Free Republic

The Washington Redskins have decided to start Rex Grossman over Donovan McNabb at quarterback in Dallas on Sunday just a month after signing McNabb to a much-ballyhooed contract extension, according to multiple media reports, which cite anonymous sources.

Media Bias: Not long after pro football welcomed a convicted felon back on the playing field, Rush Limbaugh is dropped for his opinions from a group seeking to buy an NFL franchise. Won't someone throw a flag? When even Keith Olbermann says back off, you know the politically correct critics of the conservative icon and megaradio talk host's proposed part ownership of the St. Louis Rams are guilty of piling on. The prospect of the leading conservative voice in America participating in the purchase of a football team sent the liberal elites into cardiac arrest and into a frenzied campaign...

The National Review's breezily brilliant Jay Nordlinger recently described the way liberal politics are increasingly injecting themselves into sports reporting. To the list of sports scribes who supposedly should be concerned with balls and strikes but instead use their gigs as platforms to let their liberal flags fly, add Fred Roggin, who does a regular sports spot on Morning Joe. On today's show, Roggin's report on Rush Limbaugh's effort to acquire an interest in the NFL's St. Louis Rams was one long lambasting of Limbaugh that included this glaring misstatement of fact: that Rush was "canned from ESPN for racist...

Barack Obama’s Spanish-language television ad distorting the meaning of old comments by talk-radio superstar Rush Limbaugh is objectionable, but even this ad isn’t as horrifying as the media assault Limbaugh was subjected to five years ago this month. On September 28, 2003, Limbaugh—who had been hired by ESPN to provide a “fan’s perspective” for their Sunday NFL Countdown broadcast—discussed the Philadelphia Eagles’ anemic ’03 start with host Chris Berman and analysts Michael Irvin, Steve Young and Tom Jackson. The discussion quickly turned to Eagles’ quarterback Donovan McNabb’s perceived role in the team’s woes, and the media’s coverage thereof. Limbaugh asserted...

A figure of speech, some say of the quarterback’s “black-on-black crime” remark. Others say it fans flames. Hear what fans have to say. During the lead-up to the world's biggest sporting extravaganza, the Super Bowl, Donovan McNabb fires off a salvo for the world to hear: Terrell Owens' criticism of his quarterbacking skills last season was "black-on-black crime." Black-on-black crime? A careless choice of words, given the daily tragedies in Philadelphia and other cities, or intentionally loaded? Or just a figure of speech? From the streets of Philadelphia, inside barbershops, and all day over the radio airwaves yesterday, people weighed...

by Mark Finkelstein December 31, 2005 - 19:48. When a few years ago Rush Limbaugh suggested that the media, hoping for a black-quarterback success story, had over-rated Philadelphia Eagles QB Donovan McNabb, ESPN fired him from its Sunday night football show. Can you imagine what the media would have done to Rush had he dared to employ the classically racial "feets don't fail me now" line? Yet that is exactly what major ESPN personality Chris Berman did a few minutes ago in introducing coverage of this afternoon's Denver Broncos game. He apparently said it vis a vis white Denver Broncos...

PHILADELPHIA -- Donovan McNabb is still taking shots -- the latest from an NAACP leader who criticized the Philadelphia Eagles quarterback's leadership skills and said he "played the race card" in explaining why he no longer runs the ball. J. Whyatt Mondesire, who publishes a newspaper for blacks and is the president of the Philadelphia branch of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, recently wrote that the Eagles' star quarterback failed as a team leader and choked in the Super Bowl. McNabb responded sharply, but Mondesire hasn't changed his stance. "He doesn't get it," Mondesire said Wednesday....

National Football League News Wire The following stories are the most recent transmissions from ESPN.com wire sources Sunday, August 14, 2005Ex-NFL player Robbins arrested on marijuana charge - AP (1:47 PM ET)Panthers, at almost 100 percent, are excited after preseason win - AP (1:25 PM ET) Raiders assistant taken to hospital after fainting on sideline - AP (2:08 AM ET)UNDATED: yards receiving. - AP (1:39 AM ET) Saturday, August 13, 2005NFL Preseason Capsules - AP (11:38 PM ET) Schottenheimer sticking with errant kicker Kaeding - AP (10:15 PM ET)Panthers retire Mills' jersey at halftime - AP (9:50 PM ET)Without Owens,...

This time, Rush Limbaugh wants to help Donovan McNabb, not criticize him. Limbaugh, who once said the Philadelphia Eagles quarterback was overrated because the media wanted to see a black quarterback succeed, wants to help McNabb and wide receiver Terrell Owens settle their differences on his radio show. "I am here to offer and to assist. I can," Limbaugh said on his nationally syndicated radio show Friday, according to a transcript on his Web site. "I could bring these two guys together. I've been there, folks, and I could do this, and I'm serious in my desire to do it."...

Limbaugh offers to help McNabb, Owens mend fences This time, Rush Limbaugh wants to help Donovan McNabb, not criticize him. Limbaugh, who once said the Philadelphia Eagles quarterback was overrated because the media wanted to see a black quarterback succeed, wants to help McNabb and wide receiver Terrell Owens settle their differences on his radio show. "I am here to offer and to assist. I can," Limbaugh said on his nationally syndicated radio show Friday, according to a transcript on his Web site. "I could bring these two guys together. I've been there, folks, and I could do this, and...

DONOVAN McNABB defended his turf yesterday.The Eagles' quarterback defended his leadership style and his play on that much-debated final scoring drive of the Super Bowl. The message was emphatic, and it drew support from teammates, on the first day of the first minicamp since the team's 24-21 loss to New England in Super Bowl XXXIX."I wasn't tired," McNabb said, addressing Philadelphia-area reporters for the first time since that frantic evening in Jacksonville. "Whatever comments have been made, I don't know if it was directed toward me or whatever... I don't play games in the media. If someone has a problem...

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. -- The Patriots knew Donovan McNabb couldn't beat them with his arm in Super Bowl XXXIX. But they did suspect McNabb could beat his own team with it. He complied. Sunday night, McNabb cobbled together a mishmash of inaccuracy, indecisiveness, inconsistency and ineptitude. If he merely played OK, the Eagles might have pulled the upset over the Patriots. But OK was too tall an order. The statistics tell a tale of a valiant effort by the Philadelphia quarterback -- 30-for-51 for 357 yards with three touchdowns. But the three picks he threw -- one to Tedy Bruschi during...

Saturday, January 22, 2005, 12:00 A.M. Pacific NFL Blacks at QB? No big deal By Greg Bishop Seattle Times staff reporter Wherever Warren Moon went, death threats and hate mail and racism were never far behind. The reasons for it were at once simple and complex, ignorant and prevalent, a dark side of American sports culture that somehow missed the civil rights movement. Warren Moon is black. He played quarterback. And two decades ago, when Moon was starting his legendary NFL career, that was a big, big deal. Something about a black man lining up under center made people uncomfortable,...

(EXCERPT) . . . A year ago, the Eagles were 0-2 and McNabb's quarterback rating was 41.4, which is just about what you get for having a pulse and making your way successfully to midfield for the coin toss. McNabb was dealing with nagging injuries at the time, and was also being nagged by the distracting controversy belched out during the 10 minutes or so that Rush Limbaugh lasted as a nationally televised embarrassment. . . .

Many people argued that Limbaugh's assertion on ESPN last year that McNabb was overrated was not racist. But whatever side of the fence you took on that issue, it could not be denied that the conservative political commentator didn't think much of McNabb's ability to play quarterback. by Bob Brookover --Philadelphia Inquirer

A year ago, the Eagles were 0-2 and McNabb's quarterback rating was 41.4, which is just about what you get for having a pulse and making your way successfully to midfield for the coin toss. McNabb was dealing with nagging injuries at the time, and was also being nagged by the distracting controversy belched out during the 10 minutes or so that Rush Limbaugh lasted as a nationally televised embarrassment.

On May 13, liberal Washington Post columnist Richard Cohen asked why did the Times allow Blair to do such damage? "The answer appears to be precisely what the Times denies: favoritism based on race." On NBC’s Today the same morning, New Yorker magazine media reporter Ken Auletta thought one story angle needed more reporting: "Did their desire, their good desire, to have a more diverse staff, did it somehow contribute to relaxing of the standards they usually apply to reporters?" On CNN’s Reliable Sources May 4, host Howard Kurtz wondered: "This was a promising young black reporter. I wonder...

Rush Limbaugh wasn't right from a conservative standpoint, but from a statistical one.

REGARDING MEDIA / TIM RUTTEN Limbaugh: an act not ready for TV Tim Rutten October 3 2003 [...] Limbaugh's not-particularly-deft and utterly transparent debater's trick notwithstanding, what occurred in this case has nothing to do with sports journalism's purported political correctness and everything to do with what happens when provocateurs of his ilk venture too far outside the ideologically sheltered workshop of talk radio. Over the past decade, the dripping-fang school of right-wing polemic has squeezed every other shade of opinion off commercial talk radio, in large part because station owners would trade their first-born children for a larger share...

(yes, the felons playing in the league have nothing to do with it) Lurie says ESPN to blame for negative portrayal of NFL By Dan Gelston Associated Press Eagles owner Jeffrey Lurie today accused ESPN of "institutional racism" for its decision to hire Rush Limbaugh and for the portrayal of NFL players in the fictional series "Playmakers." ESPN had tarnished its image of being one of the most respected media outlets for NFL coverage for the sake of ratings, Lurie said. The hiring of Limbaugh and the show are examples of "racist potshots" toward the league, he said. "Some of...