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The skeletons in Los Angeles Clippers owner Donald Sterling's closet have been a poorly kept secret for years -- and now they're a matter of public record. According to the Los Angeles Times, Sterling and his wife have agreed to pay a whopping $2.725 million to make a federal lawsuit alleging housing discrimination go away.

Although Sterling, who runs his real estate empire as competently as his NBA team, officially denies any wrongdoing, the fact remains that the settlement, once officially approved by a U.S. District judge, is projected to go down as the largest ever obtained by the Justice Department in a housing discrimination case.

Even if Sterling is officially allowed to save face by calling the settlement a business decision (a "compromise of disputed claims," according to court documents obtained by the Times) instead of an admission of guilt, it's still a black stain on the NBA -- and one it needs to address.

NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell was on the Hill Wednesday talking to Congress about "Legal Issues Relating to Football Head Injuries." So, naturally, Rep. Steve King (R-Iowa) used the forum as an opportunity to grill Goodell about Rush Limbaugh's interest in becoming part owner of the St. Louis Rams.

Video after the jump, but here's all you need to know: After King warmly welcomed the commissioner he got right down to business.

Two NFL sources said Wednesday afternoon that the Dave Checketts-led group bidding to buy the St. Louis Rams has dropped controversial radio talk show host Rush Limbaugh from its group of bidders. One of the sources said Checketts is concerned that his bid is weak to begin with, and that the presence of Limbaugh in the group would effectively kill any chance he had.

Limbaugh's emergence as a possible part-owner of an NFL franchise has caused a major controversy in recent days. Several NFL players, with the support of DeMaurice Smith and the NFL players' union, have spoken out in opposition to the idea of the right-wing Limbaugh owning a team. Colts owner Jim Irsay said he wouldn't vote to award a franchise to a group that included Limbaugh. And even commissioner Roger Goodell cited "divisive comments" made by Limbaugh as something the NFL would want to avoid adding to the ranks of its owners.

Rush Limbaugh, radio personality, has made a handsome living out of spreading his brand of conservatism. Bart Scott is an NFL linebacker, outspoken about most things, including politics.

During the 2006 mid-term elections Scott, then with the Ravens, spoke about his political philosophy with USA Today's Skip Wood.

"We get a break by that, but then our family members are overtaxed. You know, tax cuts for the rich. Well, it's a Catch-22. Do you want to save more of your money, when you can afford to pay the taxes, or do you want your families to save more of their money, when sometimes maybe they're really being burdened? A lot of guys say, 'Now that I've got money, I'm going to have to vote Republican, but I'll go back to being a Democrat when I retire.' To me, that's just selfish."

Rush Limbaugh as the owner of the St. Louis Rams? The team may be on the market because longtime owner Georgia Frontiere died, and Limbaugh buying them is the bizarre NFL rumor that isn't going away.

Limbaugh told the St. Louis Business Journal:

"The Rams would be a great team to have. I have a lot of friends in ownership in the NFL, and my desire to get involved has not been a secret. ...

This is a business decision. ... There is a whole lot of interest in the Rams with the NFL being a business entity that a lot of people want to be involved in. But it's becoming a billionaires' club."

Limbaugh's comments that being an NFL owner is a billionaires' club -- and that he's not a billionaire -- seemed to indicate that his purchasing the Rams was more a fantasy than a possibility. But the St. Louis Post Dispatch reports that Limbaugh could acquire a minority share or be part of a larger conglomerate that buys the Rams.

Is it going to happen? I don't think so. But Limbaugh sounds like he's not ready to rule it out.

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I happened to catch ESPN's Mike & Mike in the Morning this week when they announced the winning bid for a charity auction to have the show broadcast from a listener's home. The top bid was $57,100 -- all of which will go to the V Foundation for Cancer Research -- and although it's nice that a good cause is getting that kind of money, my first thought was, What kind of person pays $57,100 to have Mike and Mike come over?

Now I know what kind of person: Rush Limbaugh's ex-wife, Marta Maranda. The Palm Beach Post reports that Maranda, an aerobics instructor who met Limbaugh online and was married to him for 10 years, was the person who placed that top bid.

Maranda has not said publicly what made her decide to pay so much money to have Mike Greenberg and Mike Golic come over, and she hasn't said which of the many homes she bought after her divorce settlement will play host to Mike and Mike. Her primary residence is an $11.5 million mansion in Jupiter Island, Florida -- not far from where Tiger Woods lives -- but the code enforcement officer there says doing a live radio broadcast in a home would be strictly prohibited.

U.S. Sen. Arlen Specter was a guest on Rush Limbaugh's radio show today, and at the end of the interview, the subject turned to Specter's investigation of the New England Patriots.

Limbaugh asked Specter whether any new information has emerged about Matt Walsh, the former Patriots employee who may or may not have filmed the Rams' final walkthrough practice before the 2002 Super Bowl. This is the pertinent exchange:


Specter is making a very serious accusation when he says that the NFL is discouraging Walsh from coming forward, an accusation that makes me think there could be Senate hearings at which Walsh, Roger Goodell and Bill Belichick are all called to testify. As far as Specter is concerned, this story is far from over.

A full transcript of Limbaugh's interview with Specter is at RushLimbaugh.com; more commentary is at Pro Football Talk, and the specific questions and answers about Patriotgate are after the jump.

This week's Donovan McNabb controversy has created some nostalgia for 2003, when Rush Limbaugh (who at the time was an ESPN NFL analyst) said this of McNabb:

"I don't think he's been that good from the get-go. I think what we've had here is a little social concern in the NFL. The media has been very desirous that a black quarterback do well."

Much of the reporting this week has said that Limbaugh got fired for those comments; Paul Zimmerman of Sports Illustrated writes that today. But there's one problem: It isn't true. ESPN did not fire Limbaugh. He resigned.

And this is important: Two days after he resigned came the first reports that Limbaugh was being investigated for illegally obtaining prescription painkillers, and the next week he acknowledged that he was a drug addict. I firmly believe that Limbaugh would have stayed at ESPN had it not been for the need to focus all his energy on both entering drug rehab and defending himself in the criminal investigation. (He later agreed to pay the state $30,000 to defray the public cost of the investigation and continue regular drug tests in exchange for having charges dropped.)

Saying ESPN fired Limbaugh makes it look like ESPN took a firm stand, which it didn't. ESPN allowed Limbaugh to weasel out of the hole he dug for himself by resigning. That distinction matters.