Pass Rush?

Rush Limbaugh's ill-advised comments about Donovan McNabb and subsequent forced resignation from ESPN’s NFL GameDay in 2003 prompted acclaimed sportswriter Allan Barra to write a piece defending Limbaugh's comments on sports grounds. [Barra later ruefully noted that many of his friends wouldn’t speak to him for weeks.] In any case, Barra and Limbaugh were both wrong regarding McNabb, even sportswise.

Consider that when Limbaugh made his comments, McNabb’s Philadelphia Eagles were 2-3 at that point in the 2003 season. From that point until the Eagles loss in Super Bowl XXXIX, McNabb’s record as a starter was 21-5 [including playoffs, not including games he missed in 2004 with a broken ankle.] Even prior to Limbaugh’s comment, McNabb was 40-20 in games he’d started since 2000, his first full season as the Eagles starter. Plus, he’d taken the Eagles to the previous two NFC Championship games--and would go to the next two. The last quarterback to take his team to that many consecutive conference championship games was Kenny Stabler [five, with the Raiders, from 1973-77. The fact that he lost four of the five didn’t lead anyone to believe he was overrated.] Consider also that McNabb hadn’t been anointed as the coming of the black Johnny Unitas, John Elway, or even Brett Favre—those accolades were reserved for Michael Vick. [If only Rush had picked on him; an "I told you so" might have been slightly more credible.]

Whether Limbaugh’s comments about McNabb truly qualified as race-baiting—and he’s said worse, when discussing issues more salient than sports—was actually irrelevant; he made the mistake of thinking that he could turn a theoretically politically-neutral setting into a forum in which he could project his politics, and he thought either a] he would get away with it or b] become a martyr of free speech. [He also forgot from his previous foray into television that his act didn’t translate as well onscreen]. Instead, he was—to the extent he actually could possibly be—humbled. [The news regarding his Oxycontin addiction that followed not long after McNabbgate didn’t help his image any.]

However, Rush’s politics certainly should not serve as an automatic barrier to his entry to the NFL as an owner. If that were the case, I’d have some serious questions about Dallas' Jerry Jones’ associations with the likes of Saudi Arabia’s Prince Bandar, who touts himself as the #1 Cowboy fan, paints his private jet metallic blue and silver in tribute, and can be seen on the Dallas sidelines in telecasts of Super Bowl XXVII. Does that make Jerry Jones a terror-supporter? Doubtful. [Maybe Rush could use that soundbite in making his case.]

It is equally legitimate, however, for uber-demagogues Al Sharpton and Jesse Jackson to pressure the NFL not to allow him into their ranks, even if their characterizations of him as another Marge Schott are—well—wide right. In America—where pro football is now the quintenssential American sport [if not “pastime”] and the adversarial system governs everything, Limbaugh should be at least grudgingly supportive of a free market of ideas, no matter how intellectually dishonest and vapid [accusations which at time can be lodged at him with some degree of accuracy], and no matter how they affect his pocketbook or business.

He can also do what he does best: take his case to the media and see if they are equally as “desirous that he succeed”.

Failing that, he can try suing the NFL. Good luck with that.