GovCo. Gropes NFL (Just Because It Can)
I’m appalled at the nerve of our crooked, meddling government to stick its fangs in the National Football League.
When exactly did the Congressional NFL Oversight Committee originate?
Coach Bill Belichick said it best with this phrase — “It’s a league matter.” You’re exactly right coach!
The thug spearheading this witch hunt is Pennsylvania Senator Arlen Specter.
Mr. Specter, a lifelong Eagles fan who still calls Philadelphia sports radio stations most Monday mornings, said he was concerned about the integrity of sports as much as any fan.
Sorry Mr. Specter, your concern isn’t a legitimate legal backing for this intrusion, nor does it entitle you to super constitutional powers.
By what right does some pandering, conniving bureaucrat make an inquiry into the affairs of a private entity? The manner with which the league handles its private rules and regulations only pertains to the league and its affiliates.
Apparently, raping the NFL has been a personal goal for Mr. Specter for some time. In late 2006 he further illustrated his anti-capitalism:
“Wouldn’t consumers be better off if teams could negotiate [individually]?” Specter said. “This is the NFL exerting its power right down to the last nickel.”
“As I look at what the NFL is doing today with the NFL channel with the DirectTV … a lot of people, including myself, would like to be able to have that ticket,”
Sorry again Mr. Specter, your desires for a specialty cable channel don’t trump the rights of a private entity…. Unless, that is, you’re a privileged politician who enjoys the monopolized wielding of legal force. To hell with the Constitution, Capitalism and individual rights. Who needs those when you can use government to enforce your vision of perfection on the ignorant and needy electorate. You are the entity that’s “exerting it’s power”.
Johnette Howard of Newsday offers a few other worthy insights:
Now Specter is threatening to call Goodell before his committee to not only talk about the NFL’s antitrust status but Goodell’s destruction of those Patriots home movies that confirmed they were stealing the Jets’ signals Sept. 9.
“That requires an explanation,” Specter told the Times. “The NFL has a very preferred status in our country with their antitrust exemption. The American people are entitled to be sure about the integrity of the game. It’s analogous to the CIA destruction of tapes. Or any time you have records destroyed.”
Forgetting for a moment that the American people seem busier right now buying salsa and chips for their Super Bowl extravaganzas than plumbing the morality of the Spygate scandal, it is funny to see We the People invoked every time some politician has a self-aggrandizing idea that he needs to cloak in some big-picture rationale.
But Goodell, the son of a former New York politician, handled the matter smoothly when question after question at his annual state of the NFL address Friday was about the Spygate scandal.
He certainly wasn’t about to poke another stick in Specter’s cage when a reporter wryly asked if he thought Specter’s enthusiasm for this fight had anything to do with Specter’s second-biggest financial contributor of 2008 being Philadelphia-based Comcast Corp., a cable concern that has been fighting with the NFL over how to carry its NFL Network.[emphasis added]
Now we have mention of the tangled, syrupy blob of anti-capitalist contradictions affectionately know as “Antitrust”. It’s only a matter of time before the league falls prey to one of the fed’s favorite destructive meddling devices. I also wasn’t aware that I as an American citizen am entitled to sporting with integrity. Either Specter doesn’t understand individual rights, or worse, he’s simply willing to sacrifice them for kickbacks. Ah… the bowels of the politico machine. Such an honorable calling.
And sure, the fact that this repulsive encroachment happened only days before what could be the single biggest sporting event in history is only coincidental. I wonder which bookie could’ve padded Arlen’s pockets in order for him to bring this up with such *interesting* timing? Howard suggests it may just be an attempt to wrangle the “Senate NFL office Pool”.
Yes, I am bitter about this. It was only a few months back when Major League Baseball was the victim of government groping. That episode was equally outrageous, but due to its core relevancy to substance abuse, I dismissed it as yet another effort in our silly “War On Drugs”. Now I rather suspect it was just another power play to construct the vision of the anointed.
Like ‘em or not, professional sports leagues are money printing enterprises, and bastions of Capitalism. They are also one of the last venues, despite the wishes of commentators and analysts, where selfish boasting by individuals isn’t sacrificed to the collective. Although I don’t enjoy the showboating at times, it does bring me joy to see someone blatantly saying “I did this. I am good.”
Step by step, our looting imperial GovCo. (courtesy of minions like Republican Specter) is dismantling this once great nation by not only violating individual property rights, but also conspiring to erase the concept of the individual as a whole.
