ÿþ<html> <head> <meta http-equiv="content-type" content="text/html;charset=iso-8859-1"> <title>OnlineColumnist®.com: Duke's Damage Control</title> <meta name="generator" content="Adobe GoLive 4"> <style type="text/css"> .style1 { font-size: x-large; font-weight: bold; } </style> </head> <body bgcolor="white" vlink="black"> <center> <table cool width="624" height="2719" border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" gridx="16" showgridx gridy="16" showgridy> <tr height="79"> <td width="116" height="118" rowspan="2" valign="top" align="left" xpos="0"> <a href="081609.html"><img height="110" width="62" src="images/discobolos.logo.transp.gif" border="0"></a></td> <td width="24" height="118" rowspan="2"></td> <td width="465" height="79" colspan="2" valign="top" align="left" xpos="140"><img height="75" width="450" src="images/banner.GIF"></td> <td width="18" height="118" rowspan="2"></td> <td width="1" height="79"><spacer type="block" width="1" height="79"></td> </tr> <tr height="39"> <td width="182" height="39"></td> <td width="283" height="39" valign="top" align="left" xpos="322"><a href="aboutdiscobolos.html"><img height="14" width="267" src="images/divisionofNEW.GIF" border="0"></a></td> <td width="1" height="39"><spacer type="block" width="1" height="39"></td> </tr> <tr height="26"> <td width="624" height="26" colspan="6" valign="top" align="left" xpos="0"> <table border="0" width="100%" bgcolor="black" cellspacing="0"> <tr> <td> <table border="0" width="100%" bgcolor="#99ffcc" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="4"> <tr> <td align="center"> <div align="left"> <a href="index.html"><font face="Arial,Helvetica,Geneva,Swiss,SunSans-Regular" size="2"><strong> HOME</strong></font></a><font face="Arial,Helvetica,Geneva,Swiss,SunSans-Regular" size="2"><strong> &#8226; <a href="articlesindex.html">ARTICLES</a> &#8226; <a href="books.html">BOOKS</a> &#8226; <a href="teflon.html"> THE </a><a href="teflon.html">TEFLON</a><a href="teflon.html"> REPORT</a> &#8226; <a href="mailto:letters@onlinecolumnist.com"> REACTIONS</a> &#8226; <a href="aboutdiscobolos.html">ABOUT DISCOBOLOS</a></strong></font></div> </td> </tr> </table> </td> </tr> </table> </td> </tr> <tr height="1"> <td width="116" height="2574" rowspan="2" valign="top" align="left" xpos="0"><img height="172" width="111" src="images/johninframe3.jpg"></td> <td width="489" height="1" colspan="3"></td> <td width="18" height="2574" rowspan="2"></td> <td width="1" height="1"><spacer type="block" width="1" height="1"></td> </tr> <tr height="2573"> <td width="489" height="2573" colspan="3" align="left" xpos="116" content valign="top" csheight="2573"> <font face="Arial,Helvetica,Geneva,Swiss,SunSans-Regular" size="5"><b> <br /> <br /> Rush Limbaugh&#39;s Surprise</b></font><p><font face="Arial,Helvetica,Geneva,Swiss,SunSans-Regular"><b> by John M. Curtis<br> (310) 204-8700</b><br> </font></p> <p><font size="2" face="Arial,Helvetica,Geneva,Swiss,SunSans-Regular"><i>Copyright Oct. 15, 2009<br> All Rights Reserved.</i></font></p> <p><span style="mso-tab-count:1">&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;</span><span class="style1">M</span>ega-millionaire conservative radio talk show legend Rush Limbaugh got his second rude awakening and lesson in political correctness, after getting dropped in his bid for minority ownership of NFL s St. Louis Rams.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes">&nbsp; </span>While NHL s St. Louis Blues chairman Dave Checketts reportedly approached Rush for the investment opportunity, neither considered the fallout from Rush s controversial past remarks on his nationally syndicated radio show or off-color public comments.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes">&nbsp; </span>Rush had once thrown his hat in the ring to sit in ABC s  Monday Night Football <span style="mso-spacerun: yes">&nbsp; </span>booth as a guest-analyst along with veteran host Al Michaels.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes">&nbsp; </span> I said to him at this meeting,  Are you aware of the firestorm? <span style="mso-spacerun: yes">&nbsp; </span>He said,  We wouldn t have approached you if we hadn t taken care of that,  Rush said on his daily radio program.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes">&nbsp; </span> Checketts claimed he cleared Rush at the  highest levels of the NFL. </p> <p class="MsoNormal"> <![if !supportEmptyParas]>&nbsp;<![endif]><span style="mso-tab-count:1">&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; </span>Forced to step down Oct. 2, 2003 as a guest analyst for ESPN s  NFL Sunday Countdown , Limbaugh made incendiary remarks about Philadelphia Eagles quarterback Donovan McNabb.  I think what we ve had here is a little social concern in the NFL.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes">&nbsp; </span>The media has been very desirous that a black quarterback do well, said Rush, exposing, what many listening to his daily show know, his racist views.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes">&nbsp; </span>In the colorblind world of professional sports, Rush has a track record of ranting, good, bad or indifferent, about the racially charged areas in American life.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes">&nbsp; </span>He didn t give it a second thought about bashing Obama during the campaign and since his inauguration, presumably on policy differences but usually tinged with racial innuendo.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes">&nbsp; </span>He didn t hesitate to call recently approved Supreme Court Associate Justice Sonia Sotomayor a  racist for her past public remarks.</p> <p class="MsoNormal"> <![if !supportEmptyParas]>&nbsp;<![endif]><span style="mso-tab-count:1">&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; </span>Rush often refers to Obama as  racist for liberal policies that tend to support minority-related causes.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes">&nbsp; </span> Rush blamed NFL Players&#39; Association Director DeMaurice Smith, calling him an  Obama-ite. He also fingered Rev. Al Sharpton and Rev. Jesse Jackson for pressuring the NFL to drop him from his bid for minority ownership.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes">&nbsp; </span>Whether Rush accepts it or not, the NFL is currently 70% black, carrying a sizable market share of African American viewers.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes">&nbsp; </span>Adding Limbaugh to NFL ownership would have disastrous consequences for the NFL brand, so closely tied and targeted to the black community.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes">&nbsp; </span> What is happening to the National Football Leagues, what is about to happen to it, has already happened to Wall Street, has already happened to the automobile business, said Rush, implying the NFL was on its way to bankruptcy and government bailouts.</p> <p class="MsoNormal"> <![if !supportEmptyParas]>&nbsp;<![endif]><span style="mso-tab-count:1">&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; </span>Unable to accept that his own insensitivity caused the growing snowball of objections inside and outside the NFL, Limbaugh continues to blame  libs for defeating his ownership bid.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes">&nbsp; </span>  Believe me, the hatred that exists in this is found in the sportswriter community, it s found in the news business, it s found in the race hustler business, said Rush, blaming objections on the equivalent of a  vast left wing conspiracy, to paraphrase former First Lady Hillary Rodham Clinton.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes">&nbsp; </span>Rush can t accept that an established track record of bashing minorities led to the objections transmitted by the Players Association and upper NFL management.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes">&nbsp; </span>Pointing finger at everyone but himself, Rush doesn t see his own foibles.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes">&nbsp; </span>Because he s so  important to NFL ownership, Rush wants everyone to see his ouster as an attempt to impose a more draconic collective bargaining agreement.</p> <p class="MsoNormal"> <![if !supportEmptyParas]>&nbsp;<![endif]><span style="mso-tab-count:1">&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; </span>Expected negotiations with the Players Association had nothing to do with the NFL s front office asking Limbaugh to withdraw his bid.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes">&nbsp; </span>Rush can t believe that good hard cash couldn t buy himself into NFL ownership.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes">&nbsp; </span>When you show tone-deafness to political correctness and spew racial insensitivity, someone s going to object to your involvement in a 70% African American sport.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes">&nbsp; </span> It s designed to intimidate the owners, frighten the owners, and say,  We re running this league now, gang, not you,  said Rush, giving full display to how he divides the  owners from the Players Association.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes">&nbsp; </span>Objecting to Rush s NFL ownership has nothing to do with intimidating owners, simply stating that this wannabe owner has too much controversy on the record to represent the NFL.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes">&nbsp; </span>Rush s analysis of  intimidation to primarily white owners, displays precisely<span style="mso-spacerun: yes">&nbsp; </span>offensive race-baiting.</p> <p class="MsoNormal"> <![if !supportEmptyParas]>&nbsp;<![endif]><span style="mso-tab-count:1">&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; </span>Rush found out the hard way that race-baiting may play well to his radio audience but not the NFL.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes">&nbsp; </span>His racially insensitive remarks Oct. 2, 2003 on ESPN s  NFL Sunday Countdown about the late Donovan McNabb reveal why the NFL had to withdraw his ownership bid.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes">&nbsp; </span> This little warning shot fired across the bow to the owners, to say  Get ready, have we come for the next collective bargaining agreement, so we ll see how it unfolds, said Rush trying to paint his rejection as a sign of reverse racism.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes">&nbsp; </span>NFL owners rejected Rush, not because they don t find him entertaining, but precisely because he s too incendiary and controversial.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes">&nbsp; </span> Owners today have far too many problems negotiating contracts and making profits than jeopardizing ad revenue and fan support by hiring controversial entertainers.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes">&nbsp; </span>If Rush really wants to join the NFL, he should start by toning down the hot air.</p> <p><b>John M. Curtis</b> writes politically neutral commentary analyzing spin in national and global news.&nbsp; He's editor of OnlineColumnist.com and author of <a href="books.html">Dodging The Bullet </a>and <a href="books.html">Operation Charisma.</a></p> </td> <td width="1" height="2573"><spacer type="block" width="1" height="2573"></td> </tr> <tr height="1" cntrlrow> <td width="116" height="1"><spacer type="block" width="116" height="1"></td> <td width="24" height="1"><spacer type="block" width="24" height="1"></td> <td width="182" height="1"><spacer type="block" width="182" height="1"></td> <td width="283" height="1"><spacer type="block" width="283" height="1"></td> <td width="18" height="1"><spacer type="block" width="18" height="1"></td> <td width="1" height="1"></td> </tr> </table> <table border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="2" width="597"> <tr> <td><font size="1" face="Arial,Geneva,Helvetica"> <hr noshade size="1"> </font><a href="index.html"><font face="Arial,Helvetica,Geneva,Swiss,SunSans-Regular" size="2"><strong> Homene.net" target="_blank">img height="30" width="138" src="images/cmelogoANIM.gif" border="0" align="absmiddle"></a></font></p> </div> <p><font size="2" face="Arial,Helvetica,Geneva,Swiss,SunSans-Regular">&copy;1999-2002 <a href="aboutdiscobolos.html">Discobolos Consulting Services, Inc.</a><br> (310) 204-8300<br> All Rights Reserved. </font></td> </tr> </table> </center> </body> </html>