Some of the criticism was unfair, for example the claim that has head of the "Steelers Nation," Rooney should be above politics. In fact, other sports moguls have taken sides also - it's no coincidence that at the height of the campaign Sarah Palin was invited to drop the puck at a Philadelphia Flyers hockey game.
The endorsement was also paradoxical because Rooney, an active Catholic and supporter of pro-life causes, was backing an advocate of expanded abortion rights. Some commentators noted, though, that it fit Rooney's commitment to expanding job opportunities in pro football to minorities. The NFL's requirement that minority applicants be interviewed for open coaching positions is known as the Rooney Rule.
Last week, the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette reported that the other four Rooney brothers had stepped up efforts to complete an agreement to sell their shares in the team to Dan Rooney and his son, Art, before the first of the year. They want to present details to the NFL's finance committee in time for the league owners meeting Dec. 17 in Dallas.
The reason for their urgency? They hope to escape the tax increase they believe the Obama administration will ask Congress to impose retroactively to the beginning of 2009. "I think everybody knows the clock is ticking," the newspaper quoted Art Rooney Jr. "It's almost like a football game."
What they plan to do is perfectly legal, but isn't there something unseemly about it? When you campaign for a candidate who promises to raise taxes on the wealthy and then rush to wrap up the deal of a lifetime to avoid a bigger tax bill, you leave yourself open to a lot of backlash. After all, as Joe Biden put it, wouldn't it be more patriotic to wait until you could pay a bigger share?