Unfortunate Lessons Learned at ESPN

Rush Limbaugh Home Page ^ | 1/14/04 | Rush Limbaugh

[writer33]

BEGIN TRANSCRIPT 12:40 PM ET

RUSH: Matt in Cincinnati. Welcome, sir. Nice to have you on the EIB Network.

MATT: Yeah, hi, Rush, I'm not going to let this McNabb thing go, either. I just wanted to say I will be thankful when the Super Bowl is over and the NFL season is come to an end. I've lost all respect for the NFL media, and certain other individuals for their treatment of you. I'm disgusted with their phony baloney outrage and their self-serving hand-wringing. I tell you I expect more out of adults and I say shame on them.

[writer33]

Listen to Rush… (…explain to a couple of callers how this McNabb thing has personally affected him)

BEGIN TRANSCRIPT 12:40 PM ET

RUSH: Matt in Cincinnati. Welcome, sir. Nice to have you on the EIB Network.

MATT: Yeah, hi, Rush, I'm not going to let this McNabb thing go, either. I just wanted to say I will be thankful when the Super Bowl is over and the NFL season is come to an end. I've lost all respect for the NFL media, and certain other individuals for their treatment of you. I'm disgusted with their phony baloney outrage and their self-serving hand-wringing. I tell you I expect more out of adults and I say shame on them.

RUSH: Well, you know, I think I understand how you feel. I appreciate your comments. I think I know exactly, in fact, let me tell you something. I know exactly how you feel. I was talking about this last night. You know, and I've been trying to understand just what it is about this that upsets me. And I will admit that I'm upset about it. This is no fun. I love football. I've always loved football. I love the people that play it. I have immense respect for all the people that play it. I've always said so. And as everybody knows, we all have dreams and desires and we all want to do new things, and it was one of my long-held desires to go into NFL media-wise. And one of the reasons why is because as a consumer, when I would sit around and watch the Fox pregame show with those guys or the ESPN pregame show or whatever, it looked like everybody was part of a fraternity, having fun, it just looked like something that would be cool to be part of, and I love the game anyway, and it finally hit on me last night that what has really disappointed me the most is that I wasted a bunch of time respecting a lot of people. A lot of people that I respected, I was wrong to do so. I mean, a lot of people that I had on a pedestal, a lot of people that I thought, these are achievement-oriented, accomplished people. And it turns out that the respect and the admiration that I had for them has been wasted and unwarranted, and that is a real disappointment, to be let down like that, really, really is

RUSH: Tom in New York City. You're next on the EIB Network. Hello.

TOM: Rush, just to further back you up on the McNabb thing. When you see game highlights of McNabb, he's running with the ball and embarrassing the defense. When you see game highlights of Brett Favre, Terry Bradshaw, YA Tittle they are throwing the ball because they're quarterbacks. I'm backing you up 100% on the McNabb thing, he should be a halfback, maybe even a fullback, he's a big guy, he's not a quarterback, he doesn't run the team like a quarterback.

RUSH: Well, that's what Steve Young's point was. Let's keep the points where they were, that was Steve Young's point early in the season, on September 28th. And don't forget, there were two championship game losses here that can be traced to the quarterback position of the Eagles. And so that's what shaped those comments on September 28th. I'm not going to take back what I said. The Eagles made a great investment drafting McNabb, and he does bring a dimension to the game. He's a running quarterback. One of the problems I've always had, he's a Randall Cunningham type, but he's doing it better. No NFL team has actually won the Super Bowl with a running quarterback- quarterback that's their leading rusher. It doesn't happen, this is not the college option game. It may change for the first time this year. But there's no questioning McNabb's talent. He's got raw talent. But there are other people on this team that are doing great contributory things that are being not so heralded as well because of this whole situation that happened with me and what you said, or the previous caller said about self-serving behavior on the part of the sports media in this case.

Again, this really was about the media - whole comment was about the sports media. It's always struck me, I mean this started, if you want to trace my original comments to this, go back to this whole Augusta National thing. I couldn't believe, here comes Martha Burk, who is Martha Burk? She's an absolute wacko and she comes and starts telling a private club what they must do, and the whole sports community joins with her, the whole sports reporting community, practically of all of them, join with her, as though Augusta is a bunch of antique, antiquated cavemen types and they've got to be gotten rid of, and they're going to lose, Martha Burk is going to win.

Well, Martha Burk is gone and Augusta National still exists as it is. It just struck me, these guys are as much the social engineers in the sporting community, sports reporting as the mainstream press is in the cultural and political arenas. And that's the whole sum total of the comment. Just an integrity of reporting issue. I was not focusing on criticism of McNabb. That's what the segment was. And I was trying to explain why everybody thought McNabb was regressing, when I didn't think he really had, I thought the reporting had elevated him beyond where he performed. Well, this year he's performed better season-long than he has up 'till now. He's gotten better. So, good for him! That's wonderful. Everybody's happy about it, including me.

[EveningStar]

ping

[KC_Conspirator]

If McNabb loses today, he will become, dare I say, the new "Danny White" where he makes it to 3 championship games but never gets to a Superbowl.

[cyborg]

I would like to be McNabb'd by Rush...

[Mel Gibson]

The incident involving Limbaugh's resignation at ESPN over Philadelphia Eagles QB D. McNabb is a case study of the grip that POLITICAL CORRECTNESS (definitely not free speech) has on the U.S.

[writer33]

Who wouldn't want to be McNabb'd. That was instant PR. But Mel, you have a good point. Free speech only is free if its liberal speech. According to liberals, conservatives should be seen and not heard.

Chris

[cwb]

I'm getting so sick of this Rush/McNabb controversy. Just like last week, one of the Fox announcers just said that McNabb has had to overcome some much adversity...starting with what was said on ESPN. They are making McNabb out to be a victim...and are already setting up the excuses [for him] should Philly lose.

[luvbach1]

They are making McNabb out to be a victim...and are already setting up the excuses [for him] should Philly lose.

If they are doing that they are proving Rush's point.

[writer33]

I couldn't agree more. So was Rush right in the first place?

[anonymous_user]

If you want a good PUKE, just tune in to the Carolina/Philadelphia game right now on FOX Sports. There's a "poor McNabb" or "McNabb controversy" hand-wringing comment about every minute. My wife finally muted the announcers in disgust.

[anonymous_user]

McNabb has had to overcome some much adversity...starting with what was said on ESPN

The FOX Sports actually compared McNabb's adversity with Rush Limbaugh (?) to Brett Favre's adversity in father's death. Before that, they did a Mad TV skit showing Rush drooling over a baggie of pain pills, and then a guy dressed in football gear like Donovan McNabb came in and beat him up. Oh, the hillarity.

[cwb]

It's making me sick. Chris Collingsworth was disgusting last week, but whoever his partner is this week also brought up Rush's comment. As soon as McNabb got hit after the sack, the "excuse for losing defense" started. It was shortly after that, that Collinsworth's partner in the booth talked about McNabb's adversity starting with what Rush said. Rush was right when he said that these people act like children...and has lost all respect for them. These are professional athletes (on the field and in the booth) who are acting like someone hurt their feelings. It isn't Rush who won't let this thing drop...it's them.

[writer33]

I'm listening. You're right. He'll receive the free pass from the media. As expected in today's liberal media.

[Ganndy]

but whoever his partner is this week

Troy Aikman

Out

[RoseofTexas]

AHHHHH, BUT will the fans forgive? The liberal media whores can turn and twist this baby anyway they want, but the fans and owner are the ones McNabb has to face! And I bet you annnnnnnnything the fans are PISSED OFF and ready to hang him to dry!! So let the whores crank up all the BS they want, the fans are the ones that matter!! AND THEY ARE NOT HAPPY CAMPERS TONIGHT!! I guarantee it!

[WFTR]

What frustrated me most about the whole thing was the way they set it up. Instead of just letting Rush be another commentator, they had him do that "Rush Challenge" thing. His being adversarial works fairly well on his own radio show, but it was never going to work on a pre-game show. It forced him to say something more controversial than really needed to be said. They should have just let him be another of the guys doing pre-game commentary.

Another Terri's Law
Bill

[Brimack34]

I feel the same way about Movie's I used to love to watch them. Now I have a big problem with the stupid actors.
Now I can not watch pre-game shows.

[jungleboy]

Will Rush ever admit that he got snookered in by these Disneyrats?
I remember Rush saying that some programming guy on the set was pushing for more controversy. Rush jumped in with both feet, and BOOM, race-card was played.

[writer33]

It seems to me that this phone conversation on his show was exactly that. It sounded like he all but confessed to getting taken. How many times you hear Rush say he's disappointed? Especially by his own performance, or a specific situation. Just reading the transcripts leads me to believe he was really sincere in his disappointment.

I think he got hurt. And with this phone call, he acknowledged it, as if he were saying I got taken, and it has really upset me.

But don't worry. Those reporters that don't give Donovan McNabb a free pass, will be busy tearing down the man they spent all season building up. All since the Rush Limbaugh comments.

My two cents worth, anyway.

[Intolerant in NJ]

And I bet you annnnnnnnything the fans are PISSED OFF and ready to hang him...well so far tonight the knock is on McNabb's receivers dropping the ball rather than him - that was a complaint last year too, but my football coach-nephew points out that those same receivers did just fine while McNabb was hurt and Detmer and Feeley were throwing to them - eventually the fans may catch on too.......