Rooney Rule Nonsense

I am absolutely in favor of equality of opportunity in this world. One of the great things about this nation is that anyone can come from anywhere, and accomplish almost anything. It wasn't always so, but we have come a long way.

The NFL has, along with many other organizations, fallen into a pattern of silliness derived from good intentions. The Rams recently fired their head coach, and Jim Haslett, one of the coordinators, took over the reins. The team is playing well under him, and they wanted to reward him with a contract, assuring him of the spot as head coach for a job well done.

But, they can't. The Rooney Rule, put in place in 2003, requires that at least one minority candidate be interviewed for the job. In a case like this, when the preferred candidate is clear, it is a waste of everyone's time to interview anyone else, let alone screen applicants who don't have a chance on the basis of race.

Content of character and ability should be our collective focus. Either discrimination is wrong, or it is not. I believe that it is. Doing the wrong thing, even for the right reason, is still doing the wrong thing.