The Limbaugh Flap
Now the most influential conservative voice in the American media has come a cropper for criticising a black player who's broken that mould. Rush Limbaugh, the political shock jock whose program defines the hardest of Republican lines in politics, has being trying out as a sports commentator. He singled out the Philadelphia Eagles' black quarterback, Donovan McNabb.
Checkout the transcript from ABC News.
Matt's Chat
Where was the furor over Chicago Cub manager Dusty Baker (African American)? Check out this story and see what you think. Why didn't Al Sharpton demand that Dusty be fired? Why didn't Sharpton encourage a boycott of the Cubs? Rush Limbaugh did the unthinkable. He expressed an opinion. Where is the ACLU...why aren't they protecting Rush's Right to Free Speech?Mark's Remarks
Well, Matt, the ACLU is no doubt busy defending child pornographers or trying to take God out of our country. They cannot be trifled with this matter, they have heresy to perform!!!! As far as remarks, Shaq O'Neal two years ago talked about playing against white boys, and said about Wally Szcerbiak, who is white and can dunk," man, to let a white boy dunk on you, you wouldn't want to go back to the locker room" (paraphrase). Where is the outrage over these remarks? Where is the outrage over remarks about conservatives? If you look in one article in the daily news, they call Rush a motormouth. Why, because the Limbaugh Letter has better circulation than the Daily News?Also, the matter of quarterbacks who are African-American. Aside from Doug Williams, who had a shining moment leading the Washington Redskins, there does seem to be an overpressing of the "great black hope" when young African-American quarterbacks come through. ESPN's crew was very critical of McNabb, before the Rush comments, all down the line, talking about lack of leadership and decisionmaking, but those remarks were not conceived as racist. Let's look at the black quarterbacks today and recently. McNabb, shows evidence of greatness but is inconsistent, and really does make poor decisions about passing. Kordell Stewart- He has never proven himself, despite three chances in Pittsburgh and now with the Bears. Already, this past Monday on MNF, John Madden and Al Michaels were talking about how soon the Bears would put their draft pick, Rex Grossman at the helm, and how Stewart has underachieved from his press as another "Great Black Hope." Akili Smith--Please!!! This person couldn't stand out with THE CINCINNATI BENGALS!!! He was beaten out by John Kitna, a journeyman. Duante Culpepper has been criticized by teammates for showing lack of leadership. I am not trying to be racist, as Culpepper, and African American Jeff Blake are among the quarterbacks I like, but you do have to admit that McNabb was overpublicized for being a one-hit wonder. Why should he and Culpepper, neither of whom has won a championship yet, or gotten that far in the playoffs, be put in the same pantheon as Brett Favre, Doug Williams, and Randall Cunningham, or for that matter Warren Moon. The last three were all star African American quarterbacks who played for mostly bad teams, with the exception of Williams, who won a Championship. These guys earned their place as a premier quarterback, with actually having to struggle against racism and the like, and shined. They did not blame their defense (or have the media do that for them, as in the case of McNabb). the sports writers are doing what judges are trying to do...change things when they are not in a position to do so. The only way more blacks will come up as quarterbacks will be when they produce more. A shining example is Steve McNair, QB for the Tennessee Titans. He has been solid, and his team has done well, but he has not been hailed as a great black hope. Why? is it because he is quiet, reserved, and does not like to do commercials? Or is this all really a non-story brought up for other reasons, that liberals don't like seeing Rush any more than they have to? I wonder.........
