Who the —- Is Trying to Buy the St. Louis Rams?!
October 7, 2009 by dwil
Dave Checketts (above) hopes to pair with virulent racist Rush Limbaugh to purchase the St. Louis Rams.
If the adage, you are who you your friends and associates are, we now have a deep peek into St. Louis Blues owner, Dave Checketts’, political leanings. And Dave Checketts, like his much more infamous business partner, is a far right-wing racist.
To call Rush Limbaugh a conservative, as did Associated Press writer Jim Salter, is to pander to one of the most virulent, out front and public racists in America. Actually, to write the name Rush Limbaugh and “America,” the country must be renamed, Ameri-kkka.
Since Limbaugh has embarked on a personal mission to remake America into Ameri-kkka, or his image of the United States, he has risen from a voice from the extreme right hinterlands into the mainstream Republican, neo-facist, racist and largely – and largely closeted – homosexual milieu. And all of this hate bottled up in one place lives under the spires of Christian, evangelical Christian, and apocalyptic Christian churches that run thick across the land.
Limbaugh is a symbol, no single-celled manifestation, of the terminal cancer that is the facist-racist-homosexual right that permeates and suffocates America as does an oil slick to the flora and fauna in a stream.
And now Limbaugh, with Checketts’ blessing, want in the America’s “other” Sunday pastime, the NFL:
Conservative talk radio host Rush Limbaugh said Tuesday he is teaming up with St. Louis Blues owner Dave Checketts in a bid to buy the Rams, owners of the NFL’s longest losing streak at 14 and just 5-31 since 2007.
In a statement, Limbaugh declined to discuss details, citing a confidentiality agreement with Goldman Sachs, the investment firm hired by the family of former Rams owner Georgia Frontiere to review assets of her estate, including the NFL team.
Limbaugh also declined to discuss other partners that might be involved in the bid, but said he and Checketts would operate the team.
“Dave Checketts and I have made a bid to buy the Rams and we are continuing the process,” Limbaugh said.
Forbes magazine has estimated the Rams franchise has a value of $929 million.
Frontiere’s children, Chip Rosenbloom and Lucia Rodriguez, inherited 60 percent of the Rams when their mother died in January 2008. Billionaire Stan Kroenke of Columbia, Mo., owns the remaining 40 percent. It wasn’t clear if the Limbaugh/Checketts bid was for 100 percent of the Rams or just the share owned by Rosenbloom and Rodriguez.
“Our strategic review of our ownership of the Rams continues,” Rosenbloom said in a statement released late Monday. “We will make an announcement upon the completion of the process.”
NFL spokesman Greg Aiello declined comment. Spokesmen for Checketts and the Blues declined comment.
Limbaugh is a native of Cape Girardeau, Mo., about 100 miles south of St. Louis. He’s so popular among conservatives—fans of his show call themselves “dittoheads”—that he has been called by some the voice of the Republican Party.
Limbaugh, who lives and works in Palm Beach, Fla., once worked for the Kansas City Royals and is an avid sports fan.
In 2003, Limbaugh worked briefly on ESPN’s NFL pregame show, but resigned after saying Philadelphia Eagles quarterback Donovan McNabb(notes) was overrated because the media wanted to see a black quarterback succeed.
Checketts, 53, and his SCP Worldwide and Towerbrook Capital Partners purchased the Blues in 2006 from Bill and Nancy Laurie. The Blues have been gradually rebuilt under his leadership and made the playoffs last season for the first time since 2004.
Checketts first approached Rosenbloom in early 2009 about possibly buying the Rams. Eric Gelfand, a spokesman for Checketts, said in June that Checketts had put together a group consisting of local and outside investors.
An NFL rule allows ownership of NFL teams and teams in other sports, but only if they are in the same market. That would be a problem if Kroenke wanted to become majority owner of the Rams because he owns the NBA’s Denver Nuggets and the NHL’s Colorado Avalanche.
Checketts’ company owns Utah’s Real Salt Lake of the MLS. But an NFL spokesman has said the cross-ownership rule does not apply to the MLS.
This is a moment when sports can set the agenda as to which direction this polarized nation will go. If “the league” can begin an investigation as to whether or not Braylon Edwards violated its conduct code by punching a friend of LeBron James, the league need not investigate whether Rush Limbaugh is worthy of ownership of an NFL team; same goes for his buddy, Dave Checketts.
Roger Goodell is allegedly a stickler for all that is just and right as those values pertain to NFL players.
Limbaugh stands for nothing just, nothing that can be construed as “right,” except by the twisted minds of the neo-facist, racist sheep who drool at his every word as though prime subjects of a Pavlovian mind control experiment; each time Limbaugh utters the name, “Obama,” on the radio, millions of White faces across the country contort grotesquely and their faces become beet red with anger, hate, and most of all fear that a Black man is responsible for their welfare.
And in the recesses of his studio-lab-lair, Limbaugh the puppet master is laughing ———— all the way to the bank.
Goodell cannot allow this overt element into his league. Neither can his bosses, the 31 other team owners allow themselves to be seen as willful associates of Limbaugh and Checketts.
A move of this sort will move the NFL backwards to the days of George Preston Marshall, the original owner of the Washington Redskins. As owner Marshall, a racist of monumental proportions,forbade the inclusion of Black players on his team until 1962 and under threat from the federal government. Marshall drafted Ernie Davis of Syracuse to, allegedly, be his first Black player. But Marshall traded the Davis’ rights to Cleveland for Bobby Mitchell and Browns first round draft pick, Leroy Jackson Jackson. And Mitchell became the first Black player to take the field for the Redskins.
Limbaugh’s hate of Black people and minorities, in general, runs so deep that is would be no surprise at all if a Limbaugh-Checketts run Rams team quickly becomes the Whitest in the NFL. And if Black players are worth their salt as thinking humans, none will play for a man who makes his living by spewing racist verbiage daily on the radio and inciting White people across the country. Nor will they be sweet-talked by his partner in Whiteness.
This is the time for the commissioner and every owner to say, “No,” to racists and it logical “ism.” It is time for Roger Goodell to make a stand, not against the politics of the men in question, but their right-wing associations in the world of business, their associations with right-wing legislators who lead the way in voting against the poor and against those not of heterosexual orientation in site of a Congress rife with closet homosexual Republicans, their conduct – especially Limbaugh’s, and what they portend for the future of the NFL.
In this increasingly angry America where the schism between races – especially Black and White thanks to the presence of President Obama – has grown so wide and perilous that the threat of violence by hateful Whites lurks around every corner, turning away the duo of Limbaugh and Checketts and any other investors they bring with them at the NFL league office door is a statement that the nation desperately needs to hear and see. The choices made by the league office and the NFL owners concerning the purchase of the Rams have the potential to represent a watershed moment for the nation.
By denouncing Limbaugh and Checketts, Roger Goodell and the owners can make a stand for the country called America, taking back for a moment, at least, the country Limbaugh and his ilk are trying to rename ———- Amerikkka.
Sorry for the thread jack D, but I just heard Crabtree and the 49ers reached a deal:
http://msn.foxsports.com/nfl/story/10179102/Sources:-49ers,-WR-Crabtree-finally-reach-deal
Good piece dwil.
Unfortunately, I really don’t think Roger Goodell will step up in this situation. He’s going to play the “white priviledge” card on this one. It’s a sad state in this society when money trumps moral values. But it doesn’t surprise me at all as it is the theme of this country.
My guess is that, by a wide margin, most NFL owners share the same socio-political outlook as Mr. Limbaugh. Perhaps they’re more circumspect in expressing that outlook, but share it nonetheless. It wouldn’t surprise me in the least to find out that Mr. Goodell also shares that outlook. Therefore I think Mr. Limbaugh and Mr. Checketts will, as NFL owners, find good company amongst their racist, homophobic, class warfaring fellow travelers.
Yo…..
I also just heard that the Browns traded Braylon Edwards to the Jets:
http://content.usatoday.com/communities/thehuddle/post/2009/10/browns-trade-braylon-edwards-to-jets/1
‘It’s a sad state in this society when money trumps moral values. But it doesn’t surprise me at all as it is the theme of this country.’
Money/Power has always trumped everything, I believe this has been proven historically a few million (trillion?) times.
Moral values themselves are a nefarious term, isn’t moral values the platform of the right wing?
Anyway, on Dwil’s assertion of ‘mainstream Republican, neo-facist, racist and largely – and largely closeted – homosexual milieu’… I have said it myself, it is just funny to see it in print. Part of me wants to argue, because I have a terminal case of playing the contrary opinion, but it is funny and I have said it myself.
My family listens to Limbaugh, well, my mom and grandmother. It is too late to save my grandmother, but I’m trying to work on my mom. Sometimes I wonder how the people that raised me to be open minded hit their 50′s and got stupid.
I remember when Limbaugh had that tv show during the early ’90s (?). I watched a few times, but just couldn’t relate to any of it. Of course, when you’re broke like that and have a brain, then who can blame me for not following? I suppose if I had 8+ figures in the account and had the compassion a notch above Ebenezer Scrooge, I wouldn’t give a crap what Rush did on the airwaves.
Remember, they put him on ESPiNners during the Sunday Countdown until the seat got too hot after his McNabb comments. I wouldn’t put it past them to at least have him come in the side entrance to Rams ownership. When you see lily white owners of 2 of the most popular sports being played by majority black/brown players, those red flags should be frayed by now. Adding Rush to the mix should uproot the flagpolls…SMH!!!
Well now how can Rush be racist? he certainly likes him some little Dominican boys.
Limbaugh’s doing this to rehab his public image AND make some money off of the same race of people he’s crapped on for years.
His drug history could be cause for Goodell to consider whether that type of person should be in ownership in any capacity.
Like they always say
What’s good for the goose
Is always good for the gander
Oh, Sheila
gmp-
Having had to do much reporting on Capitol Hill some time ago, I got to see, first hand, how many gay men were in the halls of Congress. But then there was no alternative media to report this phenomenon.
Further down the above commentary I repeat the charge and supply a link to a New York Daily News article about a documentary about largely Republican, gay Capitol Hill and these gay men and their voting records on matters dealing with gay rights.
I watched the documentary Monday night on Sundance. Not only did it bring back many memories as some of the subjects were/are longtime Congressmen – I met and interviewed both them and their gay aides and staffers – but showed how the alternative media today – gay-oriented alternative media – is exposing these people.
So, there is no, ‘just to play Devil’s Advocate’ side to the story. It has been a long-standing fact; now it is a documented long-standing fact.
Co-sign Newbie.
This I gotta see. What will Goodell do? Maybe he will surprise me, but i doubt it.
We need to email and call Goodell and the Rams organization and let them know how we feel. Let’s not wait until Limpballs is sitting in the Rams front office!
Dwil,
Goodell’s not the only person who gets to approve the transfer of ownership. The principal owners vote their approval/disapproval. As many conservative owners as there are in the league, I could still see a real contest among them. I could see Dan Rooney and Jeff Lurie rounding up enough opposition to block Limbaugh’s entry. They, along with Goodell, might be the people we need to lobby the most in order to prevent RL from becoming owner of the Rams.
Bryan Burwell took a stand on this issue in his column:
http://www.stltoday.com/stltoday/sports/columnists.nsf/bryanburwell/story/E196145D80764B2F86257648000EF26B?OpenDocument
mc-
I did include the owners in this…
Sweet J-
I would hope no Black sports columnist comes out in favor of Limbaugh. Actually, EVERY Black sports columnist should commit words to this issue.
BUT. Limbaugh is far from being a conservative. He is a neo-fascist, far right-wing reactionary racist. That is not a conservative.
See, as long as people call him a conservative, conservatives AND neo-fascist far right-wing reactionary racists can join together and claim Limbaugh is the victim of partisan politics.
If Burwell, and others who are critical of the man want to make sure people understand Limbaugh, they must label him as he is and stop being so fucking lazy, or ignorant of what the man stands for.
Lady T-
True on that!
Burwell’s column was good. However, at the end he posited that players would be leery of playing for Limbaugh.
Sadly, I don’t see that happening.
However, the quotes Burwell included from Limbaugh were a nice touch. It’s no shock that he chose the sport where the power dynamic between worker and employer most clearly aligns with his own thought processses.
Big Man,
True that. NFL players can’t even be bothered to have a real union, why would they lift a finger about this?
Big Man, awb-
They will lift more than a finger, believe it.
On Burwell’s column:
Look, the man is not a “conservative” and what I wrote in the above comment explains why it is dangerous to call him one. Also, the “NFL” had not a goddamn thing to do with Limbaugh being at ESPN, and Burwell is only protecting his own interests to the detriment of his readers when he acts like it was the NFL that co-signed on Limbaugh being on ESPN.
See, every time people do shit like Burwell did, it ruins what should be a focused attack. If this is the critical mainstream response to Limbaugh, the issue was not powerful enough for them to defend in the first place.
The result will be a diffused argument with little or no meaning that is easily slapped aside by the 31 owners, Goodell, Fox News, Lou Dobbs, Pat Buchannon, Michelle Malkin, and a bunch more crackers and dyed crackers who would love the saltines.
“If Burwell, and others who are critical of the man want to make sure people understand Limbaugh, they must label him as he is and stop being so fucking lazy, or ignorant of what the man stands for.”
EXACTLY!!!!!
I couldn’t agree more.
as owner limbaugh plans on doing the following:
-never playing the san francisco 49ers. the city is a liberal pinko fag hotbed.
-never playing the chicago bears, see pres obama.
-hiring bill oreilly as team president
-hiring glenn beck as GM
-only drafting “REAL” americans (white west point, air force, navy, and liberty university grads)
-disregarding the salary cap and not participate in revenue sharing. both ideas are socialist, anti free trade and un-american.
-no more paying for abortions for star players who get their mistress, stripper, or cheerleader pregnant.
-and last but not least, unlimited supply of vicodin and oxycotin. football is a tough and very painful sport.
LOL@rey
Dwil
I see your point, but I doubt that Burwell’s sees things the way you do, and I doubt he has the juice to get whatever the hell he wants printed in the paper.
Remember when he told a caller, “take the bone out of your nose”?
Go to mediamatters.org , do a search on Rush, and see what other comments he has made. Don Imus is a racial piker compared to Rush…
Once again, the fascist right-wing attempt to mainstream racism and bigotry. They tried it on ESPN. Now they’ll try this way.
The question is: what are WE going to do? We have to obtain a list of the NFL’s sponsors. We have to organize around other established organizations. We have to actually take time out of our “busy” schedules, and write a letter to these sponsors of the NFL, and protest, and let them know we will boycott their products if the NFL, after all of the penalties that they have issued to African-Americans players for “conduct detrimental to the league”, endorsed someone who is a fascist racist who actually had the nerve to say he hopes the President fails (and other racist things that he says weekly).
Now is the time that we decide if we’re going to protest this slap in the face with real action, OR are we just going to sit around and ONCE AGAIN let something happen, and then later complain about it (the usual M.O.)…
I really don’t think Goodell or the NFL cares enough about St. Louis to allow Limbaugh to get involved. In fact, they probably don’t want anybody with Missouri ties to make a serious run at the Rams. They’d much rather approve a sale to people bent on moving the franchise to L.A.
Of course, they’ll have many other justifiable reasons to nix Rush, but this is the one that will really stick.
Amen Dwil, Victor and Lady T.
If Rush becomes the owner of the Rams then I will have to quote my boy Kev dog “black folks are nuts to support the NFL”.
But it would be fitting for Rush to own an NFL team. A Klan member owning a plantation is almost poetic. A viagra user who owns a team for a league that runs Viagra commercials during the games.
And where is Al and Jesse??? These dudes been quite ever since Obama been in office.
Dwil do you actually believe that the players would protest Rush being an owner???
One more thing they asked Mcnabb what he felt about Rush owning the Rams…….Mcnabb said he guess he will never be playing for the Rams.
RBD Rush will get in even if its through the back door.
That redneck P wood got connections and comes from money. And as Newbie said these owners think just like him.
Dwil – it will be interesting to watch this play out, but a part of me just feels like Rush will be welcomed with open arms. Usually, we only see the backwards, redneck portion of Rush’s audience. But we all know there are more than a few out there who are very rich and very well educated who sit back and smile and laugh and nod their heads silently while listening in to his show all the while fronting like they are so happy to be living in post-racial America.
It was on full display today here in DC as I listened to the Mike Wise show during lunch. They were talking about the Burrell article and those Rush quotes in particular. While Wise stated that he thought this was terrible and the NFL would be making a huge mistake, his co-host began explaining how Rush was very “sarcastic” and how he couldn’t know the full context of his statements about slavery. Wise pretty much completely rejected that saying that there was no proper context for that kind of offensive talk and it was pretty much blatantly racist and at best racially insensitive. His co-host stumbled a bit there and a couple of callers also chimed in bashing Rush.
I was happy that they called him on that, but I think it pretty much perfectly sums up what you and so many commenters are pointing out. There are just so many people out there who really do agree with and champion Rush that I wouldn’t be surprised to see him completely welcomed in so he can “straighten” things out in the NFL. I mean, this guy was seriously saying that he couldn’t say that Rush’s statements were racist without knowing their full context. I mean, WTF. Again I say, there is simply nothing that will ever be good enough for some people to come out and admit that it is racist. Nothing.
Also, consider the new low the league has reached in its handling of Tom Cable. Where is his suspension? If the cops weren’t investigating would we even still be hearing about it?
Yeah, Rush will fit right in.
Orgin says:
“If Rush becomes the owner of the Rams then I will have to quote my boy Kev dog “black folks are nuts to support the NFL”.”
Fuck the NFL!
Great points Esquire.
This is the same Fat ass Rush that said that the NFL resembled gangbangers………..like the bloods and Crips.
And Tom Cable incident is nothing more then last years version of Matty Coke getting a slap on the wrist.
From Bad to Worse
by Roman Oben
http://views.washingtonpost.com/theleague/panelists/2009/10/rush-limbaugh-st-louis-rams-oben.html
I’d kind of like to see the following scenario unfold:
1) Rush gets a team;
2) Concerned citizens create a fund that essentially enables the Rams’ draftees to sit out a year rather than play for The Great Voice of the GOP. The picks could tap into the fund for a year. They’d be compensated at fair market value for the spot in which they were drafted. After a year, they’d go back into the draft.
My plan couldn’t accommodate veterans, who, in most cases, would have to give back bonus money on which they had already been taxed if they refused to play for Rush.
After a while, the league would figure it out and force Limbaugh out.
As for Matt Jones, it’s hard to say he got off light for his offenses. He still hasn’t found a job in the NFL this year. And that’s fine with me.
Emailing the Eagles and the NFL right now to make my opinions known.
Mail a copy of this article with your letter to Roger Goddell. In your letter, ask him to mail to you a list of the NFL sponsors…
http://newsone.com/elections/top-10-racist-limbaugh-quotes/
“…Here’s Our Top 10 Racist Rush Limbaugh Quotes
1. ‘…I mean, let’s face it, we didn’t have slavery in this country for over 100 years because it was a bad thing. Quite the opposite: slavery built the South. I’m not saying we should bring it back; I’m just saying it had its merits. For one thing, the streets were safer after dark…’
2. ‘…You know who deserves a posthumous Medal of Honor? James Earl Ray [the confessed assassin of Martin Luther King]. We miss you, James. Godspeed…’
3. ‘…Have you ever noticed how all composite pictures of wanted criminals resemble Jesse Jackson?’
4. ‘…Right. So you go into Darfur and you go into South Africa, you get rid of the white government there. You put sanctions on them. You stand behind Nelson Mandela — who was bankrolled by communists for a time, had the support of certain communist leaders. You go to Ethiopia. You do the same thing…’
5. ‘…Look, let me put it to you this way: the NFL all too often looks like a game between the Bloods and the Crips without any weapons. There, I said it…’
6. ‘…The NAACP should have riot rehearsal. They should get a liquor store and practice robberies…’
7. ‘…They’re (African-Americans) 12 percent of the population. Who the hell cares?’
8. ‘…Take that bone out of your nose and call me back(to an African American female caller)…’
9. ‘…I think the media has been very desirous that a black quarterback do well. They’re interested in black coaches and black quarterbacks doing well. I think there’s a little hope invested in McNabb and he got a lot of credit for the performance of his team that he really didn’t deserve…’
10. Limbaugh attacks on Obama. Limbaugh has called Obama a ‘halfrican American’ has said that Obama was not black but Arab because Kenya is an Arab region, even though Arabs are less than one percent of Kenya. Since mainstream America has become more accepting of African-Americans, Limbaugh has decided to play against its new racial fears, Arabs and Muslims. Despite the fact Obama graduated magna cum laude from Harvard Law school, Limbaugh has called him an ‘affirmative action candidate.’ Limbaugh even has repeatedly played a song on his radio show ‘Barack the Magic Negro’ using an antiquated Jim Crow era term for black a man who many Americans are supporting for president…”
Now…that’s just his top ten. I’ll find the other thousand or so later…
Also…
http://mediamatters.org/research/200910070030
What always scares me are the responses to columns like Burwell’s or the one posted awhile back about Drew Brees’ visit to Guantanamo that always seem to be in favor of the, shall we say, REgressive point of view. If that’s the way most people really feel, how the hell did Obama win the election? I mean these are on-line forums not subject to any editorial decision about what gets printed. So what gives?
newbie-
Remember, President Obama won by only 5% of the vote…
I was listening to the Dan Patrick show earlier and he spoke on the potential ownership involving Limbaugh. He feels like Roger Goodell AND the other owners in the league will not allow this to happen because of all the controversy surrounding Rush.
I also found it interesting after listening to a few callers chime in (both black & white), who agree that it would be “bad” for the NFL. But on the flip side of that, a poll for the show revealed that 68% of people who participated in the poll wouldn’t care if Limbaugh was the owner of their team.
Actually, Obama won by 7 percentage points and by 10 million votes.
RDB-
And your point is?
When President Obama was declared the victor in the election he led by 5% of the vote.. I watched and listened for a bit and wrote and went to bed.
But. OMG, when all the votes were tallied he won by 2% more! Oh wait, and 10 million votes!
In reference to newbie’s question, “If that’s the way most people really feel, how the hell did Obama win the election,” your point is?
Does the extra 2% and do the 10 million votes invalidate what I am implying, which is, there are plenty of people – tens of millions – who did not vote for President Obama?
And if you want to get down and dirty about it, there were plenty of White voters who voted for what they felt was the lesser of two evils; that John McCain and Sarah Palin represented a continuance of the policies that, over an eight-year period, act to flush the toilet on an America already in the crapper.
So, beyond all the millions of people who did not vote for President Obama, there were an additional number who voted for him but would rather not have.
Then you have the untold millions of people who did not vote in the Presidential Election who are racists, (and there is no qualifier like “unconscious racist” or “blatant racist” – a racist is a racist is a racist).
In the end there is little wonder why we are witnessing a racially-regressive country of White people tripping the fuck out, hating the fact that their well-being, because their feeling of well-being is tied to the wrong aspects of their lives, is in the hand of a Black man.
Others hate the fact that what was once the exclusive territory of White men, the presidency, is no linger that, that Black fathers can, should they choose. look at their infant boys the same way White men do, and say to those infant boys, “Son, one day you too can be the President of the United States.”
And some White people cannot stand the fact that they must, to some degree, obey a a man they would rather refer to as a “nigger.”
So, your point is?
“Son, one day you too can be the President of the United States.”
But only if you sell your soul to Goldman Sachs, Citibank, Pfizer, United Healthcare, Lockheed Martin, ….
mewbie-
Ha!… (true in reality) but I’m sure you catch my drift….