Rush gets crucified by Sports press for McNabb comments

[strk]

hahah I love it.  you made your bed now lie in it fat boy

strk

http://www.philly.com/mld/philly/sports/football/6893265.htm

Phil Sheridan | Penalize Rush for illegal use of the mouth
By Phil Sheridan
Inquirer Columnist

The sick thing is, this is exactly what ESPN had in mind when the all-sports network hired veteran provocateur Rush Limbaugh for its Sunday NFL pregame show. You can imagine the meeting. The ESPN bigwigs must have needed drool cups to handle the runoff when they discussed the controversy Limbaugh would generate.

Well, here it is. Just be advised, ESPN, that you're not fooling anyone. You brought this tired act out of his radio closet, where he rants to people who already agree with him, to stir things up. Prepare to get spattered.

The smart thing would be to ignore it. Thing is, nobody ever called sportswriters smart. So there you have it.

Limbaugh's idea of commentary Sunday involved an absurd attack on Eagles quarterback Donovan McNabb and on "the media" that have overrated him because "the media has been very desirous that a black quarterback do well. There's interest in black quarterbacks and coaches doing well." McNabb, Limbaugh said, isn't "as good as everyone says he has been."

Here's your mistake, Rush. You stepped out of your radio comfort zone, where "Dittoheads" either echo your twisted view of America or you can cut them off. You stepped into a place where your bluff - and that's all it ever has been - is easily called.

The only thing tough about this is deciding where to begin. How about with "the media"?

Conservative sleight-of-hand artists like Limbaugh love to use the label "the media" (alternately "the liberal media") as a kind of blanket insult. Well, guess what, Rush? You've got a nationally syndicated radio show. You have your own Web site. You had a national TV show. Now you're on ESPN every Sunday morning.

You.

Are.

The.

Media.

Was that slow enough for you to grasp? You are the media. You're a part of them, anyway. Just like this paper and the others that have covered McNabb since he came to the Eagles in 1999. Just like the radio stations that thrive on Eagles coverage and just like ESPN, which has set the bar for overpromoting athletes so high that no other outlet will ever come close to hitting it.

Second, let's take on the idea that the phantom "media" have hyped McNabb because of some agenda. A little history might be in order.

In 1985, Randall Cunningham was drafted by the Eagles. At his first news conference in Philadelphia, an older white reporter asked him, "What makes you think you'll ever be able to read NFL defenses?"

In January 1988, it was considered major news that an African American quarterback named Doug Williams was starting in the Super Bowl for the Washington Redskins. During the pregame week of hype, Williams was famously asked, "How long have you been a black quarterback?"

To his credit, he calmly replied that he'd always been a quarterback and he'd also always been black. Then Doug Williams went out and earned the most valuable player award in that Super Bowl.

The point is, this ground was covered a long time ago by those of us who cover sports for a living. Nobody is perfect, of course, but McNabb's tenure here has been marked by coverage that focuses on his performance, his progress and his work ethic. That includes positive coverage as well as negative.

From the most matter-of-fact wire service report to the most outspoken talk-radio shouter, McNabb's race has not been an issue.

Until now. Until Rush Limbaugh and his mouth made it an issue. But why is anyone surprised? This is the same man who once told an African American caller to "take that bone out of your nose and call me back." The same man who once said, "Have you ever noticed how all composite pictures of wanted criminals resemble Jesse Jackson?"

With that record - kept by a group called Fairness and Accuracy in Reporting, or FAIR - ESPN gave this guy a job commenting on a league in which the majority of the players are black. ESPN, which is essentially a corporate partner of the NFL, gave this job to Limbaugh even as the league struggles with its own notorious paucity of minority coaches and general managers.

Finally, there is the substance of Limbaugh's statement, that McNabb isn't as good as the media say and that he's gotten credit that should go to the Eagles' defense. Anyone who has watched this team for the last three years would know that is laughable. The defense has been very good and has gotten due credit. But McNabb has been good much of the time, very good some of the time and great on occasion. Talk to his teammates and to his opponents and you hear the kind of respect that someone like Limbaugh would know nothing about.

It is telling that Limbaugh pounced on a two-game slump by McNabb to advance his own pathetic agenda. It's a shame that Steve Young - who didn't become an effective NFL starter until he was plugged into the great San Francisco 49ers' offense in his eighth pro season - lent credence to Limbaugh's doggerel by suggesting that Koy Detmer would run the Eagles' offense better.

Fortunately for McNabb, his record speaks for itself.

But then, so does Limbaugh's. Unfortunately for ESPN, as long as he's on the air, Limbaugh's record speaks for the network, too.


--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Contact columnist Phil Sheridan at 215-854-2844 or psheridan@phillynews.com.

[strk]

http://www.nbc10.com/sports/2520974/detail.html


Limbaugh Says McNabb Overrated Because Of Race
Commentator Made Remarks On National TV
What People Are Saying: Limbaugh-McNabb Viewer Comments, 1-20 | Comments, 21-40 | Comments, 41-50 | Comments, 51-70


It's a story that much of the NBC 10 viewing area is discussing: conservative commentator Rush Limbaugh's remarks that Eagles star Donovan McNabb receives too much praise because of his race.

 

There was little comment from the Eagles organization on Tuesday morning after Limbaugh's remarks in a pregame football segment on ESPN.

Asked by other panelists about McNabb's recent performance on the football field, Limbaugh said, "I think the sum total of all you are saying is, that Donovan McNabb is regressing . . . He's going backwards. And my, I'm sorry to say this, I don't think that he has been that good from the get-go."

Limbaugh, who appears as an analyst and commentator on the TV show, went on to say that:

"I think what we have here is a little social concern in the NFL. I think the media has been very desirous that a black quarterback do well, of black coaches and quarterbacks doing well, and I think that there is a little hope invested in McNabb and he got a lot of credit for the performance of this team that he didn't really deserve. . . . . The defense carried this team."

Listen To Limbaugh's Commentary on http://www.rushlimbaugh.com

McNabb told the Philadelphia Daily News in its Tuesday editions that, "It's sad that you've got to go to skin color. I thought we were through with that whole deal."

McNabb played well in Sunday's game in Buffalo, leading the Eagles to a 23-13 win over the Bills. But he had poor games in the Eagles first two losses against New England and Tampa Bay.

NBC 10 is trying to contact the Eagles and Limbaugh's organizations for comment, and will have a full report on NBC 10 News First At 4.

[strk]

http://www.philly.com/mld/dailynews/news/local/6894891.htm


Rich Hofmann | So now he's a color analyst, too
By Rich Hofmann
hofmanr@phillynews.com

Rush Limbaugh says that if you believe Donovan McNabb is a really good quarterback, it isn't because he is a really good quarterback. It's because you have a secret desire to see a black quarterback succeed in the NFL.

Now, who isn't offended by that? Who isn't offended on about three different levels? And when is this nonsense ever going to end?

Limbaugh works for ESPN now, at least on Sunday mornings. He is there to be controversial. This week, as his co-conspirators on the set tried to figure out what was wrong with McNabb following his 0-2 start this season, Limbaugh told them this:

"I think the sum total of what you're all saying is that Donovan McNabb is regressing, he's going backwards. And...I'm sorry to say this, 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. I think the media has been very desirous that a black quarterback do well. They're interested in black coaches and black quarterbacks doing well; I think there is a little hope invested in McNabb, and he got a lot of credit for the performance of his team that he really didn't deserve. The defense carried this team...

"I think he got a lot of credit for the defensive side of the ball winning games for this team."

A short argument ensued on the ESPN set - that's why Limbaugh is there, to start short arguments - but it was a football argument and nothing more. Limbaugh's black-quarterback comments were ignored. His easy dismissal of everything that McNabb has accomplished was not challenged. His cavalier, hurtful words were left to sit there and sting. On the central issue, nobody took the bully on.

And so, on national television, McNabb was allowed to be reduced to a stereotype once again. He lives, he breathes, he quarterbacks - but it has never been that simple for Donovan McNabb and you wonder if it ever will be.

You read the old articles from when he was in high school and you see where colleges that even bothered with him were recruiting McNabb only as an "option" quarterback; code word.

You read the stuff that was written when he was coming out of Syracuse and see countless references to what an "athletic" quarterback he is; code word.

You read the articles today and you see way too many times where McNabb is categorized, unthinkingly, almost reflexively, as a "running" quarterback; code word.

And now this Limbaugh. It is to the point now where it isn't even provocative anymore. It's just tired. It's such an old, stupid song.

If you took 5 minutes to look at the statistics and to study the history of the game, you would see that McNabb is for real. After 2 years as a starter - that's when he built this reputation of being an elite quarterback, before he broke a fibula last season - McNabb's numbers absolutely blew away the early numbers put up by guys to whom he is often compared, guys like Brett Favre and John Elway. The stats aren't even close.

But it isn't even that. It isn't how many games McNabb won, or how many big games. It isn't how he routinely refuses to make the big mistakes - going into this season, his interception percentage was third-lowest in NFL history. It isn't that in the most important quarterback stat - touchdown-to-interception ratio - McNabb was fourth all-time in the league. It isn't that his physical toughness is unchallenged, or that his teammates have followed him from the day he showed up in 1999.

That's football stuff. This is much bigger than that. Because the notion that the media somehow had to invent McNabb's excellence because it needed a black quarterback to portray as successful just mocks the reality of the NFL in 2003.

Look around, Rush. Arguably the best quarterback in the NFL today is Tennessee's Steve McNair - who, the last time anyone looked, is black. McNair is just old-school excellent. He's a technician. He's tough as a boot. His leadership skills are unquestioned. He was a yard short of winning the Super Bowl a couple of years ago, nearly beating what might have been the best offensive team the NFL has ever seen.

And that's just for starters.

As McNabb said yesterday in a conversation with the Daily News' Les Bowen, "What about [Michael] Vick? What does that say for Daunte Culpepper or Aaron Brooks or Quincy Carter? Culpepper is playing really well right now. What does it say about that?"

There are good black quarterbacks everywhere you turn these days, Rush. Nobody has to invent their success for them because they're succeeding all by themselves.

If you want to make a football argument about McNabb, fine. None of us yet knows what his final football accounting is going to be. None of us knows if he is going to win championships. All we know is that there is a stack of numbers that says McNabb has built a better foundation than almost anyone as we enter the prime years of his career.

At one point Sunday, ESPN's Tom Jackson said that the Eagles have made their big-money investment in McNabb and have to stick with him.

Limbaugh replied, "I'm saying that it's a good investment. Don't misunderstand. I just don't think he's as good as everybody said he has been."

But if you disagree, if you think McNabb is a better player than Limbaugh does, he says it must be because you are somehow blinded by the color of McNabb's skin.

With that, you can only wonder about what's sadder: that Rush Limbaugh insists on living in such a world, or that he insists on dragging Donovan McNabb into it with him.


--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Send e-mail to hofmanr@phillynews.com. For recent columns, go to http://go.philly.com/hofmann.

[midnight Target]

Rush to unemployment?

[strk]

http://www.phillyburbs.com/pb-dyn/news/256-09302003-169165.html


Limbaugh off base with McNabb comments
 
 
 
 
This was silly. This was stupid. This was Rush Limbaugh speaking about the NFL on Sunday, about Donovan McNabb, about race and the credit a quarterback deserves for his team's success. This was a powder keg bound to blow.

The reactions to Limbaugh, to his conservative views and the national radio show on which he disseminates them, are always visceral. Those reactions are the reason ESPN hired him this year as a regular contributor to the network's NFL pre-game show, an obvious attempt to spike the show's sagging ratings. It is always this way with Limbaugh: He never inspires indifference. He is either loved or loathed. You suspect the latter in Philadelphia now.

Sunday, Limbaugh joined Chris Berman, Tom Jackson, Steve Young and Michael Irvin on the panel of "NFL Countdown." A few hours before the Eagles finished off the Bills, 23-13, the panel discussed the Eagles' 0-2 start and McNabb's struggles. This is what Limbaugh said:

"I think the sum total of what you're all saying is that Donovan McNabb is regressing. He's going backwards. And I'm sorry to say this: I don't think he's been that good from the get-go.

"I think what we have here is a little social concern in the NFL. The media has been very desirous that a black quarterback do well - black coaches and black quarterbacks doing well. I think there's a little hope invested in McNabb, and he got a lot of credit for the performance of his team that he really didn't deserve."

Subtlety isn't why almost 600 radio stations in the country carry Limbaugh's radio show, and there's precious little subtlety in his remarks about McNabb. He is often impish during his radio programs, but he seemed serious here. He brought the tips of his toes to the very edge of good taste, very nearly suggesting that people consider McNabb a good quarterback only because he's black. He didn't quite say it, but he came damn close.

If Limbaugh had simply expressed a belief that McNabb is overrated, that he is too highly regarded by those who cover and comment on the NFL, he merely would have been the latest in a line that includes Troy Aikman and Phil Simms to criticize McNabb. There is an argument to be made that McNabb's inaccuracy as a passer and the Eagles' success without him last season show he is not as valuable or talented as people might think. The argument is incorrect - even with his flaws, McNabb remains one of the five best quarterbacks in the league - but at least it's a defensible position.

And there was one portion of Limbaugh's comment that rang true - his reference to "social concern in the NFL." One cannot deny that truth with respect to the league's push for more black head coaches. Its owners have instituted a ridiculous policy by which a team trying to hire a new coach faces a fine if it doesn't interview black candidates. The league should have more black coaches, but time and social pressure are the answers - not some half-hearted affirmative-action program that insults the very people it means to promote.

But by combining these two arguments - McNabb is overrated, the NFL is fixated on race - Limbaugh created one that is laughable on its face. The notion that anyone affiliated with the NFL - the executives, the coaches, the media - wants McNabb to succeed because of his skin tone is ludicrous.

It's one thing for the league to institute a race-based policy for hiring coaches; coaches come cheaper than players and are easily fired. There's little risk for the owners there. But no owner will stake millions of dollars and the future of his franchise on a black quarterback, on the most important position on a football team, just to fill a quota. Owners want to make money. Owners want to win. Owners don't want to assuage guilt. And even if the league as a whole had such an agenda, why wouldn't it tout Steve McNair, a better quarterback, or Michael Vick, a flashier, more marketable quarterback, instead of McNabb?

So somewhere today in the Delaware Valley, in a newspaper, on a talk-radio show, in a water-cooler conversation, someone will tell it this way:

Rush Limbaugh was on ESPN on Sunday morning, and he said the only reason Donovan McNabb is considered a good quarterback is because he's black.

He didn't say that. Not quite. But, man, he came close. Just the way ESPN wants him to. Philadelphia surely loathes him now. The network surely loves him.

Mike Sielski is a sports columnist for Calkins Media. He can be reached at msielski@phillyBurbs.com.
 

September 30, 2003 6:10 AM

[strk]

snork


http://www.philly.com/mld/philly/sports/columnists/rich_hofmann/6894896.htm

McNabb disregards Rush's idiocy
By Les Bowen

THE WORLD MUST look a whole lot different, when you have your head firmly lodged in your hindquarters.

That's the only explanation I can figure for Rush Limbaugh's ugly insinuations during Sunday's pregame show on ESPN, when Limbaugh blithely smeared the accomplishments of Eagles quarterback Donovan McNabb, suggesting that McNabb gets more credit than he deserves because he is black.

I have to believe that to McNabb and his family, the world always has seemed pretty much the opposite of what Limbaugh outlined. When they moved to mostly white Dolton, Ill., from the South Side of Chicago, for example, and their house was vandalized while they were getting ready to move in, the McNabbs probably didn't see this as one of the benefits of being black. And Donovan recalled yesterday that he didn't feel terribly privileged when he was looking for a college and kept hearing from Midwestern schools about what a fine running back or defensive back he would make - guess those coaches weren't in step with the master plan of the media and the NFL to boost black QBs.

"It's sad that you've got to go to skin color. I thought we were through with that whole deal," McNabb told the Daily News yesterday, when Limbaugh's comments were relayed to him.

McNabb, who played terribly in the Eagles' first two games before getting back on track in Sunday's victory at Buffalo, has gotten used to being criticized for many things, from working out too much to getting married. He hadn't heard about Limbaugh implying he was a beneficiary of some sort of gridiron affirmative action, but he said he didn't care about it and wasn't going to worry about it.

"Not at all," McNabb said. "I don't get caught up in all that."

Limbaugh - hired by ESPN despite a lack of any sort of football credentials, probably just so the network could get the kind of publicity these comments will generate - spoke up Sunday after hearing fellow analysts Steve Young and Tom Jackson speak of how McNabb had regressed during the Eagles' first two games.

"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," Limbaugh said. "The media has been very desirous that a black quarterback do well. They're interested in black coaches and black quarterbacks doing well; I think there's a little hope invested in McNabb, and he got a lot of credit for the performance of his team, that he really didn't deserve."

Jackson then interjected that "somebody went to those championship games, somebody went to those Pro Bowls, somebody made those plays that I saw, running down the field, doing it with his legs, doing it with his arm. He has been a very effective quarterback for this football team over the last 2 or 3 years."

Limbaugh replied that McNabb benefited from a strong defense.

"I think he got a lot of credit for the defensive side of the ball winning games for this team," Limbaugh said - a much less controversial assertion, and one that probably contains at least a grain of truth.

Eagles coach Andy Reid said last night that he did not want to respond to Limbaugh's comments, but "I trust Donovan's talents and his contributions to Philadelphia."

Former Eagles receiver and current radio analyst Mike Quick, speaking last night on Comcast SportsNet's "Daily News Live," said: "When 'Jimmy the Greek' had his comments that got him ousted, I think this comment is even worse than that. I think we've progressed...Rush Limbaugh is a right-wing bigot who shouldn't even be doing football."

On Limbaugh's main point, there might be some people in the league or in the media who feel diversity is a worthwhile goal. Maybe that belief could somehow blind them to a player's shortcomings, although that seems a stretch.

But if you've been following McNabb's career, you might have noticed there certainly are many people, in the league and in the media, who feel quarterbacks should look and play the way they looked and played 40 years ago. Those people are definitely not grading McNabb on a curve.

Giving Props

• Donovan McNabb: During the week leading up to the game, his nebulous answers to questions about his struggles raised doubts about whether he had really made any adjustments. But McNabb, though not perfect Sunday, was again the guiding force the Eagles need him to be.

• Mike Lewis: Suddenly finding himself the most experienced member of the defensive secondary didn't faze the second-year strong safety; he forced a key fumble and played a strong game.

• David Rudd: Most fans didn't know his name, but according to yesterday's Buffalo News, he was the yellow-jacketed security guard who laid out that idiot fan you might have seen run onto the field at Ralph Wilson Stadium. Rudd squared his shoulders and exploded into the hit, right in front of the Birds' bench.

Busting Chops

• Mike Pucillo: The Bills' right guard decisively lost his one-on-one battle with left defensive tackle Corey Simon, starting with Buffalo's first play, when Simon threw Pucillo into Drew Bledsoe for a sack.

• Josh Reed: The successor to departed wide receiver Peerless Price started and played a lot, but caught just one pass for 9 yards against the Eagles' hobbled secondary.

• Gregg Williams: The Bills, coached by Williams, played into the Eagles' hands by taking 10 penalties for 84 yards, some of them crucial, and by running low-percentage plays in key spots, such as an incomplete bomb they tried on third-and-1 while they were desperate to get back into the game.

Who Knew?

That the Eagles could generate an effective ground game without really calling on Duce Staley? Brian Westbrook (11 carries, 96 yards) and Correll Buckhalter (11 carries, 25 yards) saw more key action than Staley (two carries for 4 yards, and three catches for 16 yards).

Andy Reid gave little explanation yesterday, other than to say the personnel group that includes Westbrook was particularly well- suited to use against Buffalo. It isn't clear that we'll continue to see as much of Westbrook against the Redskins on Sunday, or that we'll see as much of Buckhalter, who had one carry for no yards in the first two games.

Maybe we'll look back on Sunday's game as the start of a changing of the guard at running back, and maybe we won't - Reid certainly isn't telling.

Westbrook's durability has been questioned, but when healthy, he shows startling acceleration and surprising power for his size (5-8, 200). By the way, the Eagles are 4-0 in games Westbrook starts. And they're 1-0 when he runs 62 yards for a touchdown.

Extra Point

How important was it that the Eagles had the ball for 33 minutes, 48 seconds Sunday, to Buffalo's 26:12? The Birds are 22-2 under Andy Reid when gaining the edge in time of possession. After the bad starts of those first two losses, the Eagles ran 36 first-half plays, against 20 for the Bills. They had the ball for 18:05 of the first half, to Buffalo's 11:55, while building a 13-0 lead.


--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Send e-mail to bowenl@phillynews.com

[Mini D]

McNabb is definately overated.  

Why that is is definately up for debate.  Personally, I think it's less of an issue about him being black as it is him fitting the "ideal quarterback physique".  ~6'6", ~250, strong arm and fast.  All of the quarterbacks fitting into all of those categories in the league right now are black.  Actually, it's really just two quarterbacks... but the anouncers and media seem to fall all over themselves whenever they cover the games.  Everyone seems to overlook the fact that they can't read defenses and make really stupid decisions.  

Yep... both McNabb and Culpepper fit "the mold".  Neither are very good quarterbacks.

BTW... on the topic of Racism in broadcasting:

I watched the Raiders play 2 weeks ago on Monday night and get their bellybutton kicked.  In the 4th quarter Rich Gannon went over to the sidelines and started chewing out the offensive coordinator in a not too subtle way.  The commentators highlighted how much of a competitor he was and how much the loss was hurting him.

Last week the 49rs were getting their bellybutton kicked and in the 4th quarter Terrel Owens went over to the sidelines and started chewing out the offensive coordinator in a not too subtle way.  The announcers highlighted how unprofessional it was.

That's one that didn't make the papers because people don't hate those announcers like they hate Rush.

MiniD

[Sixpence]

I like the argument he made for the NFL to fight clarrett in court. He says 18 year olds in sport are ruining sports. Pretty funny.


I'm 18 years old, I can be kicked out of my parents house because i'm 18, i'm a man, and should have a job and support myself.

I'm 18 years old, I can be drafted to go fight a war, because i'm a man.( a war declared by a middle aged man)

I'm 18 years old, i'm a good football player, but I can't play...because i'm not a man?

And this is being told to me by some middle age guy who doesn't even play football? Are all republicans this hypocritical?

[rpm]

Mini, Gannon is the Quarterback and leader on the field. TO is a gimme the ball glory hog and has no reason to even talk to the OC.

BTW, who gives a rat's prettythang what Limbaugh says.

[Rutilant]

Originally posted by Sixpence
Are all republicans this hypocritical?

In a word.. yes.

[Sandman]

strk... dood... really... it's a great story and all and sure, I think Rush is a tool... but please...


brevity?

[FUNKED1]

McNabb is overrated, sure.  I think it's more because of his raw physical skills (size, speed, arm) than any racial thing though.  He just looks impressive, even if the results show that the other QB's on his team play just as well.

[Holden McGroin]

Originally posted by strk
hahah I love it.  you made your bed now lie in it fat boy

strk

Rush lost weight. Even if he hadn't, it is not PC to call him fat.

I accuse you of practicing fatcism and of being a fatist.

[Udie]

Originally posted by Sandman_SBM
strk... dood... really... it's a great story and all and sure, I think Rush is a tool... but please...


brevity?

dang ya beat me to it.  I was thinking we have another weasel on our hands.

[Lance]

Rush Limbaugh playing the race card regarding Donovan McNabb is one of the most hypocritically funny things I have ever heard.

He is going to be hard pressed to top this, though.  Maybe if he swaps swill with Madonna onstage at an awards show?