For Rush?
I haven't really paid too much attention to the news of Rush Limbaugh's bid to buy the St. Louis Rams, but former NFL wide receiver Keenan McCardell's post at the Washington Post caught my eye:
All the players would remember what he said about Donovan McNabb -- what got him fired from ESPN. It's a crazy thing, but it's hard to change what you said once you said it -- hard to get guys to forget and trust again. Sometimes your words speak louder than what you're trying to do.
I don't know how any black football player is supposed to feel comfortable playing for the kind of guy who might talk about them like this -- or in general talks the way Limbaugh does about black people, let alone black football players. If the coaching staff doesn't treat the team's black players poorly, is Limbaugh going to accuse them of "bending over and grabbing his ankles"?
Everyone needs a paycheck. But good luck finding top-tier talent that wants to play for someone who thinks like this. Limbaugh owning the Rams is such a bad idea that I'm at a loss for an analogy. In fact, the next time I think of a really bad idea, I'm probably going to compare it to Limbaugh owning the Rams.
via Oliver Willis.
-- A. Serwer
COMMENTS (5)
I think it is an interesting idea. It might bring a true perspective on Limbaugh's popularity. Can he bring enough ditto-heads to fill the stadium? Can he fill the roster with only white players? My bet is after a year with Limbaugh as owner the team would be up for sale again for pennies.
Posted by: Michael Fisher | October 8, 2009 9:53 AM
Limbaugh owning the Rams is such a bad idea that I'm at a loss for an analogy.
Marge Schott owning the Cincinnati Reds was just about as bad. (Schott once referred to an African-American player as "my million-dollar n****r.")
Posted by: Josh G. | October 8, 2009 11:27 AM
The top tier talent doesn't care what the man at the helm says or thinks. Top tier talent only cares about one thing: money.
All Limbaugh has to do is pay better than other teams in the league and he'd have plenty of top tier talent. It's that simple.
That said, owning a football team is generally a losing proposition for the owner, money-wise. If Limbaugh wants to waste his money on a football team, let him.
Posted by: Rob | October 8, 2009 1:04 PM
Josh, shile this is clearly different, I'm sort of amused at how much that sounds like something a rapper would say.
Posted by: Neil the Ethical Werewolf | October 11, 2009 12:11 PM
Rush would be a throwback to the golden age of the NFL:
Marshall was a very hands-on owner. For most of his tenure as the team's owner, he frequently micromanaged the team...
However, he is best known for his intractable opposition to having African-Americans on his roster. According to professor Charles Ross, "For 24 years Marshall was identified as the leading racist in the NFL".[2] Though the league had previously had a sprinkling of black players, blacks were excluded from all NFL teams just one year after Marshall entered the league.
Ross asserts that Marshall propelled the NFL to institute a "color barrier" akin to that of its baseball brethren. As a result of Marshall's prodding, owners like the Pittsburgh Steelers' Art Rooney (who had hired a black player on his first team and strongly professed his belief that black and white were equal to him) and the Chicago Bears' George Halas (who also believed that blacks should be able to play), fell into line. Of course, no one openly admitted that a racial line existed, but it was apparent that it did. Indeed, years later, Halas remained defensive of the thinly veiled policy. "The game," claimed the legendary league founder and coach, "didn't have the appeal to black players at the time." Hence, from 1934 through the 1945 season, blacks, excluded from the NFL, were forced to settle for less than financially-rewarding exhibitions or semi-pro leagues.
While the rest of the league began signing individual blacks in 1946 and actually drafting blacks in 1949, Marshall held out until 1962 before signing a black player. Moreover, the signing only came when Interior Secretary Stewart Udall issued an ultimatum – unless Marshall signed a black player, the government would revoke the Redskins' 30-year lease on the year-old D.C. Stadium (now Robert F. Kennedy Memorial Stadium), which had been paid for by government money and was owned by the Washington city government (which, then and now, is formally an arm of the federal government). Marshall's chief response was to make Ernie Davis, Syracuse's all-American running back, his number-one draft choice for 1962. Davis, however, demanded a trade, saying, "I won't play for that S.O.B." He got his wish, as the team sent him to Cleveland for All-Pro Bobby Mitchell.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/George_Preston_Marshall
Posted by: commie atheist | October 12, 2009 2:07 PM