Rush Limbaugh and the NFL: Cautionary Tale of Managerial Transparency....

I'm a St. Louis Rams fan.  I was living in the area when the Rams moved from LA, and they sucked, but they were ours.  Then, the greatest show on turf came along, and Kurt Warner, Marshall Faulk and the rest of the gang won a Super Bowl and looked to be on a run of several titles until the following happened:

The freaking New England Patriots ran out during starting lineup introductions AS A TEAM in the 2002 Super Bowl. 

If you were watching that game like me, you kind of paused when you saw that.  The Patriots went on to upset the Rams and went on a run of their own behind some snot-nosed kid named Tom Brady.

Since that time, it's been a little sparse as a Rams fan.  After an 0-5 start to the season, we could use some good news.  How about a new owner with deep pockets?  Sure, that sounds good - we'll get our own Jerry Jones and join the arms race.

Check that. It appears the guy with the money is named Rush Limbaugh, and let's just say he's got a reputation that might hurt him on the Talent front.  From the AP:

"The Revs. Al Sharpton and Jesse Jackson attacked the bid by Rush Limbaugh to buy the St. Louis Rams on Monday, saying the conservative radio host's track record on race should exclude him from owning an NFL team. Sharpton sent a letter to NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell, arguing that Limbaugh has been divisive and "anti-NFL" in some of his comments.  Jackson said in a telephone interview that Limbaugh had made his wealth "appealing to the fears of whites" with an unending line of insults against blacks and other minorities.

In 2003, Limbaugh worked briefly on ESPN's NFL pregame show. He resigned after saying Philadelphia Eagles quarterback Donovan McNabb was overrated because the media wanted to see a black quarterback succeed.

Transcripts posted on the radio host's Web site also say that on a January 2007 show, Limbaugh commented: "The NFL all too often looks like a game between the Bloods and the Crips without any weapons. There, I said it."

The latest complaints came a day after executive director of the NFL Players Association, DeMaurice Smith, urged players to speak out against Limbaugh's bid.

"I have asked our players to embrace their roles not only in the game of football but also as players and partners in the business of the NFL," Smith said in a statement Sunday. "They risk everything to play this game, they understand that risk and they live with that risk and its consequences for the rest of their life."

Quotes I'm not putting up, in the interest of space, based on Limbaugh's history of inflammatory statements, are probably the most important.  Multiple players, the talent equation in the NFL, have clearly stated they won't play for the Rams if Limbaugh is the owner.

Which brings me to this point.  The NFL players are reacting to very public statements that Limbaugh made.  What happens if technology and sites like Glassdoor catch up and start chronically indexing the questionable things you do as a manager.  You're not a racist?  OK, how about the time you made Marge come in when her kids were sick and you openly stated, "remind me not to hire people who have kids".

You thought no one heard it, and even if they did, it was a joke, right?  Wrong - in the new transparent world that's right around the corner, sites are going to start collecting information on your abilities as a manager - and yes, your biases - via user generated content.

It's right around the corner.  The NFL players won't play for Limbaugh, and someday soon, how you treated Marge is going to come back and haunt you when you need a candidate, and the best sources of candidates for your position are working moms.

Welcome to the new world of transparency Rush Limbaugh is experiencing. In short order, you won't need a nationally syndicated radio program to experience the scrutiny.

That's a good thing.  But, it still sucks to be a Rams fan these days.

Comments

[Michelle]

And now Limbaugh has been dropped from the group of investors hoping to buy the Rams. Even though Rush was going to be a limited partner they found him to be a liability. In the end his value (the money he was putting forward) was not worth the hassle. Sounds like this is also a lesson in that no matter what someone brings to the table, sometimes the fact that they are an "a**hole" is a deal breaker.

[Lisa]

Good for the league!!!

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I lived in St. Louis when the Rams came to town and actually saw them play the Bears at Bush Stadium (the old one) before the TWA Dome was built.

So here's my take: the players are full of crap. I am no fan of Rush Limbaugh, but football players work for owners far worse than Rushbo. The NFL is notoriously conservative, anti-union, and has a mixed record on race relations.

I'd like to see the player's union put their money where their mouth is and stop playing for other owners who are just as stupid as Rush but keep those actions out of the limelight.

Bam. A bleeding heart post-feminist liberal who is commenting on football and challenging the union to grow a pair. Who knew?

[Brian]

We also need to realize this is a media aga and everyone (including the players) pander for attention. While I respect their right to say that they wouldn't play for a Limbaugh owned team. I'd like to see what would happend when the Rams had the best offer for a free-agent, or better yet, when the choice is leaving the playing for Rush or not playing at all. Would they put their money where their mouth is? Now we'll never know.

[Michael]

This decision is not about race; it's about $. There is no up-side to having Rush as an owner and the potential downside is obvious as we are talking about it. This is a business decision - simple risk analysis. They can just as easily find someone else who is less of a lighning rod with with same money. Plain and simple.

[Melissa]

I would like to add to the discussion that many of the comments attributed to Rush Limbaugh were not actually said by him. In other countries, such as Britain, the false comments attributed to Rush would be considered libel:

http://blogs.telegraph.co.uk/news/tobyharnden/100013647/the-rush-limbaugh-media-lynch-mob/

It is the companies perogative to choose who they want on their team. Many companies put up with managers and employee's that have less then stellar personalities/character because of their work performance. I think this is the case with the NFL, why else would you allow Ray Lewis (murder) or Michael Vick (Dog Fighting) or "Pac Man" Jones back in the league?
In Rush Limbaugh's case he only has money to offer...and there is plenty of money from plenty of other less controversial sources.

[Paul]

It seems to me that all the negative vibes this blowhard (Rush Hudson Limbaugh A.KA. Jeff Christie) has been spewing over these many years has come back to blow back on his face (A classic “Blow Back”). He always tries to give off the airs that he can have anything he wants but as we all witness those with more money and more influence tossed him aside like sack of potatoes and the ultimate insult was that it was done in public (money don’t buy you everything butterball).

Now of course he blames everyone else (Michael J. Fox, Perez Hilton, Al Sharpton, Jesse Jackson, Obama, Oprah Winfrey, Sonia Sotomayor, Hillary Clinton, Olympia Snowe, ESPN, NFL, the media, basically people of color, the handicapped, women and gays) when of course all you have to do is listen to his show and plainly hear his daily prejudices filled sermons. So NFL, I salute you decision, job well done. And to the whaling cry baby perched on his self made pedestal, quit your whining it was your own fault. Don’t we all feel better?

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Rush did make those comment about Donovan McNabb. That, alone, is enough to qualify him as a tone-deaf blowhard.

[JC]

Kinda like that blowhard Keith Olberman that works the NBS broadcasts. Seems the same to me.