No Rush To Judgment in St. Louis

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You are the nation's best-known and most-listened-to radio talk show host, making millions of dollars per year.  You are the de facto head of the Republican Party (or so you'd like to believe), turned the word 'liberal' into an epithet, and is openly rooting for the failure of President Barack Obama's administration.  What do you do for an encore?

If you're Rush Limbaugh, you become part of a group that wants to buy the St. Louis Rams of the National Football League, a franchise worth (according to Forbes magazine) $929 million.  To some people, that would be like Don Imus owning a pro basketball team.

The Rams are currently on a 15-game losing streak dating back to last season, having already been shredded by the Minnesota Vikings 38-10 last Sunday, and are generally considered to be the worst in the league now that the Detroit Lions have actually won a game.

They used to be called the Greatest Show on Turf, having been to two Super Bowls since moving from Los Angeles in 1995.  Now they're just getting turfed.

Limbaugh is receiving attention for this because, during his brief stint as an ESPN football commentator in 2003, he said that Donovan McNabb of the Philadelphia Eagles was overrated by the news media because they wanted an African-American quarterback to succeed.  With that, Limbaugh was asked to leave ESPN.

African-American leaders such as Jesse Jackson and Al Sharpton, as well as the NFL's players union, have come out against Limbaugh's plans to buy the Rams, calling on league owners to reject him based on his racial track record.

I used to listen to Limbaugh when he began in syndication, but I stopped doing that when his one-note brand of conservatism and his unwillingness to listen to other points of view wore thin on me.  Having said that, I believe Limbaugh has every right to spend his money as he sees fit.

The NFL, however, is obligated to promote tolerance and respect to its players and fans regardless of race, creed and religion.  Letting Limbaugh own the Rams would defeat that purpose, and the league would do well to weigh that as the ownership process continues.