Mathias Kiwanuka loves his former defensive coordinator Steve Spagnuolo, but the Giants' defensive end says he will never play for Spagnuolo's Rams if Rush Limbaugh purchases the team.
Kiwanuka and the Jets' Bart Scott made it clear Thursday that they would never play for the Rams or any team owned by the controversial conservative radio host.
"All I know is from the last comment I heard, he said in (President) Obama's America,white kids are getting beat up on the bus while black kids are chanting'right on,'" Kiwanuka told The Daily News. "I mean, I don't wantanything to do with a team that he has any part of. He can do whateverhe wants, it is a free country. But if it goes through, I can tell youwhere I am not going to play."
"I am not going to draw a conclusion from a person off of onecomment, but when it is time after time after time and there's aconsistent pattern of disrespect and just a complete misunderstandingof an entire culture that I am a part of, I can't respect him as aman."
Limbaugh said on Tuesday that he is joining former Knicks president and Madison Square Garden CEO Dave Checketts in a group bidding to purchase the Rams. Checketts, who owns the NHL's St. Louis Blues, is heading the group, reportedly one of many bidders. The potential sale is still in an early stage. If the Rams are sold, St. Louis will choose one bidding group, which will then be subject to a vote by the NFL's 32 owners, with approval needed by 24 of them.
Limbaugh's controversial comments are well-known. He resigned from ESPN in 2003 after he said the media were "very desirous that a black quarterback do well" in reference to Philadelphia's Donovan McNabbbeing overrated. "If he's rewarded to buy them, congratulations tohim," McNabb said during his weekly press conference. "But I won't bein St. Louis anytime soon."
Scott says players remember what Limbaugh said, and adds that theNFL would be wise not to allow the nationally syndicated host into theleague. "It's an oxymoron that he criticized Donovan McNabb," Scottsaid. "A lot of us took it as more of a racial-type thing. I can onlyimagine how his players would feel. I know I wouldn't want to play forhim. He's a jerk. He's an ---. What he said (about McNabb) wasinappropriate and insensitive, totally off-base. He could offer mewhatever he wanted, I wouldn't play for him. ... I wouldn't play forRush Limbaugh. My principles are greater and I can't be bought."
Limbaugh, who grew up in Missouriabout 100 miles south of St. Louis, is an avid sports fan who once saidthat "the NFL all too often looks like a game between the Bloods andthe Crips without any weapons."
Kiwanuka cringes at the idea of Limbaugh becoming an NFL owner."They are flat-out racist," Kiwanuka said of many of Limbaugh'sstatements. "He jumps on Obama and he jumps on other people for beingracist. But a lot of the comments that he said, I feel like they haveno place in journalism. It is just an opinion show that should be onlybe taken for shock value. I liken it to 'South Park' when I amlistening to him."
"I love Spags and would play for him in a heartbeat, but under thatsituation ... obviously trades you have no control over, but if it wasa free-agent thing, I wouldn't care if I only had one offer on thetable, I would rather stay a free agent."
- With Rich Cimini
