Is there anything more exciting than some good preseason hockey? Okay, I admit that was a sarcastic comment made in jest, but there has been one story that has created quite a storm this past week -- the controversy surrounding Rush Limbaugh's statements about Eagles quarterback Donovan McNabb on ESPN's NFL Countdown.
Last Sunday, Limbaugh made the following comment: "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. 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 deserve."
I repeat the statement in full for those of you who did not see the comment made on live television. Limbaugh uttered this opinion in the context of a larger discussion the cast of the show was having about McNabb's slow start to the season. After two games, the Eagles were 0-2 and McNabb was playing well below his Pro Bowl status.
Limbaugh's purposeful injection of race into the discussion is simply indefensible --- that is, unless you agree with him.
Picking on McNabb for his poor start was definitely a common theme of water cooler discussions for many football fans. Some pointed to his faulty mechanics and that he was throwing off his back foot too much or failing to square his shoulders while throwing on the run. Others blamed the Eagles' complete lack of a running game or a wide receiving corps devoid of significant talent.
But not Rush. No, he could not simply rest with a strict football analysis. The fact that Limbaugh had not made a blatantly political comment during his first three weeks on the program was surprising enough, to go a fourth in a row was asking too much.
When you think about it, could ESPN have seriously believed Limbaugh would not make some divisive political statement at some point during his stay? Wasn't that what they hired him for? To increase the show's ratings by bringing in his devoted following of right-wing conservatives that eat up every caustic diatribe that rolls off his lips?
And, in fact, it had been working. The show's ratings were up an average of 10 percent from last year. ESPN analyst Tom Jackson discussed this Sunday.
"Rush Limbaugh is known for the divisive nature of his rhetoric," Jackson said. "He creates controversy, and what he said [last Sunday] is the same type of thing that he said on radio for years."
Now I don't mean to pile on Limbaugh -- that's already been done many times and more eloquently than I could do -- but as a member of the media, albeit a very small cog in a very large wheel, I cannot let Limbaugh's comments pass without offering my own take.
What Limbaugh said was wrong. Not because it was politically incorrect, but because it was factually off-base. While Limbaugh is obviously still stinging from the recent affirmative action decision, his view that all of the media is liberal and all that's on the liberal press' agenda is the propping up of African-American quarterbacks and coaches could not be more erroneous.
The proposition that the press is conspiring to advance undeserving minority athletes is not only ridiculous but also sounds eerily similar to rhetoric that continues to haunt this country from generations past-rhetoric that still resonates sharply.
If anything, minority coaches and quarterbacks still face a tremendous uphill battle when it comes to the media. Even though the idea of an African-American quarterback is no longer taboo, referring to such a signal caller without the terms athletic, mobile and scrambler as permanent adjectives have proven to be more difficult. Maybe Jaguars QB Byron Leftwich will break that mini-barrier of being a black "pocket-passer."
Limbaugh's comment lacked a factual basis. Instead, he was catering to a distinct social and political outlook that is based on liberal conspiracies and the otherwise unexplainable success of minorities.
It is just unfortunate that Limbaugh quit when he did. Maybe next week he could have enlightened us all by informing us that Chiefs return man Dante Hall has been given too much credit by the press. Obviously, all the talk about Hall is only because he is a media darling -- he is not only African-American but also a short one at that!
Come to think of it, there is something that could get me excited about hockey: A solid McNabb crosscheck on Limbaugh into the boards. Sorry Rush, you can blame that comment on a conspiring liberal press.
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