Two weeks ago, radio host Rush Limbaugh suggested that the NFLPA tried to “intimidate and frighten” the NFL into distancing itself from Limbaugh, via the connections between NFLPA Executive Director De Smith and the Obama administration.
Limbaugh’s logic was flawed. To date, the NFL has shown no fear of the union. Indeed, the owners have been strident and bellicose regarding the current labor agreement, and regardless of whether it’s a bluff (we think it is), the owners are sending out strong signals of a willingness to take a work stoppage.
But the NFL could be getting scared soon, if Smith is starting to make good on one of his prior threats/promises.
In May, Smith has said that he’ll use his political connections to threaten the NFL’s antitrust exemption as a collective bargaining tactic. And, coincidentally, a Democratic member of the U.S. House of Representatives openly stated during today’s Judiciary Committee meeting that the antitrust exemption should be revoked.
Said Rep. Maxine Waters (D-Cal.) on Wednesday to Commissioner Roger Goodell, “I think it’s time for Congress of the U.S. to take a look at your
antitrust exemption. You’re an $8 billion organization who
has not taken seriously your responsibilities to the players. . . . I know that you do everything you can to hold onto those profits. And
I think the responsibility of this Congress to take a look at the
antitrust exemption that you have and in my estimation, take it away.”
Though the suggestion gained no traction during the hearing, it’s hard not to wonder whether Waters’ words were the first piece of tangible evidence in the campaign by De Smith to use his political juice to place pressure on NFL owners to do a fair deal — and to stop thumping their chests about a possible lockout.
Oh, Maxine Waters, the same elected official who stated that she thought Fidel Castro was a good, decent man. Wait until she uses ACORN to influence the NFL’s lockout powers
If an NFL team like the vikings would move to Southern California, loud Maxine might get told to show the league a little respect.
To MS Maxine, in case you have not watched a game or two, football is a violent sport and every player entering into it knows that and its risks and rewards$$. Does she want it to be flag football? How many more rules are gonna be in place until it is a non-contact sport? Maybe the NFL should give up its anitrust and then noone will have any power to idely threathen anymore.
There is nothing more hilarious than a liberal fighting every fiber of his being to say the words that are most injurious to him: “Hey, maybe that [insert conservative bogeyman] had a little something that made sense.” Of course, with this bogeyman being Limbaugh, this is hardly a rare occurrence.
Maxine Waters – have you ever listened to this woman? Well, that’s more that she would ever do for you. Unless of course you were looking for a handout. The liberals are going to ruin this country from sea to shining sea.
In other interesting things at the hearing: it was nice to see a Congressman call Goodell out on saying the members of the NFL are held to higher standards while letting tramps like J Lo and Fergie be part owners. It would be hilarious if he could actually get Mr. Roger to admit that Limbaugh’s railroading had nothing to do with his comments, everything to do with his politics and was the vehicle for yet another race hustle by the hustler supreme, Rev. Al. Might be a little much to wish for, but hell, it’s almost Christmas!
So, in other words, Limbaugh was right as usual.
Give me a break. Have your minions do some research on “congresswoman” maxine waters before posting and summarizing any remarks made by her with regard to ANY situation. She’s clown, she’s corrupt (look it up), and she has no authority other than the notoriety she gains by making foolish and outlandish statements. Trust me, the NFL owner’s could give a damn what comes out of this clown’s mouth. She doesn’t even know what having antitrust exemption means. You can bet the house on that.
If it were almost anyone but Maxine Waters bringing it up, I’d think it was a real concern.
Waters is not the brightest bulb out there and has made a number of statements in favor of socializing industries like oil and gas.
It would be more of a shock if she DIDN’T make threats about the league’s anti-trust exemption.
Said Rep. Maxine Waters (D-Cal.) on Wednesday to Commissioner Roger Goodell, “I think it’s time for Congress of the U.S. to take a look at your antitrust exemption. You’re an $8 billion organization who has not taken seriously your responsibilities to the players. . . . I know that you do everything you can to hold onto those profits. And I think the responsibility of this Congress to take a look at the antitrust exemption that you have and in my estimation, take it away.”
I would prefer to see Congress step in a regulate all CEO pay. To the standards of CEO pay set to a time back in the 1950′s or 1960′s. Heck I’d even be willing to negotiate the CEO pay scale to a time period back in the 1980′s.
This would solve all of our economy woes and allow all of America’s employees back to an affordable wage scale that would cover all of their needs.
Them there would be no problems or disagreements by employees who feel slighted…whether it be in football or any other job field.
It’s pretty dam ridiculous and quite unfair when the top 2% of earners in this country earn far more than the rest of the 98%…
HA!! Maxine Waters, what a great and formidable ally to have. They should have interrupted the speech and suggested she have a man give it so it could be taken seriously. Ole Limbaugh is making believers out of even the stupidest folks in this country, including bloggers.
I love it!! America, lets thank our Federal Government! Thank you because we don’t have any other problems in this country other than: the BCS, steriods in MLB, concussions in the NFL and almost forgot steriods in Professional Wrestling. Screw the economy, unemployment rate, how to get back $780 million and the National Debt. In short continue to rape the masses with your pointless “hearings” and pork spending. Thank you!!
Bob Nelson, you are an absolute idiot. To keep saying the Vikings are moving to LA is beyond stupid. There is as much chance for the Vikings to move to LA as there is for the Packers to move there.
The NFL is NOT going to give up on the HUGE rivalry’s between the Vikes and the Packers or Bears. They are NOT going to realign the divisions. Without being close, the rivalry’s will die, plain and simple.
Get use to the idea. LA is NOT going to get the Vikings, period, end of discussion!
littleyoungkitten (BigOldDog) you are another idiot. The *ONLY* thing Rush is right about is the political side he is on! Maybe one day, republemmings such as yourself will realize it. Course it does mean you need to grow beyond the one brain cell it seems you have!
Oh, I was almost scared there.
Then you said it was Maxine Waters, the biggest joke in congress (which is an impressive feat). I doubt the NFL is shaking in their boots.
Redistribute the wealth. Let me try to understand this through the eyes of a democrat. If you invest a billion dollars we get to tell you how much you can earn and how much you have to give to those who have zero monetary risk. Plus don’t forget your silent partner who never shows up for work but is first in line on payday, the US Government. This will really be the continuation of the socialist state created by the jackasses in congress. Most of these hacks have never had a real job in their life. They do not understand the concept of earning money, only taking what others earn. Watch your wallet if there is a trick or treater dressed as a donkey on your doorstep
How Gene Upshaw can live with himself…oh wait. I forgot. Karma took the bullet train with that asshole and put him right where he should be. Good riddence.
“To thine ownself be true” might have been a good theme for a guy who played next to guys now crippled. Guys who maybe didn’t build the league but did set the stage for what it is now, but Upshaw claimed he didn’t represent them. I never got how it made any sense to Upshaw except dollars and cents. What a jagwod. Rest in agony, you sorry piece of crap.
I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again.. Until we, as fans, are willing to stand up and demand a seat at the bargaining table we’ll always pay too much for tickets, too much for merchandise, too much for premium sports TV packages and watch while the owners and players continue to bathe in giant stacks of cash.
Until there’s a fan’s union willing to hit the NFL–and other sports leagues–where it hurts (advertising), we’ll just watch salaries, franchise values, and owners’ pocketbooks spiral out of control. Because we’re willing to plunk down our cash and continue buying from the NFL’s advertisers there’s no reason for the owners and the league to listen to us.
The league has a seat at the table. The owners are well represented. The players have a say. But 99% of the people in the equation, and the ones who continue to foot the bills, have no bargaining power at all. Now I’ll step down from my soapbox.
Love how she throws the word “profit” around like its a four-letter word: “I know that you do everything you can to hold onto those profits.” This is some f’ed up s–t we’re watching unfold before our eyes with this government.
Ummm. Yeah. That’s what businesses do. Last time I checked, the players made out pretty well under the system, too. In fact, they keep more than 50% of each dollar made. You’re not going to eliminate concussions in football unless you can find a way to secure the player’s brain INSIDE his head. Not gonna happen. I think maybe the better course of action is to parade every player before congress and have congress give them the opportunity to void their contracts and walk away from the game if they don’t like the risks associated with their profession.
Maxine – STFU and stick to fleecing your constituents.
No seriously there’s nothing better to do in Washington…
La da de da… da de da da da..
Florio, what happened to the “Pic of the day”? First you moved it from the toolbar to the “Other stuff” section. Now it looks like it’s gone completely. Did Taco Bill defect to ESPN or something? Don’t you think your loyal followers deserve a heads-up? Or did I skip past it?
Wow, a socialist , castro lover chasing after money that belongs to private citizens. Rush was right. Nice gig you got there at the National Barack Channel, Mike.
Yes, Limbaugh is usually right, which is not to say he is usually correct.
C’mon, people; think this through before you start throwing stones. Traumatic Brain Injury is an issue that Maxine feels very strongly about, and with good reason. Her record as an elected official clearly indicates that she sustained such an injury early on in life, and suffers the effects of it to this day.
Have a little compassion
LIMBAUGH is flawed period. hey shinsnake did you know goodell wife is a anchor on fox,roger goodell is not a liberal you idiot. keep listening to rush and fox ,they never let the truth get in the way of a good story like this week when rush read a fake obama college thesis that was posted by a blogger as a joke
I know that you do everything you can to hold onto those profits. And I think the responsibility of this Congress to take a look at the antitrust exemption that you have and in my estimation, take it away.”
———————————————
Perhaps congress is too busy exceptinog millions from lobbyist, not auditing the fed, giving hook ups to their buddies in corporate America, fudging data for the FDA, planning what coporation to accept a job at before returning to a regulatory body for which conflict of interest should but for congress is not an issue, planning new ways to tax and transfer wealth from the middle class to the ruling elite, sleeping with their aids, planning their next $50,000 yearly raise, and fooling ordinary Americans with partisan smoke screens….
But yea, they should get RIGHT ON that NFL stuff. I mean, those guys are not getting enough millions and those greedy owners…. Save us government! SAVE US!
“strident and bellicose” …..ummm yea i definitely googled both those words
According to the site below, Goodell has given more than twice as much money to Republicans as he has to Democrats.
Not that I necessarily think it was shinsnake’s contention that Goodell is a liberal. Honestly, it was a little difficult to decipher.
http://www.newsmeat.com/sports_political_donations/Roger_Goodell.php
Hey Goodell, you deserve a $50k fine for side stepping questions in front of congress. (1) What is the NFL doing for RETIRED football players? (2) Do concussions contribute to Alzhiemers disease to retired players! Good job though, trying to save YOUR meal ticket!
Mike, here’s Goddell the crapweasel made to look like a dope.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tdCimSglD3c
The NFL is about unity…uh huh. Sure Rog. We believe you, you asshole. You lied about Limbaugh under oath, are you simply an idiot?
Dan Snyder? Brings people together?
Man, Tagliabue would never allow himself to be made to look like such an freaking idiot.
Geez Maxine..Roll over and kiss De goodnight will you?…But ask him to wipe his face first ???
Go ahead Congress…challenge it!…But remember that the OWNERS still get their $30 Mill TV money …when you play a part in lockout…and THEY WILL LOCKOUT!
Poor Peyton will earn his ‘american-gigilo salary doing taco bell commercials….but Maxine, it won’t change the stench coming from you!
Sorry, I lost interest after Reading Rush Limbaugh.
For the Conjoined reporter that thinks he needs a seat for a vote:
You vote with your own wallet, the advertisers PAY because we BUY…
C’mon Man! You should be more edjumacated than that……
A “representative” moment for Maxine:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PUaY3LhJ-IQ
Pick it up at 0:50 if you’re in a hurry.
“It’s pretty dam ridiculous and quite unfair when the top 2% of earners in this country earn far more than the rest of the 98%…”
Then who would pay for all those wonderful government programs?
(Check the IRS statistics before answering.)
Maxine Waters is a complete and total raving Moonbat. She’s Marxist, racists and anti-American all at the same time. When I agree with ANYTHING that woman says then it’ll be time to put me directly on senility pills and strap a drool bucket to my chin.
This place is infested with morons and Communists. Well, the good news is, you deserve what’s coming. The bad news is you morons are going to drag the whole country down the shit hole with you. Too bad the look upon you collective faces when you realize where it all ends won;t make up for your complete and utter idiocy.
Maxine Waters is a moron and has been a moron for years. It is amazing how congress can go off chasing baseball, football, boxing, the BCS, and countless other things that matter little to the quality of life of the majority of the citizenry while two wars rage, health care is being debated, and the economy is still in the tank.
This country is in deep trouble.
It was good to see someone call Goodell on his lying in regards to Limbaughs comments, and then made him lie (what I hope was ) under oath when he tried to say it was only about 1 comment. Goodell specifically said “divisive commentS” as in plural, not one as Roger lied about.
Also the owners “bluffing” the union does not show a “no fear” mentality. De Smith cannot call in favors against words, only actions. Not to mention Floor-Boy has always been happy to carry the water for the league. For instance Floor-Boy actually blamed Limbaugh for the qoutes smears that Floor-Boy gladly repeated. Saying first that Limbaugh must have said such things or he would have sued (Floor-Boy was wrong), then saying that Limbaugh discussing the quotes on his radio show was the only reason people knew about them (wrong again). In fact Floor-Boy has yet to post that all the demeaning quotes were found to be false.
Since Pelosi took over, the Democratic Party-controlled Congress has been leaning towards socialism. So Ms. Waters’ statements are no surprise.
But if the NFL loses it’s anti-trust exemption, wouldn’t there be less money to go around?
Hence, if that happens, the players would lose money no matter what their percent share.
It’s either a big-fat-see-it-coming bluff or Smith has not thought the issue through. And when it comes to money, the players cannot bluff the owners.
My take is that Smith didn’t clear this issue with the union members before mouthing off because the players wouldn’t agree to have Congress attack the NFL’s exemption and take away their bread and butter.
John Cittebart
D Smith is a liberal, when do they ever think before mouthing off? Seriously, Maxine Waters is threatening to take away the NFL’s anti-trust exemption which means the NFL will make less money, which means her state will see less tax revenue from three of the NFL’s teams. Liberals only understand robbery at the point of a gun. They couldn’t possibly understand that if they left the NFL alone, they would make more money and pour a large portion of that back into the players salaries as well as improvements into their safety, since the players put butts in the seats. Instead, they want the NFL to apologize for the idiot ways of Congress and do so at the expense of their profitability. In other words, robbery at the point of a gun.
I love how since obama got elected ( who I am not the biggest fan of) sudenly everyone is a communist.
If you wan’t to rally aginast any social program as communisim and move everyone to pure capitalisim, lets go for it. We just need to repeal and privatize public education, state supported universities, the police and fire departments, the interstate system, national parks, the FDIC, social security, the VA and veterens health care, tax breaks for parents, FEMA ,ETC.
Maybe if everyone stopped bithcing at the other sides ( both dems and repubs) and put their heads together we could come up with some progress in the country before we completely self destruct. But the lunatic fringe right is too busy saying that Obama is an islamic terrorist, and the lunatic fringe right is to busy saying the bush planned 9-11
Clemenza and ACS, my contention was never that Goodell is a liberal, only that he is weak kneed and lacks a spine to take on the obvious liberal play enacted by D Smith with the help of people like Al Sharpton, Roman Oben, James Farrior, etc… Goodell shouldn’t have said anything about Rush especially after he admitted that he doesn’t know all of the comments that Rush has made. Instead, to be PC, he capitulated to the back scratching of D Smith and Congress because he was too weak to take a stand. D Smith gets to come out against Rush and give liberals a victory against their enemies and raise their support. And in return, Congress makes threats against Goodell in the form of the antitrust exemption which weakens his negotiating capital when it comes to negotiate a new collective bargaining agreement, i.e. Rush was right…and correct.
Also, clemenza, you might want to follow the old saying, “don’t assume because…” I don’t listen to Rush. Ever. I don’t watch Fox very much. I don’t have time. But even with that disadvantage, I’m still able to come to terms with reality at a much greater clip than you, which is odd for someone who has so much apparent experience watching Fox and listening to Rush. The reason I call it odd is because if you had actually listened to the Rush program, you would have known that he used the fake college thesis as a way to make the point about the quotes used against him, the “fake but accurate” argument. Much like those who found out the slavery comments weren’t his argued that he didn’t have to make those comments because we know that’s how Rush feels on the inside, Rush was joking that the college thesis didn’t have to be legit because he knew that’s how Obama felt on the inside. Apparently, you didn’t get the memo…or perhaps you only got the Media Matters memo or only listened to MSNBC? They never let intelligence get in the way of a good bashing!
http://newsrealblog.com/2009/10/28/yet-again-rush-limbaugh-plays-the-msm-for-fools/