RUSH LIMBAUGH IN THE NFL? HATERS & HYPOCRITES....START YOUR ENGINES
I'm going to veer off my usual path because of the events of the last few days. It's been gnawing at my gut & tho this topic begins with football, it really is about some of our societal ills & my take on them. For you football lovers that come here often to read my take on the game we love so much, please indulge me this opportunity to get some stuff off my chest. Football talk will resume in the next article & will stay there. I promise.
The hottest topic around the NFL today isn't about the superbly entertaining Monday night game between the Jets & Dolphins. No, it's the Rush Limbaugh issue of "can he buy a piece of the St Louis Rams or can't he?" One nice refuge people like me, who are tired of the hate & divisiveness in today's political climate, had to cling to for pure escapism was football. Now the airwaves, the blogs, the columns & TV are monopolized with people who have all the answers. That answer is invariably, "it's the other side's fault". I don't think Limbaugh believes the NFL will ever let this happen, but it's a brilliant ploy to boost him even more. Now he can play the "victim card". I think he's a blowhard, but he's one of the great self-promoters of all time.
Let me be clear on this subject, I am not a Limbaugh listener or believer. And I'm not a fan of Sean Hannity, Glenn Beck, Michael Savage, Michelle Malkin, Ann Coulter, Keith Olberman, Rachel Madow, Chris Mathews, Ed Schultz, Arianna Huffington or Paul Begala. Unlike many of the most critical people out there, I've actually read, watched or listened to these people quite often. I don't read the parsed words from a website with an agenda. I still pay attention to many of those people, but I don't know how much longer I can listen to all this negativity, it's really depressing to see people who claim to be working in our best interests, spew hate & bend the truth. What they're really trying to do is sell books, ad time & boost their ratings. I dealt with Limbaugh several times while working at Bellagio & he was as nice as he could be. Always polite & a good tipper. That certainly doesn't mean he isn't a racist. So Limbaugh's not suitable as a co-owner of the Rams? The Rams have a starting defensive end, Leonard Little, who was convicted of vehicular manslaughter killing a St. Louis woman, Susan Gutweiler, with a blood-alcohol level of .19. He got 90-days in jail & an 8-game suspension. Six years later he was arrested for DUI again, the charges were reduced & he wasn't suspended by the league. Hey, Little was an all-pro pass rusher, we can cut him a little slack can't we? Hypocritical? Definitely.
The holier-than-thou attitude of so many people who have entered into this fray would be comical if it wasn't so troubling. I have repeatedly seen Limbaugh referred to as "formerly addicted to pain killers" or "oxycontin addict". Do you see Brett Favre called these names? He spent time in a rehab clinic for pain killer addiction. How about Sean Penn or Rep. Patrick Kennedy, ever see their names with the added tag of 'drug addict' or alcoholic? I had to laugh today as Colts owner Jim Irsay was full of anti-Rush rhetoric. This is the same Jim Irsay who has spent 2 stints in rehab clinics for addiction. The same Irsay who's father Robert, loaded 7 Mayflower moving vans & slipped out of Baltimore under the cover of darkness, moving his team to Indianapolis without prior league approval, devastating the fans & city of Baltimore. This is the same Jim Irsay both NFL media & fans deplored for years, he was called "cheap & incompetent". The hypocrisy knows no bounds. If all these racist quotes attributed to Limbaugh can't be substantiated, what then? Probably won't make any difference, reporting the truth shouldn't be confused with an agenda now should it? Seems like if someone had them, they'd have been on YouTube, TMZ or MSNBC long ago. Again, I'm not defending Limbaugh, I'm taking issue with hypocrites who might not be telling us the truth because it fits their agenda.
It was good to see the Reverend Al Sharpton enter the fray right on cue. It's like he & Limbaugh are working together, Limbaugh from the victim's angle & Sharpton just trying to remain relevant. One hand washing the other. He & others are outraged the NFL hasn't already slammed the door on Limbaugh. This is from a minister who perpetrated the Tawana Brawley fraud on the City of New York, never uttering any apology for the lies & the damage done to innocent people he accused in this debacle. How much integrity does Rev. Sharpton have? Certainly no more than Limbaugh. The rapper Jay-Z, convicted of stabbing a record executive & writing some of the worst racist & sexist rap music owns a stake in the New Jersey Nets NBA team. Do you ever see any of that stuff tacked onto his name? Nope, it's always 'Jay-Z, Beyonce's husband'.
Here's a question I'd like answered. What if Limbaugh & Blues owner Dave Checketts do make an offer for the Rams & what if it's, say, $20 million higher than the 2nd place bid. Do the current Rams owners turn to Sharpton, the players union or Rachel Madow to recoup the $20 million they lose?
The NFL professes to be dead-set against gambling on football. Bulls*#t. Why do they require teams to publish an accurate injury report on Thursdays? Why are players & game officials constantly lectured on the "integrity of the game"? Why do the networks constantly scroll the scores of every game non-stop during all telecasts? For gamblers, plain & simple. If you believe nothing I've written here today, believe this, the NFL loves it that millions are wagered on their games every weekend. It makes for great ratings. Somewhat hypocritical wouldn't you say? Definitely.
The players union has spoken out about Limbaugh, so have a few individual players, all saying they'd never play for Limbaugh. Here's a reality check. If Limbaugh owned the team, which will never happen, players with a very small window of playing time would never walk away from the type of salaries they earn in the NFL, never. Oh, there might be one martyr, but guys making a minimum $400,000 a year up into the millions, would not give that up on principal. They have families to care for, college educations to pay for & many are just plain selfish. Another reality check, I don't know many people who haven't worked for a jerk, a sexist, a racist or someone you just plain didn't like. That's reality, but if you have families, responsibilities, a mortgage, medical expenses or maybe you're selfish, you do what you have to do even if that requires that you work for a jerk. Does this make me/you a hypocrite? Maybe, but it's reality.
I've said for over 2 years, whoever became president wasn't a major issue with me, because this country was in a hell of a mess & I prayed our new president would be the best ever. Black or white, Jew, Mormon, Catholic, Buddhist or Muslim, I didn't care, I wanted a president who could help save this country from ourselves. I didn't like President Bush & now President Obama scares me. A wise man once said "if you're in a hole, stop digging". They both spent/spend money like we have it to spend, we don't. The Iraq war was an $800 billion mistake that cost over 4,000 American lives. We get a stimulus package that "will create 3 million jobs". Weeks later the quote was it "will save 3 million jobs". Now jobs aren't even mentioned, but there are many in Washington that want a second stimulus package, not a problem, we'll just have to print more money. I say again, "If you're in a hole, stop digging."
Sadly, it hasn't happened, the divisive rhetoric has only gotten worse. So much for "change we can believe in". The media is dishonest & it gets worse everyday. Media outlets wear their beliefs on their sleeves for everyone to see & hear. They fuel this hatred in the name of ratings & readers. Both sides know they're right & the other side is stupid, liars, racist, sexist, un-American & evil. Does this help us, does it help heal our country? No, but it's not intended to, good news doesn't sell newspapers, boost TV ratings or increase the hits a website receives. And that's what this is all about. Hypocritical? Definitely.
After I wrote about Michael Vick's second chance, a person submitted the comment that I was a "N-----r Lover". This is exactly what I'm talking about. I wrote an opinion & I was shouted down. I'm not allowed to have an opinion if it differs from others. This is so typical of today's discourse. "I'm right, you're an idiot", or worse.
Cynical? You bet, I've watched our country decline year after year in every way & it's everybody's fault, regardless of what the hate merchants on both sides will tell you. This country has lost it's moral compass, lost it's work ethic, lost it's loyalty to it's citizens & lost it's accountability, both nationally & personally. Anyone out there think it's a good idea to move hundreds of thousands of manufacturing jobs to other countries? Does anyone really believe that B.S. line "the undocumented workers are only here to do jobs American workers won't do"? Since when were Americans adverse to drywall work, roofing, stucco, painting & concrete work? They're not, they're just replaced by companies who can save $3 an hour & skip the benefits, overtime & OSHA altogether. I can't speak for any other type of industry, I only know about residential construction. This is part of the argument you seldom hear, except from Lou Dobbs & everybody knows he's a "racist". He must be, he's certainly portrayed that way by many in the media who disagree with him.
Last thing, I promise. Comparing politicians to Hitler, Stalin or Mao is so offensive to anyone who understands history. Throwing these names around desensitizes people to what they really were, mass murderers, the worst the world has ever known. These three were responsible for over 40 million deaths. Don't compare President Bush, President Obama or Limbaugh to these killers, it's despicable. Nazi, communist & socialist are words we see thrown around & they shouldn't be. Want a better country? Start with being realistically civil in your rhetoric, your business life & your personal life. Take responsibility, be accountable, ask questions, be respectful of others you don't agree with. It's possible to have civil discourse, we haven't seen much of it lately, but we have to start somewhere. Don't talk down to people, everyone has a stake in healing our country. God knows we need everyone pulling together, not butting heads constantly, pointing fingers & accomplishing absolutely zero in the meantime. If people's attitudes don't become more tolerant, more understanding, we're going down the drain sooner than you think. Being a third-world country isn't a good place for the United States, it makes us too vulnerable in every way, but that's where we're going & Democrats & Republicans alike are to blame. There are no innocents in Washington.
I started this blog to talk about my favorite sport, football. It's something I've always been passionate about & I feel like I have decent insight about the game, it's strategy & players. I have about 500 loyal readers, but if I'm to continue here, I'll need double that to entice advertisers. I guess I could increase my readership by making outlandish claims & tell you about the star quarterback that wears high heels around the house. But that would be dishonest, exactly what I've railed against, so I'll keep plugging away, trying to do it the right way, the honest way. I hope I haven't run some of you off with this rant. I had to voice my disappointment in how stories are portrayed & discussed, even when if the topic is more unpleasant than last night's game. Thanks for coming here to read this, I promise I'll be back on football later tonight.
The hottest topic around the NFL today isn't about the superbly entertaining Monday night game between the Jets & Dolphins. No, it's the Rush Limbaugh issue of "can he buy a piece of the St Louis Rams or can't he?" One nice refuge people like me, who are tired of the hate & divisiveness in today's political climate, had to cling to for pure escapism was football. Now the airwaves, the blogs, the columns & TV are monopolized with people who have all the answers. That answer is invariably, "it's the other side's fault". I don't think Limbaugh believes the NFL will ever let this happen, but it's a brilliant ploy to boost him even more. Now he can play the "victim card". I think he's a blowhard, but he's one of the great self-promoters of all time.
Let me be clear on this subject, I am not a Limbaugh listener or believer. And I'm not a fan of Sean Hannity, Glenn Beck, Michael Savage, Michelle Malkin, Ann Coulter, Keith Olberman, Rachel Madow, Chris Mathews, Ed Schultz, Arianna Huffington or Paul Begala. Unlike many of the most critical people out there, I've actually read, watched or listened to these people quite often. I don't read the parsed words from a website with an agenda. I still pay attention to many of those people, but I don't know how much longer I can listen to all this negativity, it's really depressing to see people who claim to be working in our best interests, spew hate & bend the truth. What they're really trying to do is sell books, ad time & boost their ratings. I dealt with Limbaugh several times while working at Bellagio & he was as nice as he could be. Always polite & a good tipper. That certainly doesn't mean he isn't a racist. So Limbaugh's not suitable as a co-owner of the Rams? The Rams have a starting defensive end, Leonard Little, who was convicted of vehicular manslaughter killing a St. Louis woman, Susan Gutweiler, with a blood-alcohol level of .19. He got 90-days in jail & an 8-game suspension. Six years later he was arrested for DUI again, the charges were reduced & he wasn't suspended by the league. Hey, Little was an all-pro pass rusher, we can cut him a little slack can't we? Hypocritical? Definitely.
The holier-than-thou attitude of so many people who have entered into this fray would be comical if it wasn't so troubling. I have repeatedly seen Limbaugh referred to as "formerly addicted to pain killers" or "oxycontin addict". Do you see Brett Favre called these names? He spent time in a rehab clinic for pain killer addiction. How about Sean Penn or Rep. Patrick Kennedy, ever see their names with the added tag of 'drug addict' or alcoholic? I had to laugh today as Colts owner Jim Irsay was full of anti-Rush rhetoric. This is the same Jim Irsay who has spent 2 stints in rehab clinics for addiction. The same Irsay who's father Robert, loaded 7 Mayflower moving vans & slipped out of Baltimore under the cover of darkness, moving his team to Indianapolis without prior league approval, devastating the fans & city of Baltimore. This is the same Jim Irsay both NFL media & fans deplored for years, he was called "cheap & incompetent". The hypocrisy knows no bounds. If all these racist quotes attributed to Limbaugh can't be substantiated, what then? Probably won't make any difference, reporting the truth shouldn't be confused with an agenda now should it? Seems like if someone had them, they'd have been on YouTube, TMZ or MSNBC long ago. Again, I'm not defending Limbaugh, I'm taking issue with hypocrites who might not be telling us the truth because it fits their agenda.
It was good to see the Reverend Al Sharpton enter the fray right on cue. It's like he & Limbaugh are working together, Limbaugh from the victim's angle & Sharpton just trying to remain relevant. One hand washing the other. He & others are outraged the NFL hasn't already slammed the door on Limbaugh. This is from a minister who perpetrated the Tawana Brawley fraud on the City of New York, never uttering any apology for the lies & the damage done to innocent people he accused in this debacle. How much integrity does Rev. Sharpton have? Certainly no more than Limbaugh. The rapper Jay-Z, convicted of stabbing a record executive & writing some of the worst racist & sexist rap music owns a stake in the New Jersey Nets NBA team. Do you ever see any of that stuff tacked onto his name? Nope, it's always 'Jay-Z, Beyonce's husband'.
Here's a question I'd like answered. What if Limbaugh & Blues owner Dave Checketts do make an offer for the Rams & what if it's, say, $20 million higher than the 2nd place bid. Do the current Rams owners turn to Sharpton, the players union or Rachel Madow to recoup the $20 million they lose?
The NFL professes to be dead-set against gambling on football. Bulls*#t. Why do they require teams to publish an accurate injury report on Thursdays? Why are players & game officials constantly lectured on the "integrity of the game"? Why do the networks constantly scroll the scores of every game non-stop during all telecasts? For gamblers, plain & simple. If you believe nothing I've written here today, believe this, the NFL loves it that millions are wagered on their games every weekend. It makes for great ratings. Somewhat hypocritical wouldn't you say? Definitely.
The players union has spoken out about Limbaugh, so have a few individual players, all saying they'd never play for Limbaugh. Here's a reality check. If Limbaugh owned the team, which will never happen, players with a very small window of playing time would never walk away from the type of salaries they earn in the NFL, never. Oh, there might be one martyr, but guys making a minimum $400,000 a year up into the millions, would not give that up on principal. They have families to care for, college educations to pay for & many are just plain selfish. Another reality check, I don't know many people who haven't worked for a jerk, a sexist, a racist or someone you just plain didn't like. That's reality, but if you have families, responsibilities, a mortgage, medical expenses or maybe you're selfish, you do what you have to do even if that requires that you work for a jerk. Does this make me/you a hypocrite? Maybe, but it's reality.
I've said for over 2 years, whoever became president wasn't a major issue with me, because this country was in a hell of a mess & I prayed our new president would be the best ever. Black or white, Jew, Mormon, Catholic, Buddhist or Muslim, I didn't care, I wanted a president who could help save this country from ourselves. I didn't like President Bush & now President Obama scares me. A wise man once said "if you're in a hole, stop digging". They both spent/spend money like we have it to spend, we don't. The Iraq war was an $800 billion mistake that cost over 4,000 American lives. We get a stimulus package that "will create 3 million jobs". Weeks later the quote was it "will save 3 million jobs". Now jobs aren't even mentioned, but there are many in Washington that want a second stimulus package, not a problem, we'll just have to print more money. I say again, "If you're in a hole, stop digging."
Sadly, it hasn't happened, the divisive rhetoric has only gotten worse. So much for "change we can believe in". The media is dishonest & it gets worse everyday. Media outlets wear their beliefs on their sleeves for everyone to see & hear. They fuel this hatred in the name of ratings & readers. Both sides know they're right & the other side is stupid, liars, racist, sexist, un-American & evil. Does this help us, does it help heal our country? No, but it's not intended to, good news doesn't sell newspapers, boost TV ratings or increase the hits a website receives. And that's what this is all about. Hypocritical? Definitely.
After I wrote about Michael Vick's second chance, a person submitted the comment that I was a "N-----r Lover". This is exactly what I'm talking about. I wrote an opinion & I was shouted down. I'm not allowed to have an opinion if it differs from others. This is so typical of today's discourse. "I'm right, you're an idiot", or worse.
Cynical? You bet, I've watched our country decline year after year in every way & it's everybody's fault, regardless of what the hate merchants on both sides will tell you. This country has lost it's moral compass, lost it's work ethic, lost it's loyalty to it's citizens & lost it's accountability, both nationally & personally. Anyone out there think it's a good idea to move hundreds of thousands of manufacturing jobs to other countries? Does anyone really believe that B.S. line "the undocumented workers are only here to do jobs American workers won't do"? Since when were Americans adverse to drywall work, roofing, stucco, painting & concrete work? They're not, they're just replaced by companies who can save $3 an hour & skip the benefits, overtime & OSHA altogether. I can't speak for any other type of industry, I only know about residential construction. This is part of the argument you seldom hear, except from Lou Dobbs & everybody knows he's a "racist". He must be, he's certainly portrayed that way by many in the media who disagree with him.
Last thing, I promise. Comparing politicians to Hitler, Stalin or Mao is so offensive to anyone who understands history. Throwing these names around desensitizes people to what they really were, mass murderers, the worst the world has ever known. These three were responsible for over 40 million deaths. Don't compare President Bush, President Obama or Limbaugh to these killers, it's despicable. Nazi, communist & socialist are words we see thrown around & they shouldn't be. Want a better country? Start with being realistically civil in your rhetoric, your business life & your personal life. Take responsibility, be accountable, ask questions, be respectful of others you don't agree with. It's possible to have civil discourse, we haven't seen much of it lately, but we have to start somewhere. Don't talk down to people, everyone has a stake in healing our country. God knows we need everyone pulling together, not butting heads constantly, pointing fingers & accomplishing absolutely zero in the meantime. If people's attitudes don't become more tolerant, more understanding, we're going down the drain sooner than you think. Being a third-world country isn't a good place for the United States, it makes us too vulnerable in every way, but that's where we're going & Democrats & Republicans alike are to blame. There are no innocents in Washington.
I started this blog to talk about my favorite sport, football. It's something I've always been passionate about & I feel like I have decent insight about the game, it's strategy & players. I have about 500 loyal readers, but if I'm to continue here, I'll need double that to entice advertisers. I guess I could increase my readership by making outlandish claims & tell you about the star quarterback that wears high heels around the house. But that would be dishonest, exactly what I've railed against, so I'll keep plugging away, trying to do it the right way, the honest way. I hope I haven't run some of you off with this rant. I had to voice my disappointment in how stories are portrayed & discussed, even when if the topic is more unpleasant than last night's game. Thanks for coming here to read this, I promise I'll be back on football later tonight.
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