NFL fans, let's leave Rushing to halfbacks. Please help.

Any of you who may post at any football/NFL team forums. Please post a comment about the Rush Limbaugh debacle, even a small response from the many rabid football fans out there may have a successful impact. Here's mine on the Bears forum:

"I just received word that ESPN has hired Rush Limbaugh as a commentator. Now some of you may like Rush, but regardless of anyone's political persuasion I firmly believe that politics (ok except for QB controversies, maybe) should stay out of football. And anyone with such a partisan viewpoint, from either side of the political spectrum, should stay the hell away from commentary. If Rush wants to talk football, he can do it on his own show.

There is enough damn politics all over the news, and everywhere else these days. Football is my escape - I do not want to see it tainted in such a fashion.

I'm writing ESPN on this - I encourage the good fans on this board to do likewise. Even Limbaugh fans have to understand; imagine Bill Clinton being a commentator on MNF."

The great thing is that even self-proclaimed conservatives or Limbaugh fans AGREED with me, for the most part. The worst response I got, was a "wait and see how he does" comment. But even this poster agreed that if Rush doesn't stick to football he should be 86'd.

Thanks for your attention.

John Sickels, a faithful DUer, has a regular column at ESPN.com. Would conservatives be right to demand that ESPN drop his column?

I don't think a persons political view should prohibit them from taking over a non-political commentary position. I frankly don't care either way who comments on sports, because I'm too busy watching the game.

If Rush gets overtly political, then I think he should go. But for now, I don't really care.

Never heard of John Sickels. Everyone has a political viewpoint. Not everyone is a divisive partisan hack like Limbaugh. I would feel that even Carville or Moore would be inapproprite for such commentary, and would certainly inderstand conservatives being up in arms about them, were they to be hired.

Football is one of the places that should be completely devoid of partisan politics. Period. Limbaugh is without question one of the most partisan voices out there. There simply is no room for his fat ass in football.

Speaking of football, his "health" problem, which kept him out of Nam, did not keep him out of college football.

...is certainly intensely political, if ESPN wants him, fine. Again, I don't really care. The only football commentator I can even think of off the top of my head is John Madden, and I can't stand him either.

In a weird twist, most football games are on the Fox Network, and MNF is on ABC or NBC or wherever it is. ESPN gets the Sunday night game and maybe another game here or there. So there's plenty of places to see football without having to deal with Limbaugh.

"The only football commentator I can even think of off the top of my head is John Madden..." There's a reason for that. Coach Madden taught a lot of us the fine points of the game. Of course, I respect your right to dislike him, but that statement is BEYOND my comprehension.

...was during the NFL's 75th anniversary, and players and officals were wearing the 75th anniversary patch that kind of looks like the Superman insignia.

Madden went on to inform everybody viewing if they had any difficulty figuring out who was a player and who was an official, to note which side the uniform the commemorative patch was on (the players had their patches on the left, the officials on the right I believe). Not to note who was wearing a helmet, or a striped shirt, or anything like that. That's where John Madden lost me.

I believe John Sickels writes the "Down on the Farm" column on Espn.com. His articles are about minor league prospects. As for Limbaugh's foray into NFL, he will likely be about as entertaining as Tom Arnold on the "Best Damn Sports Show", which in my opinion is not very.

I wouldn't be surprised if Moore had a problem with football in general. All the violence and the impact on out culture......blah, blah

I've been watching the NFL for 20 years. I'm in three or four fantasy leagues every year. Not only do I question the fat fuck's football knowledge, I'm having serious reservations about whether or not a boycott of ESPN during football season is necessary. That would hurt, but not as much as it hurts to see a network mix politics and sports. Nothing I hate more, well except for Repukes.

thats a sensible approach.

At least now they're federally insured!
;)

from work pressure, political controversy, etc.

I don't want Limblow intruding on that, and frankly I'd feel the same way if they'd taken Al Franken or somebody from the left to do the same job.

I don't usually watch the Sunday night games, so this doesn't have too much of an impact on me - but its a horrible precedent.

Limbaugh only knows how to make a living by hating other people (and picking up male prostitutes). He has failed at every other endeavor. He's proud of that fact. He is living proof that one needs zero talent in this country to make millions. I just hope that the direction ESPN wants to go is not smiley face racism, ignorance and arrogance in the press booth.

He may very well shoot himself in the foot a la Savage or be a complete waste of time like Dennis Miller. Bigger audience, many of whom don't want to put up with any tomfoolery. We're talking sports here and there aren't any liberals or conservatives in the bullpen, only right handed pitchers and left handed pitchers.

I think most DUers understand that this is a pretty hardcore group here...and there's a hardcore counter group in freeperland. The vast number of Americans, however, are in the middle, and they're more involved in the cultural than the political process. It's the culture--not the politics--that made them tolerant of Clinton, just as it's the culture that makes patriotism so trendy right now. Why the Right hates Hollywood and the entertainment industry in general so much is that it makes them feel out of it and square. They primarily want power over all, but many of them, especially the boomers among them who ran scared from the counterculture, want desperately to be seen as hip before they die. They are absolutely right in their belief that the culture leans left, which is why they're trying so hard to both intimidate it and co-opt it (watch and listen carefully to how they more and more try to integrate music, comedy and film refs into their propaganda). No matter what Limbaugh's numbers are, his appeal is still strictly political. This move to ESPN is a serious inroad into the culture, and you better believe that this is not only our turf, but it's the most important turf we own in this society. This isn't about football; this is about Limbaugh reaching out to a whole lot of people who don't listen to him, not because they disagree with him but because they can't be bothered. This gives him a great opportunity to sell himself as a benign, all around guy, and then: "Oh, and if you want to get more of Rush, you can catch him Monday through Friday...blah, blah, blah, or visit his website..." This is a beachhead, folks, and we have to take it out.

You nailed it!

http://espn.go.com/nfl/news/2003/0714/1580436.html

"Rush is a great communicator and a fan's fan," said Mark Shapiro, ESPN's executive vice president of programming and production. "His acute sense of what's on the minds of his listeners combined with his ability to entertain and serve as a lightning rod for lively discussion makes him the perfect fit for this new role.

"We want to give fans a voice, and Rush is the person who can do it."
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It is wholly inappropriate to give this asshole another forum for anything, especially from something as neutral as sports. Even if he does not make any overtly political comments on ESPN, he brings prodigious right-wing baggage with him -- most people know who he is and what he stands for. His presence on NFL telecasts only gives him an opportunity to be an "average guy," which he is anything but, and it would serve to validate his persona. How about having Bill Clinton do some NFL color? He's as qualified as Rush to do so. How would that proposition go over with the right wing? Rush knows about football what I know about the space program. This whole gambit by ESPN presupposes that Rush is the appropriate voice for the average fan. Bullshit.

Disney owns ESPN -- and we should be bombarding Disney with letters, calls, e-mails.

On edit: typos