Posted on 02/01/2011 10:43:50 PM PST by Walter Scott Hudson
Americans must realize that what makes the NFL so great is socialism. Such is the thesis of Bill Maher's most recent "New Rule" on HBO's Real Time, and a companion column in the Huffington Post.
I can only imagine the delight with which Maher concocted this clever-sounding notion and unleashed it upon the world. It's quintessential Maher, the kind of rhetorical titty-twister he regards as legitimate intellectual combat. Of course, as is so often the case with Maher's superficially sound arguments, this latest exercise in carnival cognition unravels upon cursory examination.
It's no surprise that some 100 million Americans will watch the Super Bowl next week... Because football is built on an economic model of fairness and opportunity, and baseball is built on a model where the rich almost always win and the poor usually have no chance...Or to put it another way, football is more like the Democratic philosophy. Democrats don't want to eliminate capitalism or competition, but they'd like it if some kids didn't have to go to a crummy school in a rotten neighborhood while others get to go to a great school and their Dad gets them into Harvard. Because when that happens "achieving the American dream" is easy for some, and just a fantasy for others.
That's why the NFL runs itself in a way that would fit nicely on Glenn Beck's chalkboard - they literally share the wealth, through salary caps and revenue sharing - TV is their biggest source of revenue, and they put all of it in a big commie pot and split it 32 ways..."
(Excerpt) Read more at newsrealblog.com ...
George Carlin had much better insight on the baseball vs football comparison.
Actually Bill Maher misses the point. The NFL is socialist, not because of the sharing of revenue and leveling of competition, rather the NFL is socialist because of it’s rent seeking behavior through a government sanctioned monopoly, and the expropriation of municipal revenue to build stadiums.
Dear Bill,
Did anyone ever tell you what a prig you are?
Even Zsa Zsa here knows you're an a$$hole...
Regards,
Ignatz
The taxpayer stadiums are such a rippoff and people should be up in arms about corporations in their county getting tax free status while the people pay through the nose for these deadbeat parasite corporations that only rob the public blind while the city runs off with the profit/cash and still doesn’t give the taxpayer a REBATE.CROOKS!Sounds like my banker friends/not friends that say “we only care about the corporate accounts and not the personal dipsh$t nonsense penny accounts”.
If the fans like the product, they will watch. If not, they won't watch. The NFL does what it does in an attempt to maximize revenue and profits.
Voluntary collectivism such as that ostensibly practiced by the NFL is fine by me.
But authoritarian collectivism, which is what Marxists and Socialists invariably advocate for the State, is a Tyrannical abomination which must be resisted at all costs...
How is the NFL socialist?
It isn’t a government entity that has the police power of the state to confiscate private property.
The NFL is a corporation/sport that has the freedom to make its own rules. The private owners have made an agreement to share profits and losses just like any other partnership business in America.
Nothing socialist about that.
He actually makes a great point in favor of capitalism. No matter how much you try to equalize things, no matter how much you share profits, you’re always going to have the haves (Pittsburg) and the have-nots (Detroit).
I guess that the revenue sharing in baseball doesn’t fit his thought process, therefore it doesn’t exist. The result is that teams like the Pirates and Brewers barely compete, but their owners are more than happy to collect MLB welfare from the Yankees, BoSox, etc
Whenever they get a good player, the owner “sells” them to keep the payroll down.
They're happy to have a team that SUCKS!!! while they collect all of that “welfare” money from the Yankees and BoSox.
It's very disturbing to this long time Pittsburgh fan. At least I've got the Penguins and Steelers to ease the pain!
All professional sports teams are products. Whatever the league does, it does to insure profitability. End of story.
I don't generally support such subsidies, but those who do argue that it brings jobs, etc. to the market...
The headline: government support for sports stadiums is a net economic drain.
Exactlyh right. A sports league isn’t the dry cleaning business; it does no good for the Boston Red Sox to run every other franchise into the ground. But it does behoove major league baseball not to have another major baseball league to compete with. What happens at the team level isn’t as critical as the product at the league level.
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