Why Denying Rush Limbaugh NFL Ownership Will Not Be Easy

(Photo by Marc Feldman/Getty Images)

It is widely known that Rush Limbaugh along with St. Louis Blues owner Dave Checketts is part of a group to buy the St. Louis Rams if the team is for sale. This has set off a firestorm of players and the union against this purchase.

To be fair to all parties lets break this down from every perspective. First let’s look at Limbaugh and his radio and political stance.

Rush is a conservative, a Republican and a vocal opponent of sitting President Barack Obama. I have never met Limbaugh, but I have listened to his radio show.

Say what you want about him and his view points, but he does his job well. This makes people who listen love him and hate him.

To me Rush comes off as a wrestling character in the WWE. He does and says things to get a reaction out of people.

Radio Limbaugh might not be the real life Limbaugh. The man gets ratings from his show by the character he plays on radio.

That doesn’t mean radio Limbaugh and real life Limbaugh do not think alike. Unless you have met the man in real life you do not know.

Limbaugh has had his run-ins with the NFL. There were his comments on Donovan McNabb and the way NLF players looked. Here is a look at two of the more famous quotes Rush is known for:

"I don't think he's [Donovan McNabb] been that good from the get-go.  I think what we've had here is a little social concern in the NFL.  I think the media has been very desirous that a black quarterback do well.  They're interested in black coaches and black quarterbacks doing well.  I think there's a little hope invested in McNabb and he got a lot of credit for the performance of his team that he really didn't deserve.  The defense carried this team."

This was Limbaugh’s statement about Donovan McNabb after he was hired to be on Sunday NFL Countdown on ESPN. Rush gave an opinion like he was hired to do and there is nothing in that statement that is racist.

The whole city of Philadelphia at times—let me rephrase—since he was drafted, has not thought McNabb was a quarterback that could take them to a Super Bowl victory. In fact Eagles fans booed when he was drafted.

All Rush said was McNabb’s success was manufactured by the media. Limbaugh never said black quarterbacks are bad or they could not play quarterback. He did say the media in this politically correct country wanted black quarterback and coaches to do well.

ESPN hired Limbaugh to give opinions and when he gave one and it was totally blown out of context ESPN threw him under the bus. McNabb has never been the conversation of greatest quarterbacks of all time and never will.

Say what you want there is nothing in the statement above that is racist against McNabb or black quarterbacks. What Limbaugh was basically saying was that McNabb is overrated.

Limbaugh’s other statement made on his radio show:

“Look, let me put it to you this way: the NFL all too often looks like a game between the Bloods and the Crips without any weapons.”

To be fair to Rush, what did the NFL do with all the do-rags and other gangster acts by players? That is right, they banned them.

It was not to make white people happy. It was to protect brand marketing. No sports league or product wants to be associated with gang violence. The comment was not necessarily racist but could have been said with more tact.

As far as other owners and commissioner Roger Goodell goes there is another problem with blocking Rush from being a part owner in the NFL. The Pittsburgh Steelers owner Dan Rooney might have caused it as well.

In the last presidential election Rooney gave money and publicly supported Barack Obama. The league had no problem with Rooney’s stance. After Obama was elected, Rooney took an ambassador's job in Ireland.

Now that someone from the other side of the political spectrum wants to own a team, it would be hard for the NFL to say no. The league has opened the door for Limbaugh to own a team.

If not for Rooney supporting Obama in the last election the NFL would not have an issue of owners in politics already. Most of the outrage over what Limbaugh says or him owning a team is because of his political leanings.

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