Jeb Bush, for NFL commissioner?

May 24, 2006

Ideally, I’d like to see the Bush family retreat from the public stage, take anonymous (but no doubt lucrative) gigs on corporate boards, and quietly fade from memory.

Alas, when it comes to Florida Gov. [tag]Jeb Bush[/tag], he’s in demand.

Could Gov. Jeb [tag]Bush[/tag]’s future be in [tag]football[/tag] instead of politics?

While U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice has publicly flirted with the idea of becoming the next commissioner of the [tag]National Football League[/tag], Bush has been privately approached to gauge his interest in the job.

Bush, who spends his Sundays each fall watching pro football, acknowledged Tuesday that the NFL job was broached during a recent meeting with Patrick Rooney Sr., owner of the Palm Beach Kennel Club.

Rooney is the brother of Dan Rooney, who owns the Super Bowl champion Pittsburgh Steelers and co-chairs the NFL’s search committee looking for a replacement for Commissioner Paul Tagliabue.

Apparently, [tag]Jeb[/tag] hasn’t ruled it out. He told the South Florida Sun-Sentinel, “I met with Mr. Rooney and I said I’m doing my job until I’m finished and then I’m going to consider other things. But I’m not going to do anything until I finish.” He “finishes” early next year.

Maybe this wouldn’t be too bad. It’s unlikely Jeb would parlay the NFL job into a presidential campaign, right?

Update: In comments, angry young man has some astute ideas about what the NFL might look like if run by Bush.

I dunno. Lots of football players have gone into politics. Maybe there ought to be some backflow.

  • I just had another thought … with the Bush Crime Family besmirching the family name to the degree the Regal Moron has, maybe Jeb has no other choice but to seek greener pastures.

  • Maybe this wouldn’t be too bad. It’s unlikely Jeb would parlay the NFL job into a presidential campaign, right?

    this is terrible! The NFL, despite all its faults, does not deserve such a horrible fate. Uggh…NOOOOOOOOOOOooooooooooooooooooooo

  • can you imagine the nfl run by a bush?

    all ticket prices quadrupled. the cost of luxury boxes is halved.

    ushers replaced with national guardsmen.

    on-field prayer mandatory at the beginning and end of game.

    referees only call penalties on democrats.

    anyone who boos the home team or roots for the opposition is ejected from the stadium.

    dobson, falwell et al. declare that passing the ball through the center’s legs to the qb is part of the homosexual agenda. jeb insists that centers must hike the ball from a “side saddle” position.

    the nfl pension and on-field doctors are eliminated.

    halliburton is given the nfl’s exclusive merchandise contract.

    IEDs and suicide bombers kill 25 people at every game.

    the superdome floods. thousands die. fox broadcasts it live. jeb does nothing for three days, says no one knew.

  • Perhaps Jeb will run for president. According to ABC, Iraqi PM Al-Maliki Says Country’s Forces Will Be Capable of Taking Over Security in time for 2008 US presidential elections.

  • Since the NFL consists of 30 obsenely wealthy business people who hose the communities (staduims) and fans (ticket prices) who support their teams Bush seems perfect for this job. He can try to bust up the NFL Labor Union. He can repealy the salary cap so we can have a NY Yankees of Football. He can get rid of that commie profit sharing arrangement. It is a Republican’s dream job!

    I have a couple of thorny issues that might cause trouble. First off he will have to make sure the kickers are all legal immigrants and did not come simply to steal a high wage job from American workers. Second, the Dallas Cowboys are already “America’s team”. He is from Florida (via back East) and the family has ties to Houston. Does Dallas remain America’s team or will it become Tampa or New England or Houston? Serious issues.

    I would be very happy to see Bush leave politics. No Bush is good for America!

  • I love this:

    Bush, who spends his Sundays each fall watching pro football, […]

    That’s his qualification? I do that each fall too. So do most guys I know. Guess we’re all NFL commissioners in training.

  • That might force me to give up my football watching. I was going to post more, but trying to say anything clever after Angry Young Man’s post so thoroughly covered it would be too humbling.

  • Well, there was once talk of Dear Leader becoming the baseball commissioner after his governorship. Then some smart people said, “hey, if he could become commissioner, why not President of the United States?!” Maybe Jeb is hoping for a similar phenomenon. There’s so much more money in the Presidency. And a legacy…don’t forget the legacy.

  • Thanks Angry Young Man and MNProgressive. Great stuff.

    Other issues might be turning the replay cameras over to NSA management.

    The refs would have some secret method of keeping score and spend the game telling each team that they were on the verge of victory.

    There goes sportsmanship.

  • Let’s offer Jeb a job in (*cough*choke*hack*) “professional” wrestling. Football is America’s “sacred cow.” He cannot have it!

  • Joking aside, I can’t believe anyone really thinks this would be a good idea. While Jeb is not his brother, surely it gives pause that Dumbya was hardly a roaring success in managing the Rangers (or any of the other businesses given to him by family and friends to try and leave him less time for cutting lines). Having BushCo manage major league sports just does not seem a good idea. Besides, can you imagine Jeb going in and lobbying for state stadium financing in solidly blue states? How is that likely to work?

  • Something tells me this is more of a sounding. Maybe Bush Inc wants to see what the feedback from the crony right is. Or maybe they want to skip a presidential cycle and have another Clinton in between the Bushes?

  • AYM forgot that Jeb will make all cheerleaders dance in sweats to avoid any more wardrobe malfunctions (better not see any nipples on TV!) and that all coaches will have their headsets monitored by the NSA, but they’ll only listen for certain keywords.

    Or maybe Jeb saw Gore’s latest flick and figures Florida’s gonna be under water soon … better to head to drier land.

  • “Let’s offer Jeb a job in (*cough*choke*hack*) “professional” wrestling.” – Steve

    Steve, the quotes go around wrestling, not professional. They certainly get paid, they just don’t actually wrestle.

  • Sports gift to society is to provide escape from things like partisan politics. To reward Mr. Bush with this position would sicken half of the NFL’s audience. It would be as big a mistake as hiring Rush Limbaugh for Monday Night Football. I would prefer that Condoleeza Rice find some other job when her time comes too.

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