“If anything here offends, I beg your pardon, I come in peace, I depart in gratitude.”—Garrison Keillor
This is the last time I'm gonna use Rush Limbaugh's name. From here on out, I'm using unflattering euphemisms because publicity is the only thing the Bloated One wants. I apologize if the phrases bother anyone, but it's all I can think of to somewhat defuse my own issues with feeding the beast.
If all the Shock Jock wants is to get his face and name in large relief, then writing about him using neither has to be some sort of moral victory, right?
Given the volume of attention the stunt has already generated, I'm not sure it matters anyway. Regardless, I couldn't resist the urge to weigh-in with so many varied reactions being thrown around and several groups gearing up to milk this baby for all it's worth.
Make no mistake—any irritation coming from the Al Sharptons and Jesse Jacksons is feigned.
They couldn't be happier about the ridiculous rumors swirling around the St. Louis Rams. They're perfect foils to the White Whale because the trio differs only in their political ideology—all are publicity whores who know precisely how to get it.
Divide and conquer—their interests in progress and reconciliation (if they ever truly existed) have long-since disappeared behind the mounds and mounds of cash.
Jason Whitlock covers the phenomenon a bit, but it's not his best work.
The Kansas City Star columnist is my favorite professional writer in the game, I'd put him up there with people like Thomas Friedman (in an admittedly more trivial pond) so I don't criticize him often. However, the FOX Sports contributor rambles a bit and gets too caught up in the racial element.
Given the Former Pill Popper's affinity for racially divisive commentary, I can't blame Whitlock. Nevertheless, that just muddies the water and it's unnecessary because you don't have to go that far into subjective territory.
It might be a fair criticism, but it detracts from the main argument because beliefs regarding racism differ widely and most are passionately/blindly defended. Racism becomes the focus rather than the original argument.
Whether or not the Hypocritical Hippo is racist (clips like this and this would argue for), he is outrageously divisive and volatile. Agree with him or disagree, it belies the possession of a single brain cell to argue the guy doesn't thrive off tossing a live grenade into a crowded political room.
Controversy is his closest (and possibly only unpaid) bedfellow.
In short, he embodies the element against which Roger Goodell has waged a personal vendetta should it reside within the NFL's walls. The Commissioner has made it spectacularly clear that he wants the public talking exclusively about FOOTBALL when the NFL gets mentioned, not what happens away from the field.
Why would he now invite the circus to town? He certainly would not.
As for those of you arguing the merits of a free market, it's a productive exercise despite being totally irrelevant.
The NFL is a private enterprise that distributes a product via the free market. As I understand it, the rules of free trade apply to representations of its games and players, not who can actually participate internally.
As such, it can pick and choose who enters the League—both owners and athletes—so long as it doesn't use constitutionally prohibited grounds.
Fortunately, there are no parts of the Constitution or subsequent legislation that establish braying jackasses as a protected class, only their right to bray.
Even in the free market, the right to sell is superior to the right to buy until an offer has been made and accepted.
Due to the mechanics of property rights, you can't show up and demand a binding contract to purchase my property unless I make it clear that anyone who does so will be honored. Merely placing the property on the market doesn't transfer any legal right to the random buyer under normal circumstances.
Neither the NFL nor the 21st century deals in unilateral contracts anymore, so even if the St. Louis Rams were part of the free market, the Donkey couldn't force a sale until his offer to purchase had been accepted.
From any angle, there is no chance of any such sale unless the NFL wants it i.e. there is ZERO chance of this happening.
The Voice of Unreason has to know this—he is many things, but plain dumb isn't one of them. Even if he were dumb, his wealth and profile demand advisers who would be able to tell him all of the above.
Furthermore, why would a guy with so much disdain for the Black Community want to write million-dollar checks to a bunch of "Bloods and Crips?" Some expensive attempt at irony?
Nope, this is all about interjecting himself into the media bonanza represented by the NFL. By any means necessary.
And it's working—even as his bid fails.
Like I said, the dude knows what he's doing.
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