Looks like Rush's Farm is up for Sale

[Seascamp]

I?d say that Limbaugh was probably a bad ESPN choice in the first place as he has a lot of ?fire, aim, ready? habits that may work on talk radio but may not be appropriate to the sports casting industry. But on the other hand, there are a lot of elements playing out as to who said what rather of then simply what was said in context with the conversation. In all likelihood, a lower profile person saying similar things would not have gotten so much as a comment or bat of an eye.

I didn?t see or hear or see the conversation in context, complete with body English and intoned speech, so I won?t judge one way or the other. And it has been my long-term observation that conversations about professional athletes are several orders of magnitude more hyper-supercharged than most other topics and Limbaugh will not be the first or last sports commentator to get the jet blast and end up as a hole in the fence and a smoldering heap out in the cow pasture because of an inopportune remark.

Scamp

[Sgt_Tropo]

Why isn't anyone mentioning the NAACP's active beligerent role against the NFL as a whole, because there are not enough BLACK coaches. The good ol' NAACP does care if the owners, you know, the guys who have to pay these outrageous salaries to begin with, have a higher standard of performance than the NAACP.
Now, all of the sudden, rush comes along and makes a statement / opinion about the over-rated performance of a black quarterback and you'd think the world had stopped spinning.

GIVE ME A BREAK !!!!

What is this, everyone's entitled to "free speech" as long as it doesn't ruffle the feathers of a black person ? What about the outspokenness of the NAACP, who likens everything no black related to be racist ? What about the rantings of the die-hard GOP supoprters vs the blue-dog Democrats ? What about ....
Get my drift, sports fans ??

ESPN hired Rush Limbaugh for one reason and one reason only; the make brash comments and liven up the discussions between the other commentators. Rush did exactly what the ESPN folks wanted him to do. THAT'S why they fully supported him immediately after the show and right up until Rush resigned and apologized for any misunderstandings.

I personally think that several of the "new breed" of quarterbacks we are seeing today are really lousy, compared to the quarterbacks of only a few years ago. These guys today are premadonnas and they get way too much credit for "leading" their respective teams. More and more we're seeing the defense teams make the special plays and score the points required for the win, but the media continues to give the credit to the quarterback, whether he played well or not. I guess that's what being a quarterback is all about, huh.

Granted there are some quarterbacks that are indeed true leaders of their teams and have played superb football in the past seasons. These players are both black and white, but that shouldn't be the issue. Otherwise, where is the cry for latino quarterbacks, or native American quarterbacks, or Phillipino, or Salmolian, or ....

Rush made a comment that has been pushed by the NAACP for years, but now Rush gets sacked because he voiced it on the air.
Sounds like a flagent foul to me. Shame on ESPN for backing down under pressure from the likes of the NAACP. McNabb is past his prime and is indeed getting more credit than he deserves for the way his team has played.

[the humper]

Please give me the definition of same!!!!!!! And then a personal definition!!!!!!! And who are the Judges, the defensive linemen, the ends, whom? Or lets let Michael Irvin be the Judge. If not mistaken he is on national television today, because he was "innocently" caught-up in an incident. Or does one remember or choose to forget such.!!!!!!!
SF
NC

[Keith_Hixson]

It was dumb.

I watched live and knew instantly he would be in hot water as the black community would turn that around against him.

This won't hurt him with his radio audience, they get behind him and support him to the hilt. It may even increase his radio listeners. Don't cheer yet! He'll be around for a long time.


Keith

[Boats]

One thing I don't understand is how Rush became a sports anaylist? I've listened to his radio speel over the years and it gets real old fast.

He's too far right for me and its his way or no way when his callers call him up.

Freedom of speech is what we all have but to be so much in the public eye makes a big difference on how things are being received. He will survive they all do - but his choice of verbage will have to be closely guarded or retirement may be around the corner.

We all think things differently than we actually say. At least most of us do. I always regret saying something once its said and its damn difficult to counter something - even if its misconstruded.

[phuloi]

If you read the context of Limbaugh`s comment,you`ll see(I would hope) that the entirity was directed,not at McNabb or Cunningham,or any other player-black or white-but squarely at the pandering media.Sorry,fellas,but Rush is here to stay for as long as he has the humongous following that he enjoys.

[Jerry D]

Here is a great comment By Rush Limbaugh:

I think the vast differences in compensation between victims of the September 11 casualty and those who die
serving the country in Uniform are profound. No one is really talking about it either, because you just don't criticize anything having to do with September
11. Well, I just can't let the numbers pass by because it says something really disturbing about the entitlement mentality of this country. If you lost a
family member in the September 11 attack, you're going to get an average of $1,185,000. The range is a minimum guarantee of $250,000, all the way up to $4.7 million.

If you are a surviving family member of an American soldier killed in action, the first check you get is a $6,000 direct death benefit, half of which is taxable.
Next, you get $1,750 for burial costs. If you are the surviving spouse, you get $833 a month until you remarry. And there's a payment of $211 per month for
each child under 18. When the child hits 18, those payments come to a screeching halt.

Keep in mind that some of the people who are getting an average of $1.185 million up to $4.7 million are complaining that it's not enough. Their deaths were tragic, but for most, they were simply in the wrong
place at the wrong time. Soldiers put themselves in harms way FOR ALL OF US, and they and their families know the dangers.

We also learned over the weekend that some of the victims from the Oklahoma City bombing have started an
organization asking for the same deal that the September 11 families are getting. In addition to that, some of the families of those bombed in the
embassies are now asking for compensation as well.

You see where this is going, don't you? Folks, this is part and parcel of over 50 years of entitlement politics in this country. It's just really sad.
Every time a pay raise comes up for the military, they usually receive next to nothing of a raise. Now the green machine is in combat in the Middle East while their families have to survive on food stamps and live in low-rent housing. Make sense?

However, our own U.S. Congress just voted themselves a raise, and many of you don't know that they only have to be in Congress one time to receive a pension that is more than $15,000 per month, and most are now equal to being millionaires plus. They also do not receive Social Security on retirement because they didn't have to pay into the system.

If some of the military people stay in for 20 years and get out as an E-7, you may receive a pension of $1,000 per month, and the very people who placed you in harm's way receive a pension of $15,000 per month. I would like to see our elected officials pick up a weapon and join ranks before they start cutting out
benefits and lowering pay for our sons and daughters who are now fighting.

"When do we finally do something about this?" If this doesn't seem fair to you, it is time to forward this to as many people as you can.If your interested there is more.......................

This must be a campaign issue in 2004. Keep it going.
SOCIAL SECURITY: (This is worth the read. It's short and to the point.)

Perhaps we are asking the wrong questions during election years. Our Senators and Congressmen do not pay into Social Security. Many years ago they voted in their own benefit plan. In more recent years, no congressperson has felt the need to change it. For all practical purposes their plan works like this:

When they retire, they continue to draw the same pay until they die, except it may increase from time to time for cost of living adjustments. For example,
former Senator Byrd and Congressman White and their wives may expect to draw $7,800,000 - that's Seven
Million, Eight Hundred Thousand), with their wives drawing $275,000.00 during the last years of their lives.

This is calculated on an average life span for each.

Their cost for this excellent plan is $00.00. These little perks they voted for themselves is free to them. You and I pick up the tab for this plan.

The funds for this fine retirement plan come directly from the General
Fund--our tax dollars at work! >From our own Social Security Plan, which you and I pay (or have paid) into-- every payday until we retire (which amount is
matched by our employer) --we can expect to get an average $1,000 per month after retirement. Or, in other words, we would have to collect our average of $1,000 monthly benefits for 68 years and one month to equal Senator Bill Bradley's benefits!

Social Security could be very good if only one small change were made. And that change would be to jerk the Golden Fleece Retirement Plan from under the
Senators and Congressmen. Put them into the Social Security plan with the rest of us and then watch how fast they would fix it.
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"Sounds good to me"

[Seascamp]

Ages ago I believe Howard Cosell got in a ton of hot water for some ?Monkey? remark and was widely condemned as a ?racists?. I?m not sure his career ever recovered from that episode and I think that was my baptism in what a cotton candy world pro sports and pro sports commentary really is. Not that I was president of Cosell?s fan club, but I remember the extemporaneous remark and though that the reaction was a gross over reaction and mean spirited as all hell. A ?get Howard? scenario was apparent as I recall. After the news commentary and analysis of last night, I?m now on the side of the issue that believes that the comment wasn?t the smartest given the venue; maybe even real dumb, but the over reaction is more of the same mean spirited stuff that preserves the cotton candy world of taboo words and thoughts. Some may call it the PC world; I believe I?ll just call it meandering around in a fantasyland that is above critique or comment, especially by a non-jock.

Scamp

[BLUEHAWK]

Griz, Jerry & Scamp -

Excellent observations.

Rush didn't say anything the NAACP hasn't said every day of the week since Mfume took their helm. The venue thing, well, that's just Rush doing his Excellence in Broadcasting thang... what did anyone expect!

I don't anymore pay enough attention to pro football to know whether his position on the quarterback is accurate or even debatable... they lost me several seasons ago when old Al moved the Raiders to Los Angeles, and then back (and got Oakland to pay for it). I do know that when I was paying attention I would probably have said similar things about personnel decisions that had been made at various times, and there has been a whole lot of talk back and forth for years and years about the presence or absence of negro players and coaches... insufferably boringly, I might add, when the proof is nowhere else but on the field on game day. I saw a lot of black dudes get the shaft (Marcus Allen e.g.) and some others get more than they deserved ("Prime Time" e.g.) , but then I saw the same for white guys all the time too. It's the nature of the beast, eh?

Rush is an admirable guy as far as I'm concerned, who eventually will learn to tone down his arrogance when he realizes he is no longer the only "game" in town. His replacements are in training as we speak, breathing down his neck with sweet sycophancy.

[Gimpy]

an idiot who should be ashamed of his "venom" spewing and outrageous behavior.

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Not Ready for Prime Time

Published: October 3, 2003

READERS' OPINIONS


Breaking through the background chatter of television takes some doing. So ESPN apparently thought it might try something a little different. Instead of more sex, violence or even a nude sportscaster like the one who appeared on another sports show, ESPN brought in Rush Limbaugh, the right-wing radio commentator. He was there to give his hot-button views on one thing: football. And if the idea was to raise ratings, it worked. At least, it worked for one month.

As any television pro could have warned ESPN, it turned out that Limbaugh was not ready for the big leagues. He stands more in the class of Jimmy (the Greek) Snyder, who made insensitive remarks about blacks, and Michael Savage, fired from MSNBC for wishing AIDS on a gay caller. On ESPN's "Sunday N.F.L. Countdown" this week, Limbaugh said the kind of thing that wins him legions of tub-thumping fans on radio but that understandably offends most other people.

Talking about Donovan McNabb, the Philadelphia Eagles quarterback, he said, "What we have here is a little social concern in the N.F.L. The media has been very desirous that a black quarterback can do well ? black coaches and black quarterbacks doing well." He added, "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."

Limbaugh quickly resigned from his ESPN gig. But he insists there was "no racist intent whatsoever" and will not apologize, despite the outcry from McNabb's supporters, including an army of indignant Eagles' fans. In fact, Limbaugh insists that he "must have been right about something" to kick up so much fuss.

He is NOT right, especially since football now has a number of excellent black quarterbacks, including McNabb. But that fuss brings the issue back to ESPN and raises the question of whether network executives will learn the right lesson. Limbaugh's appearance should make television managers realize that racially loaded remarks only demean debate.

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