Just saw this on PFT. Wow.
Rhoden sounds like one racist piece of crap with an agenda.
In the days since the news broke that the Rooney family could be giving up its majority ownership of the Pittsburgh Steelers, there has been almost universal praise for the Rooneys in the media.
But New York Times columnist William C. Rhoden had harsh words for the Rooneys today. On an appearance on ESPN’s The Sports Reporters, Rhoden ripped the Rooneys for their involvement in dog racing, and even compared the Rooneys to imprisoned Falcons quarterback Michael Vick.
“Throughout Michael Vick’s dog fighting ordeal,” Rhoden said, “the National Football League talked about how it opposed Vick’s behavior and cruelty to animals. Now we find out that the Rooneys, one of the pillars of the National Football League, own a dog track.”
Rhoden continued by saying that dog racing is cruel. “The sport should be banned and anyone who aids and abets the industry should be sanctioned, especially an NFL owner whose league just a year ago took such strident stands against animal cruelty,” Rhoden said. “You can’t allow the Rooneys to perpetuate a barbaric industry just because they do it from a luxury box.”
Rhoden was referring to the Palm Beach Kennel Club, which the Rooneys bought in 1970. The NFL has said that some of the business practices of the Kennel Club are inconsistent with NFL gambling policy, and as it appears more likely that the Steelers’ ownership will be restructured, part of that restructuring will likely include having the Steelers and the Kennel Club under separate ownership.
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