This whole Rush Limbaugh-Donovan McNabb situation is interesting. If you don't know, Rush said the other night on ESPN said that Donovan McNabb of the Philadelphia Eagles was highly overrated, and that it was because people/the media wanted to see a great black quarterback. After a couple days where a controversy looked to be brewing, Rush resigned from the ESPN gig (presumably at the request of his bosses). First off, Rush didn't say McNabb sucks, just that he is not as good as most people think. And after his awful performances to start this season, there does seem to be reason to question whether or not he is worthy of all the praise he's received. I'm still a McNabb fan, but I do think we (including me) prematurely put him in the elite group of quarterbacks. So maybe Rush had a (small) point.
I don't, though, think we overrated him because of race; Donovan is a good, exciting player on a winning team, and by all accounts is a good person too. It was bound to happen that he'd be over-hyped. Rush's comments are reminiscent of what Dennis Rodman said about Larry Bird, that if he weren't white he be just another good player. I'm not putting McNabb in the Larry Legend category of player, but the comparison is apt. Is there any truth to the comments? A bit, in that clearly race helped get each more noticed than they might have otherwise been. Were the comments stupid? Definitely. Were they racist? I don't think so, not in the sense of hating a race or thinking that no one from it can play a given sport or position. I mean, Michael Irvin sort of agreed with Rush after he said his bit. I think if Limbaugh had followed up with something like,"I mean, it's not as bad as the Jason Sehorn situation where everyone wanted there to be a great white cornerback, but it's similar," every football fan would have understood where he was coming from.
Rush shouldn't have resigned. He should have stayed and stood by his comments if he believes them, or he should have said that he was out of line if he doesn't. If ESPN didn't like it, make them fire you. Resigning was the easy way out.
I don't, though, think we overrated him because of race; Donovan is a good, exciting player on a winning team, and by all accounts is a good person too. It was bound to happen that he'd be over-hyped. Rush's comments are reminiscent of what Dennis Rodman said about Larry Bird, that if he weren't white he be just another good player. I'm not putting McNabb in the Larry Legend category of player, but the comparison is apt. Is there any truth to the comments? A bit, in that clearly race helped get each more noticed than they might have otherwise been. Were the comments stupid? Definitely. Were they racist? I don't think so, not in the sense of hating a race or thinking that no one from it can play a given sport or position. I mean, Michael Irvin sort of agreed with Rush after he said his bit. I think if Limbaugh had followed up with something like,"I mean, it's not as bad as the Jason Sehorn situation where everyone wanted there to be a great white cornerback, but it's similar," every football fan would have understood where he was coming from.
Rush shouldn't have resigned. He should have stayed and stood by his comments if he believes them, or he should have said that he was out of line if he doesn't. If ESPN didn't like it, make them fire you. Resigning was the easy way out.
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