In a report by the New York Daily News, a couple of NFL players including the Giants’ Mathias Kiwanuka and the Jets’ Bart Scott said that they wouldn’t play for the Rams if Rush Limbaugh took over as one of team’s owners.
“All I know is from the last comment I heard, he said in (President) Obama’s America, white kids are getting beat up on the bus while black kids are chanting ‘right on,'” Kiwanuka told The Daily News. “I mean, I don’t want anything to do with a team that he has any part of. He can do whatever he wants, it is a free country. But if it goes through, I can tell you where I am not going to play.”
“I am not going to draw a conclusion from a person off of one comment, but when it is time after time after time and there’s a consistent pattern of disrespect and just a complete misunderstanding of an entire culture that I am a part of, I can’t respect him as a man.”
Kiwanuka cringes at the idea of Limbaugh becoming an NFL owner. “They are flat-out racist,” Kiwanuka said of many of Limbaugh’s statements. “He jumps on Obama and he jumps on other people for being racist. But a lot of the comments that he said, I feel like they have no place in journalism. It is just an opinion show that should be only be taken for shock value. I liken it to ‘South Park’ when I am listening to him.”
“I love Spags and would play for him in a heartbeat, but under that situation … obviously trades you have no control over, but if it was a free-agent thing, I wouldn’t care if I only had one offer on the table, I would rather stay a free agent.”
Granted, Kiwanuka and Scott are just two players but this could potentially be an issue for the Rams if Limbaugh takes over as part owner. The Rams are already at a disadvantage given the lack of talent on the current roster. If they’re limited in free agency because certain players don’t want to come to St. Louis, that will only further put them behind the eight ball.
And what about current players? What current Rams are cringing at the thought of Limbaugh taking over?
The St. Louis Rams franchise is quickly turning into the Detroit Lions.
