…I can sympathize with the NFL not wanting Limbaugh among its college of franchise owners. While I like Limbaugh myself, I recognize that a whole lot of people not only dislike him, but passionately despise him.

Well, from the NFL’s perspective, I can see where they might fear that having him associated with the league might be off-putting to a lot of those fans. And their money is just as green as anybody else’s.

Now, that would be immature on those peoples’ parts. I can’t imagine I’d think any differently of the NFL if somebody I passionately despised was one of the team owners. But that’s just me. Whether other football fans would be so childish is outside of the NFL’s control.

And let’s keep in mind that the NFL and its teams have gobs of corporate sponsors to keep happy, too. Remember when Augusta National GC had to self-fund their own broadcast one year because of the whole feminist controversy?

So it didn’t surprise me that an owner like Jim Irsay would say that he would vote against a bidding group that included Limbaugh. That’s not necessarily a shot at Rush or conservatism — it’s a matter of protecting an inclusive brand and keeping the divisiveness of our politics today out of it.

I imagine if they raised a big enough stink, they could probably pressure NBC to drop Olbermann from their broadcasts. But I’m not sure their contracts allow the league to expressly determine who can or can’t be featured on their telecasts.

Keep in mind that Limbaugh did have a brief stint on an NFL broadcast…and it didn’t end pleasantly for either him, or ESPN, or the league.

Now, I wasn’t at all offended by his McNabb comment. I understood it and thought it had merit. But the comment certainly gave his critics — who, as he says, want to prevent the “mainstreaming” of prominent conservatives — the rope to hang him with.

I imagine, if the conservative movement wanted to wage a campaign to have Keith Olbermann removed from NBC’s football broadcasts, we could probably do it using the same playbook.

But why would we want to do that? And to what ultimate end? Just to have the satisfaction of saying “Two can play at that game”?

IMO, there are better ways for us to use our time and energy.

ESPN both hired and fired Limbaugh, not the NFL. But I seriously doubt that the NFL was sanguine about the whole thing behind closed doors.

I don’t know if the league had to sign off on his being hired as a commentator in the first place. It’s entirely possible they did.

But the point I was making was that, in his one semi-official stint with the NFL (which, BTW, materialized despite some protests against it), both ESPN and the NFL ended up with a black eye.

I’m sure the league loves the right kind of controversy. But I’m just as sure that they despise the wrong kind. And that was the wrong kind.

Also, people comparing him to Michael Vick or Ray Lewis or others who have been in criminal trouble can’t be serious. The NFL’s players are crucial elements of their product — star players aren’t nearly as “expendable” as an announcer or even a potential team owner.