Judd Zulgad of the Minnesota Star-Tribune had an interesting tidbit this morning about Rush Limbaugh, the Vikings and a little city called Los Angeles.
I received a few messages on Monday about an exchange between conservative talk-show host Rush Limbaugh and former Minnesota Gov. Tim Pawlenty, who has announced his plans to run for President.
During the course of an interview, Limbaugh asked Pawlenty about the Vikings’ stadium situation. Obviously, that isn’t Pawlenty’s problem any longer but he certainly is familiar with what has taken place. Here is the exchange as transcribed by the Limbaugh website.
Limbaugh: I know you’re not in the statehouse any longer, but there’s an issue roiling the state right now and that’s the Vikings and their new stadium and how much of it should be publicly financed. The usual threats are being made: If the public doesn’t chip in and build a new stadium the Vikings are gone. They’ll move to L.A. or someplace.
Pawlenty: The rumor is you’re gonna buy ’em and move ’em. Is that true?
Limbaugh: (laughing) Well, uh, this interview is about you. (laughing)
When Pawlenty then laughed, Limbaugh said, “I’ll keep [the interview] focused on you.”
Limbaugh, as you’ll remember, had a hell of a time trying to purchase the Rams a couple of years ago. He wound up being a limited partner but was eventually dropped from the group altogether.
It’d probably be a cold day in hell before Rush ever had the opportunity to not only purchase the Vikings, but also successfully move them to L.A. But since there’s not much going on these days in the NFL thanks to the soul-sucking owners and players, I figured I’d post this anyway. It’s interesting fodder.
Comment starter: Let’s say Rush agreed not to move the franchise from its host city. Would you want him to buy your team? If it were me, I couldn’t care less who bought the team as long as they were committed to winning. Oprah could buy them and as long as the first words out of her mouth were “Just win baby,” then I’d be fine with it. (Again, assuming the Queen of Daytime Television wouldn’t relocate the team or change the name or something.)
