Rush Limbaugh's ambitions of owning a piece of the Rams may have taken a severe hit today. Commissioner Roger Goodell said today at the annual owners' meeting in Boston that he he doesn't think too much of Limbaugh's comments in the past.
"I've said many times before we're all held to a high standard here, and I think divisive comments are not what the NFL is all about," Goodell said at an NFL owners' meeting. "I would not want to see those comments coming from people who are in a responsible position in the NFL, absolutely not."
Granted, Goodell might not as of yet have the clout of Paul Tagliabue. But if I were Dave Checketts, who is leading the group of which Limbaugh is a minority partner, I'd be doing some serious thinking if it's worth risking your bid.
Limbaugh got another shot across the bow today--Colts owner Jim Irsay said he would not vote for any ownership group in which Limbaugh was involved.
"I would not be in favor of voting for him," Irsay said. "I could ask Tony Dungy, Jim Caldwell, Dwight Freeney and consult with them, but there have been comments that have been made that have been incendiary, insensitive. It's bigger than football. We have to watch the words that we say.... Sometimes privileges in life do get lost. I would not feel comfortable.
"I've met Rush only once and he seemed like a nice guy. But when you see the comments that are out there, I would not be comfortable. I myself couldn't be in favor of voting for him.... We've got to watch our words in this world and our thoughts because they can do damage."
Any new ownership group requires the approval of 24 of the league's 32 owners. My read is that there are at least two other likely "no" votes. Patriots owner Bob Kraft and Steelers owner Dan Rooney are longtime donors to Democratic campaigns, and Rooney crafted the rule that requires teams to make a good-faith effort to consider minorities for head coach and senior football operations posts. I would also think that teams with large black fan bases would be at least on the fence on this--including Jerry Richardson of my Panthers.