My Problem with The Rush Limbaugh NFL Issue

I have been a fan of the NFL, the Dallas Cowboys, since 1978, when I was seven years old.  (Jack Donlan, the man that I use as my pen name, helped end the NFL players strikes of 1982 and 1987 as he represented the owners in the negotiations).  I have been listening to Rush Limbaugh since 1990, shortly after his radio show went national.  Rush Limbaugh is a big NFL fan if you listen to his show, especially if you listen to him on a Friday in the fall.  (I’ll tell you that I would rather Limbaugh not talk about football.  I want to hear about politics from Monday to Friday and sports Saturday and Sunday.  Talk about politics, Limbaugh. )  In spite of this, I was interested to hear that Limbaugh wanted to buy the St. Louis Rams, the team closest to his old home.  However, I have been disappointed that there has been such a backlash to his attempt to purchase the team. 

 Politics and sports should be separate.  The whole idea about sports is to forget about the troubles of the world for the 3 hours of the games.   This is much of the reason that I did not like Limbaugh being hired by ESPN to have commentary on their pre-game show.  This is why I do not watch NBC’s pre-game show on Sunday nights because they have Keith Olbedork on their show.  Olbedork has his Countdown, left-wing show every night on MSNBC.  Limbaugh on ESPN turned out to be a disaster when Limbaugh criticized the favorable media coverage of Donovan McNabb.  Limbaugh perceived the coverage of McNabb to be favorable to the point of many in the sports media rooting for him because he is black.  Even though Limbaugh did not criticize McNabb, apparently it would not be allowed for Limbaugh to criticize McNabb even though that was part of his job as a football commentator.  

  I personally do not like McNabb.  It has nothing to do with the color of his skin;  it is the color of his uniform.  As stated above, I am a fan of the Dallas Cowboys.  Will I be unable to ever buy an NFL team because I have never been a McNabb fan?  Are all the Eagles fans that have ever booed McNabb after an interception, as they are want to do, bigots because they booed him? 

Anyway, I believe that the ESPN-McNabb issue contributed to the hostility to Limbaugh owning a part share of the Rams.  McNabb came out and said that he would not play for Limbaugh’s Rams.  Fine, he already has a job and there are 30 other teams that he could sign with.  If someone who got drafted by Limbaugh’s Rams, he could sit out a year and get drafted by another team. 

 The thing that really upset me about this is the slandering done to Limbaugh by the media.  Reported in the media is a quote attributed to Limbaugh from 1998 that he supported slavery.  There was no confirmation of the quote.  It was just repeated and repeated.  Even though the standard for slander and libel is high for Limbaugh, a public figure, I think he has an excellent case for a lawsuit against the media outlets that repeated the bogus quote without the due diligence.  I hope he gets retractions or lots of money in a lawsuit.

 It is disappointing to know that I will never be an owner of an NFL team (even if I ever get the money) because I am politically conservative and I am not a fan of Donovan McNabb.  This will make me think twice about how to spend my Sunday afternoons and Monday nights and whether to support NFL sponsors and charities.  I think 20 million other people, Limbaugh’s estimated audience, are probably thinking the same way.