Blocking the Rush

Say this for Rush Limbaugh: he's consistent. Switching from politics to sport did not stop the Offensive Rush from making a not-quite-racist comment that anyone could have told him was as insulting as it is undiplomatic. Lucky for him, he had the good sense to quit before ESPN sacked him like he was McNabb without an O-line.

OK, there's a number of things going on here. First, Limbaugh had a point: people really want to see the QB position - which represents the brains of a football team - become less white. QB, like pitcher in baseball and most senior coaching positions in both sports, has been dominated by white guys long after the rest of sport became black-dominated. Among coaches especially, this represents latent racial attitudes that lead to less formal and mental training among black athletes. It's not as if there's active racism at the pro level - but at lower levels, the training just isn't there in a lot of black communities, especially in baseball.

As a result of this real, if minor, racial divide, the media and some fans are happy to see more blacks emerging in those roles. Now, that doesn't mean all the hoopla around McNabb, Vick, McNair et al is racially motivated. Plenty of fans and writers are excited by the style of QB'ing these guys bring to the game: a QB who can run, pass and even receive in a trick play is more exciting than a prototypical arm like Bledsoe. If McNabb were white, there'd be almost as much buzz and overratedness.

Also note that nobody is complaining that whites can't make it at running back. I mean, my poor brother. He's a pretty big kid, strong, good feet, great sports instincts. Think he can make it at RB? Forget it. I'd be willing to bet that even in Brookline (a largely Jewish, white, and Asian town), the best high school football running backs are black. I'm not geneticist, and I can't tell you why it works that way, but it does. Just like Kenyans win the Boston Marathon every year: they're just better at it. Is it thus inconceivable that white guys have better arms and are thus more suited to pitching and QB'ing. Extending that to coaching would be a much riskier proposition, and there the discrepencies in training are most likely the main factor.

In any case, Rush's comments have, predictably, brought down a firestorm of people who have a right to say something - Mr. McNabb himself, members of the sports media (whom Rush also insulted in his comments), and his aghast employers at ESPN. Of course, with a great chance to get a quote in a non-political article, some Presidential candidates have jumped on the bandwagon. Get your name in the sports page? That's better than 12 hours on C-Span!

So see if you can match the comments with the talking head...

"ESPN knew what they were getting"
"cacophony of outrage"
"he obviously thought about it before he said it"
"bigoted and ignorant"
"regret the circumstances surrounding this"
"hateful and ignorant speech"
"insulting"
"asinine...cruel and nefarious"
"absurd and offensive"
"I probably should have looked to soften it"
"a constant reminder that we still have a long way to go in dealing with race"

- Kweisi Mfume, NAACP President
- Rush Limbaugh
- Howard Dean
- General Wesley Clark
- Donovan McNabb
- Chris Berman, ESPN anchor
- George Bodenheimer, Pres. of ESPN
- Rep. Harold Ford, D-Tenn
- Rep. Elijah Cummings, D-Md
- Joe Browne, NFL spokesman
- Rev. Jesse Jackson

Sources: AP article on Comcast, Washington Post article and NYTimes article.