Monday, October 12, 2009

NFLPA Commits Penalty on this Block

You may not agree with Rush Limbaugh on many of his opinions (although I am not sure I can dignify his utterances as opinions), but the NFLPA's attempt to oppose his bid to buy the St. Louis Rams is misguided. While Rush has certainly been a lightning rod for controversy with his commentary, and his opinions on Donovan McNabb and Barack Obama have clearly rankled African-American NFL players, the only difference between him and the NFL owners is that his points of view are well-publicised. And yet his political leanings may be quite in line with those of most NFL owners and players; a list of recent campaign contributions by NFL teams has been compiled here. Not surprisingly, the donations are skewed heavily to the Republicans; the party long-identified with lower taxes for the highest-earning Americans is significantly supported by some of the highest-earning Americans (i.e. professional athletes and their team owners). Of course, the reasons for the support may be beyond simply financial reasons. Thus the NFLPA may want to take a look at the true political leanings of its current ownership before it tries to block Limbaugh and his group from purchasing the Rams simply because of his bloviations.

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