ESPN.com is at again today with their latest Power Rankings series. This week the panel of ESPN columnist and bloggers ranked the owners around the NFL and the Steelers Rooney Family finished first overall as they garnered 4 first place votes and 4 second place votes to finish with a score of 76. The Patriots and owner Robert Kraft finished second overall even though he received just one first place vote from AFC South blogger Paul Kuharsky. The only other team to receive first place votes outside of the Rooney family and Kraft was the Packers and their ownership group, who received the other three first place votes.
Kuharsky claims he went with the Patriots and Kraft because he felt they have done more lately. Lately? Lately as in since the beginning of the 2005 season, lately? Sure the Patriots have had a hell of a run since 2002, but so too have the Steelers. Also what does lately have to do with the big picture? The Rooney family has been the epitome of professional sports team ownership since way before the 2001 season and have done far more for the league as a whole than Kraft has. Perhaps Kuharsky is not familiar with the Rooney Rule for one. I can stomach the Packers getting first place votes here, but not the Patriots just because they won 3 Super Bowls in 4 years.
As far as the rest of the list, you can see that there was quite the difference in opinions as one would expect in the best of the rest category. If Kuharsky were to stick to his “lately” way of reasoning, he surely would have ranked Colts owner Jim Irsay higher than the Eagles Jeffrey Lurie. I also was surprised that Pat Bowlen of the Broncos finished outside of the top 10 as well.
You can certainly argue the player rankings in these power rankings over the last few months, but this category should not even be up for debate. The Rooney Family is hands down the best ownership group not only in the NFL, but in professional sports overall. Sure I bleed black and gold, but even with my tainted fan goggles off, this is a no-brainer ranking. Perhaps Kuharsky has less than no brain. It appears that “lately” he has lost his mind and sense of reasoning as well.
