More on the National Football League's bigotry and hypocrisy.

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In the political field, grey areas and compromise are alleged to be the order of the day. But it's a hair-thin line between compromise and caving; character and cowardice, right and all too frequently, wrong.

In this case, the National Football League blew it. Huge.

But in caving to minority bigotry, political correctness and fringe-left hypocrisy, the NFL has done us all a huge favor by bringing the issue of mind and thought control to the fore... a place where "right thinking" is rewarded, and "wrong thinking" is punished.

I have kicked the NFL to the curb. Permanently. I want no more to do with them than I do the Klan, the Black Panthers, the Weather Underground, Students for a Democratic Society or any of the other fringe groups demanding that we see and do and think and believe things THEIR way.

And that's a shame. I played the game last when I was 29, I've got scars and (mostly) healed broken bones, arthritic joints that creak, knees that are shot, hands that were hammered, bent fingers... the whole bit.

I was devoted to professional football. I viewed it as the heights of a game I loved, I played, I've studied, I've spent money to watch and invested in technology to admire.

But no more.

There are, I've come to find in my peculiar field of work, all kinds of bigotry and hypocrisy.

It's bad enough that the NFL has a large population of criminals; men blessed with an almost unbelievable athleticism who will die far earlier then they should because of their profession... who all too frequently feel themselves to be above the law. Criminals, thugs, bullies, druggies... unbelievable talents polluted by unbelievable arrogance and equally short-sighted views of the world. Spoiled, pampered, celebrities because of their ability to throw, catch, run, block and tackle. Millionaires from playing a game.

As much as I loved it, I was never really very good at it. I played it a lot, but I was cursed with fullback's size and lineman's speed.

But as much as I loved it, watch it, spent money on it... I will never do any of that again.

Because in my life, their ARE certain absolutes... certain lines I will not cross.

And I will not support an organization that will punish ANYONE because of their ideas. I will not watch. I will not go. I will not spend a dime in pursuit of their goal of making a profit off of me.

Yeah, yeah.... I've heard all about how it's a "private business" and that, therefore, it's their RIGHT to engage in bigotry, hypocrisy and discrimination in opposition to ideas and frequently based on lies perpetrated by a fringe left media bent on "pay back," payback the scumbag, hypocritical owners of the NFL and their puppet boy commissioner delivered in spades.

What if they decided to exclude a prospective owner because of, say, their sexual preference. Would THAT be OK?

No? Why not?

Because it's perfectly all right to discriminate based on ideas, but not so much on the politicization of sex acts?

This all serves to reinforce the FACT that not ALL "discrimination" is "bad." Just the kinds visited against alleged minorities.

It's now been shown that many in the NFL and media lied directly through their tooth about what Limbaugh is alleged to have said. As a result, I sincerely hope he takes the NFL and all of the lying scum they used to kick him out of any ownership role, and sues them into oblivion.

In Seattle, there's a sport's columnist working for the Seattle Post Intelligencer website (It used to be a newspaper) who nailed it. It's a gutsy column to write for my home town, since I'm from Seattle... and Seattle is a great place to be FROM. And it expresses all of my concerns (but none of my frustration) over the hypocrisy of the NFL's despicable actions in this matter.

Friday, October 16, 2009Last updated 11:47 a.m. PT

NFL's booting of Limbaugh a bad precedent

By ART THIEL
SPECIAL TO SEATTLEPI.COM

What if Rush Limbaugh wanted to buy the Seahawks?

Oh, my.

The conflagration would have been second in local history next to the Great Seattle Fire of 1889. As one of liberalism's castles on the hill, Seattle would have spilled thousands into the streets to protest.

People would have been so mad they might have . . . jaywalked . . . not recycled . . . chosen plastic . . . broken a tree branch hanging Limbaugh in effigy, or worse, burned the effigy, thus swelling the carbon footprint.

The horror. The horror.

Of course, the purchase isn't happening. The Seahawks aren't for sale, and Limbaugh this week was formally booted out of one group's effort to purchase the St. Louis Rams. Too provocative and distracting, it was said.

But the Seahawks will be for sale someday.

What if Keith Olbermann wants to buy in?

How about Kanye West?

Tom Cruise?

David Letterman?

Karl Rove?

Kerry Killinger, the guy who ran Washington Mutual into the ground?

The chieftains of AIG?

Far as I know, none of them have been arrested for anything serious. They aren't professional pornographers or gamblers. But they all have done things known publicly that some people find offensive, wrong, disastrous, confounding or all of the above.

Now, the NFL, and by extension all sports leagues, are placed in the position of being arbiters of the propriety of ideas.

And we just wanted them to give us a little ball.

By the time this issue settles out, the only entities qualified to own a sports teams will be beige walls, dial tones and elevator music.

Don't get me wrong -- I am no fan of Limbaugh's views. But I see him as no more a threat or disturbance than Mort Sahl, Richard Pryor, George Carlin, Chris Rock or Lewis Black, or any of the other social satirists who helped create the broadened cultural understanding that begat the platform from which Limbaugh bloviates.

That is what Limbaugh is -- a comedian. The astonishing fact that some people take him seriously is on the listener, not him.

Feel free to accuse him of being a coarse manipulator and a cheap provocateur whose fear-mongering exploits for financial gain the basest instincts of his audience. But worse has been said in their day about the comedic greats that preceded him. Some even have been arrested for their publicly expressed ideas. But ideas, although powerful things, are what the American democracy is supposed to celebrate.

Don't think Limbaugh is a comedian? Here's what he said on his radio show Wednesday after the controversy had boiled to the point about whether Limbaugh should withdraw his name.

"I'm not even thinking of caving," he said. "I am not a caver. Pioneers take the arrows. We are pioneers. It's a sad thing that our country, over 200 years old now, needs pioneers all over again, but we do."

Really. That's what he said. Not Stephen Colbert parodying him.

Remember, I wrote that Limbaugh was a comedian, not a good comedian.

Much as I don't like Limbaugh's ideas, I like much more the First Amendment, where I make my living. As does the democracy.

We all know no one is supposed to yell "Fire!" in a crowded theater just to see a stampede. But we are permitted to say bad things, wrong things and stupid things publicly about presidents and other people.

The only way the Constitution continues to work, not only as a foundation of law but as a statement of national principle, is if no one is shunned because of political, social, cultural or religious views.

The NFL can argue that Limbaugh was not shunned for his views, but for the headaches caused by the attention he draws because of his views. Probably true, but that fails to consider that the pop-culture world has been changed by the Internet into a media-centric machine where everyone can be his or her own publisher.

That means that the vetting process for ownership has become vastly more difficult, because much more can be known publicly about owners. It used to be that when a league investigated a potential owner and found something questionable, like a criminal accusation or a link to professional gambling, the bidder would quietly go away to "pursue other interests."

But now, the public is free to discover, for example, that new Sonics co-owner Aubrey McClendon in 2004 was a large contributor to the "Swift Boat" strategy that helped undermine Sen. John Kerry's presidential campaign.

Should the NBA have disqualified McClendon from owning a team because of a political contribution that I am almost certain Commissioner David Stern, a former civil-rights lawyer, found personally reprehensible?

It didn't, and it shouldn't have. But the NFL has decided something else.

Yes, it's true there's a difference in degree -- McClendon doesn't make his living stirring controversy, and Limbaugh makes a splendid income stirring the masses with his comedy act.

But it's only a matter of time before another celebrity, maybe less bombastic than Limbaugh but no less dubious regarding mainstream sensibilities, wants to throw money at a pro sports league.

Either the league comes up with a definition of political correctness, or it accepts one of the tenets of liberal political philosophy: Inclusiveness.
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Inclusiveness is only a worthless catch-phrase for the fringe-leftists infesting us. Their idea of "inclusiveness" extends no farther than other leftists.

Anyone else is to be ridiculed. Anyone else is to be attacked. Anyone else is to be denied. Anyone else is to be, well, excluded from NFL ownership.

Well, *I* am "anyone else." So, what *I'M* going to do is exclude myself from participating in any NFL-related activity. And how nice it would be if, say, a few hundred million people would join me... because THAT, gentle reader, is the only kind of message these NFL scum will understand.
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