Dave Checketts Drops Rush Limbaugh Like a Bad Habit

Throughout the week, Rush Limbaugh has been making headlines by being part of a group that would like to bid on the St. Louis Rams if the team does go on the market.

Limbaugh would have been a minority owner of the team.

Dave Checketts originally asked for Limbaugh to be part of the group that would purchase the Rams. Checketts is also the owner of the St. Louis Blues hockey team.

What Checketts didn't realize was the backlash of even asking Limbaugh to join in, which if Checketts had actually thought more thoroughly, he would have never asked Limbaugh in the first place.

What people have failed to realize is that a potential owner can come up with all the money in the world and make a bid for a team it still doesn't mean that they'll become owners. The potential owner has to go through a process that includes the approval of the other NFL owners.

So, when Limbaugh was announced as part of the group looking to purchase the Rams it didn't mean that the NFL was going to refuse the bid, it meant that the other NFL owners were going to reject it.

Not only were the owners not going to accept the bid, but commissioner Roger Goodell made it clear that someone like Limbaugh was not going to be able to have an ownership role.

There's another argument that I've seen or been told multiple times after a comment on an article written by Bryan Flynn titled "Why Denying Rush Limbaugh Ownership will not be Easy," is the fact that Flynn believes that Limbaugh wasn't going to get to be owner because he was conservative.

He uses Dan Rooney as an example of a liberal who owns a NFL team and that is the Pittsburgh Steelers, but Flynn doesn't separate Rooney's political beliefs from Rooney, the owner of the Steelers.

With Limbaugh, it's hard to separate the political views and what he could do as an owner. Making it even harder is Limbaugh's previous comments on race, which have nothing to do with what political party he's associated with.

In fact Flynn believes that Limbaugh can sue because he's being discriminated against, which is sad because there's been comments to him detailing with the fact that Limbaugh would not be able to sue and if he did try he'd be laughed out of court.

Another sad argument that Flynn has is that he uses the fact that there have been players who have been arrested or been convicted of a crime that have played in the NFL. 

Yet, playing in the NFL as a member of a team and bidding on a NFL team to own it is a completely different concept. A NFL player can come into the league via free agency or being drafted.

For someone to be an NFL owner they need to be able to bid on the team and have it accepted by the other NFL owners.

When a player signs with a team as a free agent the other NFL owners can't say "sorry, we don't like the player so your contract with him doesn't stand." The owners can say "sorry we don't like this person attempting to buy one of our teams." 

Too me though, Limbaugh has won because he created another controversy. Now his name is back in the spotlight and he's using it to further gain audience members because he's going to do the "oh poor me" routine.

As for Checketts, he realized that if he had Limbaugh on as a minority owner he would never have the chance to get the team. So, he did the right thing and told Limbaugh to go away.

It's not hard to understand Checkett's decision considering that there were NFL players who stated point blank to the media they'd never play on a team that was associated with Limbaugh this includes members of the Rams football team.

There were also the owners of the Indianapolis Colts who stated he would not accept the ownership if Limbaugh was part of it. Goodell even made comments that would make you believe that Limbaugh would not have been able to be part of the ownership group.

Also, by having Limbaugh as a minority owner it would also mean the Rams would be alienating their fan base by having him around. There's a quote from Teddy Mitrosilis in a comment on the article I wrote which was titled, "Rush Limbaugh an NFL Owner? Don't Count on it!"

It was "I don't think it's a good idea for politicians or political commentators to be involved in sports. I don't like the idea because sports is our safe place. That's our break from real life, from everything that we deal with on a daily basis. I don't want my sports convoluted with politics. I don't want to hear about political issues when I'm watching the Patriots-Colts, Yankees-Red Sox, or Lakers-Celtics. I want to get lost in the game, and I think that is part of the issue that we are missing. I'm not saying it would be right or wrong to have Rush in the NFL, I just would rather keep sports and politics and separate as possible."

With that comment, it just goes to show that the NFL, NFL owners, NFL players, and Checketts all realized that instead of being a safe place for fans of the NFL to escape to, it would be putting the idea of politics right into the living room.

Let's face it, if Limbaugh owned the Rams, anytime they played, regardless if it was at home or away, there would be people talking more about Limbaugh than the game itself and that is why Checketts had Limbaugh removed from the group.

There will be no lawsuit that Limbaugh can file, but Limbaugh got what he wanted: attention.