Who Dat Stupid?

Big Frick — Wed, 03 Feb 2010 01:32:55 +0000

Talk about a buzz kill.

You remember the NFL. The National Football League that deemed a conservative talk show host as unfit for minority ownership of a team because he dared give his personal opinion about a certain black quarterback being overrated. The same NFL that only days later decided it was indeed appropriate for that supposedly besmirched black quarterback to be backed up by a different black quarterback who had just been released from prison, having served time as a result of his conviction for his admitted involvement in the heinous, despicable activity of dog fighting.

The same NFL whose ranks of players include some of the most downright unsavory characters outside of prison or the NBA, but who are still capable of earning millions anyway because they are protected like show ponies by this mega-billion dollar business.

The same NFL that treated the nation to a Super Bowl halftime show that included Justin Timberlake having simulated sex with Janet Jackson for what seemed like an eternity until climaxing with the boob shot heard round the world (which actually, in my estimation, was preferable to the previous year’s halftime when they had Brittany Spears singing with Aerosmith).

Yea, those guys. Those bastions of good taste and dedicated fan friendly environmentalists.

Up to this point perhaps there were only a handful of us who saw the blatant hypocrisy in the organization known as the NFL, but no more. I feel certain that in their latest court fight most of the country will agree that the NFL, under the leadership of their commissioner Roger Goodell, has taken it one step too far one time too often.

Far be it from me to disparage any organization for making money or protecting their products. I am a capitalist through and through and believe that businesses are in business to make money. Only successful businesses can be successful community servants. But Mr. Goodell and his band of merry legal eagles have crossed the line of protecting their product and moved into sheer power-hungry lunacy.

The NFL last week, through their attorneys, filed an injunction preventing any private label souvenir sales for the New Orleans Saints that bare the tagline “WHO DAT”. According to the filing the NFL says they own the expression “WHO DAT” and are concerned that any tee shirts or other memorabilia emblazoned with that expression, even without any mention of the Saints team itself, may cause a consumer to be misled into believing it is an NFL sanctioned piece of New Orleans history.

Whooeee cuzin, dat some big ting dat da bull he walk aaawaaay from I gaar-own-tee.

After suffering through countless losing seasons the diehard fans of the New Orleans Saints finally have something to really cheer about and the NFL comes in and throws their legal wet blanket on the proceedings.

The press is all agog with the story of a team coming from a city that was devastated by hurricane Katrina, and playing in a dome that was the scene of hopeless despair, has risen to the height of Super Bowl contender. Katrina certainly plays a part in this story but even without the hurricane this is an unconscionably excessive use of legal force on the everyday fan of this Super Bowl virgin team.

For the first time in the history of the New Orleans Saints the fans of the WHO DAT nation have something to celebrate and the NFL now informs them that the tag line they have been using does not belong to them. What next? A user fee every time someone says it in the stands?

Mr. Goodell needs to look in the mirror and say “Who dat be the biggest a hole outside Washington DC?”

I bet they can answer that question on Bourbon Street in a New Orleans second.

I gaar-own-tee.

Rama Jama Limbaugh

Big Frick — Tue, 13 Oct 2009 16:34:00 +0000

“He has made his wealth appealing to the fears of whites”

With that comment and a bevy of other incendiary statements the good Reverend Jesse Jackson has thrown down the gauntlet in his battle to keep Rush Limbaugh from ownership of an NFL franchise. Jackson is joined in his efforts by the Tweedledum to his Tweedledee, the right Reverend Al Sharpton.

Limbaugh is looking to partner with the St. Louis Blues owner Dave Checkettes to buy the hapless St. Louis Rams football team. Limbaugh has the dough and Checkettes involvement in St. Louis sports should boost fan support by reducing (but certainly not eliminating) the possibility of moving the franchise to another city. Limbaugh is a Missouri native growing up a hundred miles down the road from St. Louis in Cape Girardeau, Missouri. He is also a football fanatic and a remarkably successful businessman. Checkettes is a major league sports veteran having been the youngest chief executive in the history of the NBA after he was named president and general manager of the Utah Jazz at the age of 28. Checkettes has served in numerous sports related positions including CEO of Madison Square Garden and owns Sports Capital Worldwide a consulting and investment firm for sports franchises.

Successful businessmen with a passion for sports. Sounds like a great pair of professionals for NFL team ownership, right? Well, not in this seedy world of political correctness at all costs.

Jackson and Sharpton are desperate to regain at least a modicum of significance in the age of Barack Obama. Both of these veteran pot stirrers have been neutered in their efforts to remain in the headlines and, more importantly, in the heads of the black community. Every grab these two publicity hounds have made for front page coverage have fizzled thanks to the historic inauguration of a black president. They don’t matter, and they don’t like it.

Limbaugh steps into this catfight with some baggage of his own, not the least of which is his remark as commentator on ESPN that Philadelphia Eagles QB Donovan McNabb was overrated and the only reason he received so much attention was that the press was desperate for a black quarterback to succeed. ESPN disavowed any concurrence with that opinion and Limbaugh resigned rather than retract. There was much discussion and accusations of racism after the comment but nobody dared address if it was true. Was it provocative? Yes. Was it true? Absolutely!

But this campaign to thwart Limbaugh’s efforts is not about racism. It’s about giving two tired old show ponies a chance to strut their stuff in front of an audience again instead of shipping them off the glue factory. Limbaugh is outspoken and sometimes brash in his conservative message. But he is never, I repeat, never racist. If anybody has made a living, and a pretty good living at that, by being divisive and pitting one racial group against another it has been the pandemic duo of Jackson and Sharpton. It is their only claim to fame. A fame they both desperately want to rekindle.

The J&A team have been supposedly joined in their efforts by NFL Player Association Executive Director DeMaurice Smith. Smith delivered a prepared statement last Sunday, but as is the case with many lawyer’s statements it’s tough to make out exactly what he’s trying to say. “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. “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. We also know that there is an ugly part of history and we will not risk going backwards, giving up giving in or lying down to it.”

I’m not sure I understand what point Mr. Smith is trying to make, but I’m pretty sure Rush Limbaugh would not increase the risk NFL player’s face in the field. And if the NFL Players Association truly want to be partners in the business of football maybe they should ante up the capital to buy the Rams.

As for the ugly part of history, if Mr. Smith is talking about slavery, it was abolished by the Emancipation Proclamation.

And once again by free agency.

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Who Dat Stupid?

Rama Jama Limbaugh