I don't mean to sidetrack here, but I didn't want to start another topic over this. I just found it interesting.
http://www.cnn.com/2003/ALLPOLITICS/10/06/column.shields.opinion.limbaugh/index.htmlRush Limbaugh does not understand American sportsWASHINGTON (Creators Syndicate) -- We begin with a story that seems especially appropriate this week.
The salesman who is selling Frank a new car says: "This car radio has the very latest feature. It is entirely voice-activated. You simply tell it what you want to listen to, and the station changes. It's a great safety feature, because you never have to take your hands off the wheel to touch the dials."
With his new car and new car radio, Frank is driving down the highway. He says, "Classical," and, in an instant, on comes an FM station playing Beethoven. Next, Frank says, "Country and western," and the songs of Dolly Parton and Loretta Lynn fill the car.
Just then, a guy in a fancy sports car runs a stop sign and cuts Frank off, almost forcing him off the road. "Moron," mutters Frank at the offending driver -- and the radio station switches to Rush Limbaugh.
This has nothing to do with whether Rush Limbaugh was being racially insensitive when he said on ESPN's "N.F.L. Sunday Countdown " show that Philadelphia Eagles quarterback Donovan McNabb was " not that good" and was simply being promoted by an uncritical sports press corps "because the media has been very desirous that a black quarterback do well."
Maybe the show's host Chris Berman was right when he told The Associated Press that he did not think Limbaugh had been malicious in his intent. What I do know for sure is that Rush Limbaugh does not understand that in America competitive sports are probably the most admirably democratic of our public activities.
Whether your ancestors came over on the Mayflower or your Spanish-speaking family arrived two weeks ago makes no difference if you can hit the curve ball. When the game is on the line and you are at the foul line to shoot two free throws, the size of your parents' stock portfolio or your scrapbook full of flattering press clippings entitles you to no special consideration .
You are on your own. Sports are wonderfully egalitarian. In our atomized and stratified society, sports teams still bring people together, as participants and fans, in a common purpose. Golf and tennis -- once limited to the white, native upper-class -- are now respectively dominated by Tiger Woods, the son of an African-American father and an Asian mother, and the Williams sisters ,Venus and Serena, who are African-American.
Does Rush's fuzzy logic lead him to conclude that the remarkable successes of these champions -- on the links and on the courts -- are all the product of a press box teeming with bleeding-heart, liberal-leftist sportswriters? Forget that Donovan McNabb has been selected to three straight Pro Bowls, or ALL-Star games, chosen for that honor by his professional peers, his opponents and teammates in the National Football League.
Overlook that in his first full season as the starting quarterback, McNabb finished second in the voting to pick the league's most valuable player. Ignore that as quarterback he has directed his team to consecutive conference championship games.
But do not pretend that somehow these distinctions were conferred upon Donovan McNabb by some sinister, race-mixing conspirators with press passes College admissions are often influenced by whether the applicant's father and grandfather have been generous alums of the school or her mother is a waitress.
Access on Capitol Hill can be decided by how recently you made a four-figure contribution to the right committee chairman. But all the connections and contacts in the world and the personal intervention of a Cabinet officer are of no help when it's third and long, and your teammates look to you for inspiration and leadership.
That is why sports remain so indispensable to the robustness of our democratic values. It's too bad Rush Limbaugh understood so little about sports.
Thoughts?
