Left field
The Reuters global sports blog
Is NFL treating Rush Limbaugh’s bid with fairness?
During his brief stint as a commentator on ESPN’s Sunday NFL Countdown pre-game show back in 2003, conservative radio host Rush Limbaugh was forced to resign after making this controversial comment about Philadelphia Eagles quarterback Donovan McNabb.
“I think what we’ve had here is a little social concern in the NFL. The media has been very desirous that a black quarterback do well. There is a little hope invested in McNabb, and he got a lot of credit for the performance of this team that he didn’t deserve. The defense carried this team,” Limbaugh said at the time.
In his resignation letter Limbaugh said “my comments this past Sunday were directed at the media and were not racially motivated. I offered an opinion. This opinion has caused discomfort to the crew, which I regret.”
In a league where almost three quarters of its players are African-Americans, including the head of the players’ union, Limbaugh’s attempt to become co-owner of the beleaguered St. Louis Rams, in his home state, has been met with swift opposition.
According to ESPN, DeMaurice Smith, the Executive Director of the NFL Players Association, has written an email to the association’s executive committee, detailing his opposition to Limbaugh’s bid. “I’ve spoken to the Commissioner (Roger Goodell) and I understand that this ownership consideration is in the early stages. But sport in America is at its best when it unifies, gives all of us reason to cheer, and when it transcends. Our sport does exactly that when it overcomes division and rejects discrimination and hatred.”
Commissioner Roger Goodell has already cast doubt on Limbaugh’s viability as an NFL owner, saying that “divisive comments are not what the NFL is all about.” Goodell said that Rams representatives told owners at a recent meeting that they haven’t fully committed to selling the team, which is being shopped by Goldman Sachs Group Inc.
UPDATE: Have decided to turn comments off. Sorry about that but felt the debate was generating more heat than light.
Brett Favre: career renaissance at 40?
In one of the most anticipated games of the season, in two rabidly partisan Midwestern states, Brett Favre has gone from beloved icon of the Green Bay Packers to leader of the hated Minnesota Vikings. The dislike reached Hatfield-McCoy proportions Monday night when Favre triumphed 30-23 over the team he proudly represented for sixteen years.
According to the New York Times, the showdown attracted an average of 21.8 million viewers, the biggest audience in the history of cable television, exceeding the 18.6 million who watched the Philadelphia Eagles-Dallas Cowboys game in September 2008 on ESPN.
In an interview to ESPN, Chicago Bears quarterback Jay Cutler said Favre is the best quarterback in the NFC North. “[Favre] played really well,” Cutler said. “I think we kind of would have liked to have seen Green Bay beat him to even out the conference a little and give those guys a loss, but he played fabulous from start to finish. It was a good game.”
These days, the aging Cajun plays with the allure of a fine French wine: the older he gets, the better he gets… at least early in the season. Favre who turns 40 on October 10th has a perfect 4-0 record, and his surgically repaired right arm seems to have new life.
A medical team performed surgery on Favre’s biceps last May, cutting the partially torn tendon to alleviate the pain that prompted him to prematurely announce his retirement for a second year in a row before signing with the Vikings.
Last year, Favre’s season with the New York Jets started well; in week four he threw six touchdowns against the Arizona Cardinals, a personal best and one fewer than the NFL record. By week 12, the Jets had compiled an 8-3 record, including a win over the previously undefeated Tennessee Titans.
However, the Jets lost four out of the last five games of the season including the final game against the Miami Dolphins, who had acquired Chad Pennington after he was released from the Jets to make room for Favre. In those five games Favre threw eight interceptions and only two touchdown passes, bringing his season total to twenty-two of each.
Favre is the wiley old veteran that won’t quit until he is so completely battered that he can’t get up anymore.I believe he will be “laid to rest” on the gridiron at the ripe old age of 90 or 100? I say give it hel* old gunslinger!
There are some really wonderful and rather insightful comments made here with regards to the unfair treatment Mr Limbaugh has recieved at the hands of our way to far in denial liberal oriented media establishment. i don’t suppose that a wee bit of jealousy might be involved with his success allowing him to have aquired the funds necessary to even be part of a group bidding for such a franchise.