[isthisnickcool]

This is really really disturbing. I haven't been so upset since I learned that pro-wresting was fake.

[Thebaddog]

Hey! If you want a black QB to really succeed, you put the him behind a really strong line, black or white. I really call it a failure of expectations of the linemen.

Look at the Bears. I rest my case.

[anniegetyourgun]

Wow...it's been months since I've seen AP run a "strictly the facts" story like this. Will wonders never cease....

[TankerKC]

Why the Wes Clark quote?

[swilhelm73]

So, saying McNabb is overrated is now racist? Or is the press trying to deny that they have been on campaign in recent years to demand more black coaches and QBs - irrespective of talent?

Doesn't anyone remember what happened when Mariucci (sp?) got his job???

[joesnuffy]

On Wednesday, Democratic presidential candidate Wesley Clark said Limbaugh should be fired. The retired Army general called the remarks "hateful and ignorant speech."

The General who earlier also stated that his idea of "faith based inititive" was Pure Science
and also sprang into his "Wizard of Oz" song that if he were kiiiiing of the foooorest" He would make it a priority to break the speed of light barrier so that he could go back in time.

Both Al Sharpton and Jesse Jackson agreed that science needed also to do something about "gravity" jive... which had been holding his people down for a long time...

[wordsofearnest]

The look on Tom Jackson's face was priceless. You'd thought somebody had crapped in his lap.

[YaYa123]

What a broadcasting coup! Rush gets even non-sports fans talking about his new tv gig, which of course translates into even more Rush listeners.

Even better...he provokes Wesley Clark to make another stupid, stupid remark.

[lady lawyer]

Good grief. This wasn't a racist statement. Rush simply said out loud what everybody knows -- there's a racial double standard in the media. Maybe the people doing it are well-intentioned, maybe not. But all he said was that McNabb was overrated, and maybe the racial double standards was the reason.

Why is that any more offensive than saying that McNabb is overrated?

This is like the people who wanted that poor teacher fired because she used the word "niggardly."

[Enterprise]

McNabb shouldn't expect an apology anyway. If you listen to any given sports talk radio, athletes are always being criticized. It comes with the territory.

[ambrose]

Rush Limbaugh did something he always (rightfully) accuses the libs of doing - injecting race into an argument.

I don't follow the NFL enough to know whether McNabb is any good or not, but that's beside the point, as is his race.

Rush committed a cardinal sin by injecting politics into sports. We didn't like it when Dennis Miller was injecting left-wing remarks when he was a football commentator (prior to Miller doing a 360 degree Arianna Huffington-like turn to the conservative side of the spectrum)...

Now, does that mean this story is worthy of headlines night and day? Hardly. But I guess it does tell you something about how many legs this "leak" story has, when something this trivial immediately pushes it off the front page.

[rintense]

Of course we just HAD to hear what Wesley Clark thought about all of this.

[Mr. Bird]

If someone had said (and I'm sure they did at the time) "The media has every hope that Annika Sorenstam does well in a men's tournament. It's a social issue as much as anything else. They've lowered the bar so that she, essentially, cannot fail as long as she finishes 36 holes. But, rated purely as a golfer, she is overrated compared to the men".

That is an honest and true statement, and would not be cause for any outrage. But because McNabb is black....

[Tacis]

The ultra-left wing screams for affirmative action to provide opportunities for those who might not otherwise have been selected. We give blacks "extra credit" because they are black so that they will be included. But, when a white person mentions that a black's success is based in part, on his blackness, the lefties scream about that. This is the height of hypocracy by black racist thugs and their running dog liberals in the ultra-left wing media.

[cincinnati65]

Love the headline. How many times does Rush have to say that he did not make a statement about McNabb's race, but of the media's interest in his race as a reason to enhance his on-field prowess? His statement was a condemnation of the media for their treatment of McNabb, not McNabb's performance.

[Whispering Smith]

"Look at that monkey go" got Howard Cossell. Something to do with "build" got Jimmy the Greek. Something to do with a 1948 election got Trent Lott. Let's see if Rush survives. If past is prologue, it doesn't look good.

[Greg Luzinski]

From the archives, largely on topic:

January 11, 2003 (Open Line Friday)

Rush: To Rose Valley, Pennsylvania, this is Adam. Adam, hi, welcome and great to have you with us.

Adam: Thank you, Rush. And don’t forget to play “Hold On” in honor of the Atlanta Falcons’ offensive and defensive lines. [Rush laughs audibly.] Now Rush, I called you a few months ago to get on your case about something, when you put Tom Daschle’s face on Tom Brady’s body, and we’ve gone through that …

Rush: Oh yeah

Adam: … and they’re out of the playoffs now. But, you know, I voted for Bush, and I always agree with everything you say, but you’re just wrong about something here. I mean, you’re not giving the Eagles any respect once again, and your friend [“The Hutch,” a former Cowboys player friend of his whom was on the show in the previous half hour, among other things predicting the Falcons would beat the Eagles in the playoffs] didn’t. And they’re being underestimated, just as the Republicans were on November 5.

Rush: You know, this is … I have to say something about this because you, you’re the second guy who’s mentioned this. I got an e-mail note from a guy, I made a comment earlier this week talking about the Eagles, in which I said I just don’t trust a football team that has such dependence on the quarterback for everything. And the guy wrote back, and he was right. He said “What do you mean dependence on the quarterback? They put in their second-string guy, they win. They put in their third-string guy, they win. What do you mean? McNabb’s been out since the middle of November. They still won.”

And that’s a good point. You know, what I respond to, and I must confess, this is affecting me with the Eagles: Every year the sports media picks somebody to profile seemingly every week. One year, it’s Keyshawn Johnson. The next year, it’s Junior Seau. The next year, it’s Warren Sapp. Well, no, every year, it’s Warren Sapp. This year, it’s been Donovan McNabb. Donovan McNabb this. Donovan McNabb that. There are, as the Hutch said, ten other guys on that offense, and you never hear about them …

Adam: yeah, I mean …

Rush: … it kind of, no, look, Andy Reid, I have to tell you this, you talk about respect, I think Andy Reid is one of the most smart, one of the smartest coaches, patient coaches in the league. He’s not flamboyant. He doesn’t toot his own horn. I have a lot of respect for him. He’s from the old Mike Holmgren Green Bay days, with Mariucci and all that.
But you’re right. The Eagles, there’s no doubting their class. There’s no doubting they’re a great football team. I just have, it’s sort of like, when the media goes ga-ga, ga-ga, ga-ga over a team, I just have this natural reaction to oppose it, simply because I don’t believe in going ga-ga over anything.

Adam: Well, first of all, Michael Vick, I’m sorry Mike Vick, has received more attention than McNabb this year. That may be because of McNabb’s injuries, but he’s certainly more overrated. And let’s keep in mind that, no matter how much he dances around and how much something is shown on SportsCenter, a 15-yard gain is a 15-yard gain, and that’s often what he gets. And a screen pass to Duce Staley may not look as much, look as beautiful, but it’s get the same thing accomplished. He throws about 130 yards a game, and yet the media is going ga-ga off …

Rush: Noooo …

Adam: … well, he did last week.

Rush: 154 yards is his average. He throws 154 yards average a game. But, you know, the thing … My wife has a good point about Vick. I’m so lucky to have a wife who loves football.

Adam: You are.

Rush: You don’t know … She said, after watching the Green Bay game … she said “You know, I have a bad feeling about the Falcons down the line. Not this year so much.”

She said, “After a while, the offensive line for the Falcons is gonna figure, ‘This guy, their quarterback, can escape anything. So why even block? Why even go to work? This quarterback can get out of all kinds of jams; they can’t tackle him. So what the hell?’”

Now, that’s, I would have never thought of that. But if you do go to the line and you’re confident that you’ve got this superman back there who can escape anything, who cares if you miss a block now and then. Who knows? It could be …

Adam: Well …

Rush: I don’t know, but, to me, it was something interesting to think about. I know what you’re saying, all this press attention Vick gets, and the reason is because, in terms of being an athlete, there’s nobody like him in the NFL.

Adam: Oh, he’s great. No doubt, no doubt.

Rush: … literally nobody like him. Vick is what they say about McNabb, if you ask me. McNabb runs in slow motion compared to Vick. Not to put McNabb down, don’t misunderstand, but they both deserve attention. I think the Falcons match up well with them, I just do.

Adam: Well, let’s keep in mind that, give credit to Vick. Brian Finneran and Shawn Jefferson are not exactly Charlie Joiner, John Jefferson and Kellen Winslow there. So they have to protect a little more, and that’s often why he has to run. Most teams have a lot more adequate receivers.

Rush: Yeah, that’s true, that’s true.

Adam: Rush, I wanted to ask …

Rush: Quickly. One more point, then I gotta go.

Adam: I want to read a little poem.

Fans have nothing to fear in South Philly.
Vick and his crew will look just silly.
We’ll be screaming in delight
When we shut ‘em down Saturday night
In weather entirely too chilly.

Rush: Well, it’s not going to be that bad. It’s gonna be 27 degrees. There’s no precip. But, that’s really great, associating poetry with a team you think is going to the Super Bowl, the Philadelphia Eagles.

The fans in Philly have got to be a little embarrassed, oh my god, our guy calls and starts reading a poem. Who is he? Edna St. Vincent Millay? And who is her team?

Anyway, nah, I’m just kidding. Adam, thanks much.

[McBuff]

My Prediction: McNabe has a huge day against my Skins on Sunday.

Thanks, Rush!

[headsonpikes]

In any event, no matter who's prejudiced, we old-time fans of the CFL's Eskimos would like to thank you all for our years of cheering QB Warren Moon, back in the '80s. ;^)

[blackdog]

My Jesse Jackssssooonnnn alarm is bouncing in the yellow zone right now. Any bets on how long until it goes red and he opens his mouth?