So it turns out that one of the other investors in Dave Checketts‘ potential St. Louis Rams ownership group is George Soros, the left-leaning billionaire who once vowed to use all his wealth to help defeat George W. Bush in the 2004 Presidental election. Soros and Rush Limbaugh, on the same team? What extraordinary bedfellows NFL capitalism begets. Montagues and Capulets, living together … utter chaos!
If nothing else, it just goes to show what formidable financial interests are at stake here, and why it’s no surprise that Limbaugh was left behind at the nearest bus stop once the heat was on. Whether the criticism of Limbaugh was fair or not, billionaires tend not to want a spare albatross as a necklace when trying to buy big, expensive things. Kind of ironic that the unchecked capitalism that Rush so openly worships is what ultimately did him in.
Meanwhile, Limbaugh took to the airwaves today to say that, when Checketts first approached him about being an investor, Checketts assured him that he (Limbaugh) had been “cleared by the highest levels of the NFL.” Wow, somebody’s lying.
From BLOOMBERG NEWS:
Limbaugh’s group is led by former Madison Square Garden President and current St. Louis Blues and Real Salt Lake majority owner Dave Checketts, who brings a wealth of sports industry contacts, know-how and credibility. Checketts also brings big-time backers like George Soros, who financed the duo’s failed attempt to buy the Los Angeles Dodgers in 2003.
Checketts’s ownership of hockey’s Blues is backed by, among others, TowerBrook Capital Partners, which was formerly known as Soros Private Equity Partners before it was spun off from Soros Asset Management Group in 2005.
Now that Limbaugh is toast, we may see his supporters pick up pieces of the wreckage and start hitting Checketts with it. For example, what will right-wing pundits say about Soros, who, in his book “The Age of Fallibility,” compared the Bush administration to the Nazis? As PRO FOOTBALL TALK asked earlier today, is that as incendiary as anything Limbaugh is supposed to have said?
Meanwhile, Checketts confirmed this morning that Limbaugh was indeed out, and Rush responded via his radio show in typical, low-key fashion. From AP:
On his syndicated show Thursday, Limbaugh said he was approached by St. Louis Blues chairman Dave Checketts earlier this year about participating in a Rams bid. He also said Checketts assured him his involvement as a minority investor had been vetted by the NFL.
“I said to him at this meeting, ‘Are you aware of the firestorm?’ He said ‘We wouldn’t have approached you if we hadn’t taken care of that,’” Limbaugh said.
Limbaugh added that Checketts had told him his involvement had been cleared at the “highest levels of the NFL.”
Other Limbaugh quotes today:
“To make med the poster boy of racism was designed to intimidate the owners, who are really in charge of this league,” Limbaugh said. “The end result of all of this, folks, is that i have lost nothing. very little little. On the other hand, our country has lost a great deal. … I am the mirror. I am the man who showed us what America is becoming.”
Limbaugh said that the real reason he was dumped was because of “the blind hatred of the sportswriting community.”
“These people who enabled this event for their own personal and business reasons, who told all those lies, they’re going to be just as unhappy as they were before this happened.”
3:16 pm on October 15th, 2009
“Kind of ironic that the unchecked capitalism that Rush so openly worships is what ultimately did him in.”
Unchecked capitalism isn’t what did him in, it’s ridiculous political correctness. It’s unbelievable that people get away with saying he’s a racist without being able to quote him as saying anything racist. Mainstream media, no less.
4:19 pm on October 15th, 2009
This right-wing bully did himself in — he has a big mouth yet he doesn’t know when to shut up.
He also got arrested on drug charges not that long ago. THAT would have made him persona non grata with the league.
4:34 pm on October 15th, 2009
Dog killer and spouse abusers welcome. Right wing talk show hosts not.
4:41 pm on October 15th, 2009
“in his book “The Age of Fallibility,” compared the Bush administration to the Nazis? As PRO FOOTBALL TALK asked earlier today, is that as incendiary as anything Limbaugh is supposed to have said?”
Shocking (not really), PFT (a joke of a football site, no legit football knowledge, Florio never played at a legit level) also gets it wrong…
Soros was never on a NFL pregame show saying race related remarks…
are people really this stupid, if Limbaugh never made those comments on NFL Sunday Countdown there would be 95% less “outrage” (from people within the NFL) at his (previous) involvement with the potential Rams ownership group…
but he was, he said stupid shit, and that’s the story…fuck Pro Football Talk, whats that clown know about pro football? Nothing. Can he name every pro football championship team since 1920?? no, he can’t, because he’s doesn’t know shit about sports, let alone football…
this site banned covering one of the greatest QB’s of all-time for a month, but daily we get a story about some no talent assclown like Rush Limbaugh, and we get story after story yet none of the comparisons make any sense. Oh, some other political person, that real men (who watch sports like real men do) never heard of because they watch sports and don’t do gay shit, said something about something but NFL doesn’t block him. Fucking idiots, Rush Limbaugh on an NFL pre-game show said shit, no one cares about these radio shows, you think Bart Scott sits around listening to radio shows??? No, but he did hear the comments about McNabb on an NFL pre-game show…
4:52 pm on October 15th, 2009
Please, go on, Doc. It didn’t look like you were finished.
5:07 pm on October 15th, 2009
Nah, that’s all I had, rest of my material is in the other Limbaugh posts…
you’re the best “writer” on this site besides Brooks so i like reading, just this topic is stupid, already overplayed and you and Brooks both made comparisons to other people (Olbermann, Soros, etc) when the comparisons make no sense unless you are trying to spin or fabricate the real story…
typical Blogger type shit, that hasn’t ever really been what this site is about, except for some reason with this “story”…
Marshall Faulk rumored to replace Limbaugh in the Checketts ownership group…nice call by them, Marshall has always said he wanted to be an owner or GM, if they own the team he can make himself the GM…
5:16 pm on October 15th, 2009
political correctness my ass, he got dumped because you have 32 whitemen who own these teams who see that Rush would present a problem. They probably have the same right wing beliefs as Rush, yet they practice socialism by sharing tv revenue equally as well as merchandise and gate (60/40) home vs away. Why would Rush want to participate with known socialists?
Stop recycling the same old tired lines, something is either correct or incorrect. Free your mind!
5:25 pm on October 15th, 2009
@Doc Reese: Appreciate the feedback Doc. Noted.
@bluebengal: Never considered the socialism angle! Well played.
5:34 pm on October 15th, 2009
Why would Rush want to be involved with a socialist organization like the NFL? Thrown in the “salary cap” and the NFL turns out to be everything Rush stands against.
8:40 pm on October 15th, 2009
Rush doesnt know jack %$*# about football anyways. He would probably blame the Rams getting their asses kicked on Obama somehow. Goodell doesnt put up with idiotic comments from players, much less owners. Besides, even if he was let in the league, he would already have one strike in the leagues substance abuse policy.
11:39 pm on October 15th, 2009
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 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, 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?
2:39 am on October 16th, 2009
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 influence
3:12 am on October 16th, 2009
I wonder if all of this had to do with the rumor that Rush’s desire to own an NFL team was driven by his dream of ‘owning a bunch of black guys’?
http://unreasonablysafe.com/2009/10/13/rushfootball/
3:19 am on October 16th, 2009
^ - THAT is how a post on the topic of Rush Limbaugh and owning an NFL team should be done…
9:35 am on October 16th, 2009
If Soros gets kicked out of the investment, at least he can return to his acting gig on Scrubs.