Mounting an Effective Pass Rush

I'm a huge sports radio fanatic. After I drop Vicky at work, I'll flip on Colin Cowherd or Jim Rome for the fifteen minute drive from her office to mine. Or sometimes I'll catch Dan Patrick later in the day. Ex-Warriors-great (wink nudge) Tom Tolbert is entertaining too. I hate it when they interview people though. Super boring. I prefer the long, ranting monologues when they tackle the hot topic of the day. So I flip on Dan Patrick yesterday on the drive home and he's talking about Rush Limbaugh's failed bid to buy the St. Louis Rams. He says he's getting all these angry emails saying stuff like Congratulations--you and the rest of the ignorant liberal media trampled free speech and the constitution and got Limbaugh dropped from the bid--you must be proud! Dan called bullshit; he said it's not about left or right and it's certainly not about free speech. Nobody stopped Rush from saying the things he did. You have the luxury of saying whatever you want but you're still held accountable; there's consequences.

Businesses seek to mitigate risk as much as they can. The NFL is no different. Unless you're Jerry Jones, the NFL prefers a low-profile owner. Mark Cuban breaks it down:

The problem with Rush is that it's his job to take on all of life’s partisan issues and problems. Not only is it his job to take on these issues and problems, its key to his success is that he be very opinionated... Given that we will never know what the "next big issue" Rush will be discussing on his show is, its impossible for the NFL to even try to predict or gauge the impact on the NFL’s business if something controversial, or even worse yet, something nationally polarizing happens. The wrong thing said on the show, about a sensitive national or world issue could turn into a Black Swan event for the NFL.

That's a huge risk that is not commensurate with the value a minority investment in a franchise brings.

This isn't about Free Speech. It's about the NFL protecting their business.