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Just days after controversial radio talk-show host Rush Limbaugh was dropped from a syndicate seeking to purchase the St. Louis Rams pro football franchise, the NFL announced that stiff fines, suspensions and possible banishment would face players, coaches or owners who engage in divisive rhetoric.
NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell said that while the league has no current problem with divisiveness, or so-called “trash talk,” “we want to send a clear signal of zero tolerance.”
“The last thing that the NFL needs is an atmosphere that pits one group of people against another,” said Goodell. “Football is such an American favorite because it lets us put aside our differences, and come together in one place with a common goal.”
The commissioner noted that “Rush Limbaugh has made a career by being on the attack, and encouraging his listeners to defeat the opposition. That kind of talk is just unhelpful.
“We in the NFL stand against Limbaugh’s ‘us versus them’ mentality,” Goodell said. “All of this angry, abusive, back-and-forth business would hurt the game … a game that has brought so much tranquility to Sunday afternoon.”
Limbaughs’ participation in a bidders’ group ended this week after an outcry arose spontaneously from noted football experts like the Revs. Jesse Jackson and Al Sharpton, as well as Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee, D-Texas, who alleged that Limbaugh’s rhetoric carries racist overtones.
Commissioner Goodell added that “If the NFL stands for anything, it stands for tolerance and harmony. When families come out to watch the Cowboys go after the Redskins, we don’t want them distracted by primitive racial or ethnic divisions.”
Examiner Columnist Scott Ott is editor in chief of ScrappleFace.com, the world’s leading family-friendly news satire source.
