It's long been said that if one doesn't like the ownership of any particular sports team, they have two options. Either quit spending their money on and/or rooting for them, or buy the damn franchise and do it YOUR way. The first one is pretty easy. The second takes some serious bucks.
Recently, Carolina Panthers owner Jerry Richardson has taken some heat because he is perceived by some -- guess what color? -- to be, shall we say, less than racially sensitive. Even though most of his players are of that very same color and making millions.
Perhaps tired of it all, Mr. Richardson has indicated, sorta, that he might be open to selling the Panthers.
And this is where it turns into a modern day Three Stooges episode. Nyuk, nyuk, nyuk.
Colin Kaepernick, former San Francisco Forty Niner quarterback -- yes the kneeler that has attracted so much attention -- evidently has expressed an interest in buying into the team. By most estimates, the Panthers could fetch well over two BILLION if Richardson indeed sold them.
Over his since aborted career, Kaepernick hasn't even made one hundred million, gross (no pun intended) pay. After taxes, living expenses, and probably no small amount of "bling", he might -- MIGHT -- be able to come up with 20-30 million.
This would be like walking into a Lamborghini dealership with a few rolls of quarters. Trust me, you not only won't be leaving there with a car, but would be the punch line of jokes among the salespeople for YEARS.
Enter Diddy, aka P. Diddy, aka Sean Combs as dear Colin's potential partner in such a deal. If he cashes in all his chips, he might be able to come up with a few hundred million, still WAY short of what the Panthers would be worth.
And here's the Moe, Larry, Cheese!! -- or calling Doctor Howard, Dr. Fine, Doctor Howard kicker.
Even if Combs and Kaepernick can enlist enough other investors with serious bucks to get them up to the $2,000,000,000+ the Panthers would sell for, and even assuming Richardson would sell to them -- certainly no given -- the whole deal would be subject to approval by the other 31 NFL owners.
It's a private club, like the Masons. Yours truly has long BEEN a Mason, even a Past Master of a lodge not far away. Yes, my mug shot's on the wall of posterity in sequential order with all the other guys that made it to the top over the last hundred years or so. Scary thought, I know, but dammit, I did the work to eventually claw my way up the ladder, earn it, and was voted in accordingly. Without breaking my vows, I can say the Masons are much more stringent on admitting new members than the NFL owners. In a lodge, after the plebe has been repeatedly thoroughly examined, the vote has to be unanimous among the existing brothers to grant him full membership. Even a single "no" ballot for a newbie is a disqualifier. Rare, but I've seen it happen. In the NFL, it only takes a three-quarters majority.
So what do you think the chances are that an elite club of stodgy old billionaires would be open to the idea of a guy that made his money in the "rap" genre, and continues to dress, talk, and act like an uptown pimp, would look kindly on such a man being admitted to their exclusive ranks?
Couple Diddy, Diddly, whatever, with a guy like Kaepernick. Say and think what you will about the NFL and its owners, but nobody would seriously doubt they've long been quite the patriotic, red, white, and blue bunch. This is why we see the giant American flags displayed on the field before the games. And the color guards of various military branches front and center. And the fighter jet fly-overs, which are actually nothing more than a waste of jet fuel.
Far be it from yours truly to judge Kaepernick's motives for refusing to stand during the national anthem, hence setting off a chain reaction, which went viral after a certain President added his two cents worth via his usual tweet-o-moronica.
Add in the fact that dear Mr. Kaepernick is currently in the process of suing the NFL for "collusion", because he can't seem to find a team willing to sign him, and the circus he would certainly bring to town -- imagine that -- and maybe it's just me, but in the whole scheme of things, I don't like his chances of being approved as a part owner by the rest of those folks.
Granted, despite the vast riches many NFL owners have made in other business ventures to get them to the financial point they are today, they sure appear to come across as downright foolish sometimes.
But does any sane person really believe the majority of these (perhaps out of touch with reality) tycoons, who are collectively defendants in Kaerpernick's ongoing law suit, looking to collect a massive monetary settlement from same, would welcome the plaintiff and his posse with open arms into their club?
Even the Three Stooges couldn't have come up with better slapstick comedy than that.
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