A take on Rush

I love it. Rush Limbaugh lures in the media like a big ol' redfish and they bite hook, line, and sinker. It's the fall ratings season, and you can bet his nationally syndicated show got a huge hit from this week's incessant coverage of his reported attempt to buy a minority share of the St. Louis Rams.

Seriously, I doubt there was ever any real intent on becoming a football owner. Limbaugh makes too much money instigating near riots as it is. What was funny was the "main" stream media's reaction to his reported involvement. They flipped. Like he expected.

One guy from CNN went so far as to declare, "It's not fair to the black players in the league who don't want to play for a racist." He went on to whine about how players in the NFL are drafted, and, unlike other jobs, cannot select who they work for. In essence, he said, if the Rams drafted a black kid who thought Rush was a racist and who didn't feel like he should play for Limbaugh, the kid was just stuck. The CNN commentator made it sound just horrible to have to play for the NFL.

Aside from the obvious (i.e. how bad can it be to play in the NFL regardless of the circumstances? Oh wait, I forgot we were talking about the Rams), I'd like to point out to news cronies such as CNN that this concept is just not true. Players are not REQUIRED to play for the team that drafts them. They have every right to refuse to sign a contract and return to the amateur draft the next season. They are only obligated to sign with the team that drafts them that year until the team determines it will give up the rights to that player. For example, the San Francisco 49ers drafted Michael Crabtree from Texas Tech this season. He wanted more money, so he refused to sign with the team. All indications pointed to him actually sticking to his guns and re-entering the 2010 draft, until the 49ers anted up and paid the man.

The point is, the argument that players have to play for Limbaugh regardless of their personal opinion of the man is ridiculous. If he wanted to buy the team, he should have that right. Just like if the NFL owners wanted to deny him the right to purchase the team, they have that right. And just like his minority partners denied him the right to remain in the purchasing group once they realized he was in it for the attention.

Lovely how these things work themselves out.