Good point by Drew Sharp of the Detroit News about the broken Rooney Rule:

The NFL owes the Lions an apology — as well as $200,000 with almost seven years’ worth of accrued interest.

The league reprimanded the Lions in July 2003 for “violating the spirit” of the NFL’s then-newborn Rooney Rule in their aggressive, accelerated pursuit of a suddenly available Steve Mariucci. The Lions couldn’t attract a minority candidate for a precursory interview, because everybody knew Mariucci was the guy they wanted.

So explain this to me: How is what Washington did and what Seattle is trying to do any better?

The Redskins’ hiring of Mike Shanahan three days after they kicked Jim Zorn to the curb and the Seahawks’ lightning courtship of Southern Cal coach Pete Carroll after they surprisingly jettisoned Jim Mora after one season earned the league’s blessings.

They also had the approval of those very advocates of football diversity who accused the Lions of turning the Rooney Rule into a mockery seven years ago.

The joke’s on them now.

If such blatant circumvention of explicit league policy warrants so little consternation, then that must mean the Rooney Rule has outlived its usefulness and should be revoked or at least dramatically scaled back.

How the Redskins and Seahawks went about their hires was not how the Rooney Rule was intended to work when it was first established. Faking through an interview with a minority candidate isn’t honoring the rule – it’s spitting in the face of it.

Owners like Daniel Snyder and Paul Allen can hire whomever they want – after all, it’s their money and their team. But Sharp’s right – why were the Lions punished for being honest about wanting to hire Mariucci without interviewing anyone else and the Redskins and Seahawks get a free pass for making a mockery of the rule by setting up a couple of bogus interviews? The rule needs a serious makeover.

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