Rush calls Mcnabb overrated

[Rod1975]

Originally posted by: madape
Did anyone see Pam Oliver's interview last week with an offensive line (I can't remember which team).

There were four black guys and one white. She turned to the white guy and said: "What are you doing here? Are you the token white guy?"

That was the Carolina defensive line she was talking to. She tried to say it in a light hearted way I suppose but it just came off as idiotic.
What makes it worse is that the other black players laughed at it. If they really respected him they would'nt have had a giggle at his expense.
And I was very offended by that statement. You could tell he was uncomfortable with that label as well.

[dallas_esq]

Rush isn't allowed to say that because he's white. Double standard yes, deal with it.

[FilthyFinMavs]

Originally posted by: madape

That's horseshit. People are wrong all the time and they don't get forced to resign. The issue here isn't whether McNabb is a good quarterback or not. Rush could have been talking about Anothony Wright and people would have wanted him out. The point is that you cannot publicly talk about race, period. It is not an allowable topic of conversation. This country would rather fire someone for making such comments than actually listen to what he/she has to say.

No I disagree. No one have gave a damn if it was Anthony Wright. McNabb is one of the best qb's in the league and he states that he wasn't a good qb from the get go and he is overrated because he is black. Just the wrong choice of words IMO.

[mavs_afroman]

Originally posted by: Big Boy Laroux
madape, personally, i don't think rush is incorrect. but, i can see why the backlash is occurring.

but do you think that the madia overrates him because he's black? He's not the first black or white player to be overrated. At the same time I can see some logic in thinking that that is the reason. Still, I think Rush was being stupid because I don't he knows one way or the other how good McNabb is so his opinion had no basis. Of course, I could be wrong . . . stranger things have happened. [img]i/expressions/face-icon-small-wink.gif[/img]


McNabb is a BIT like Vince Carter. He can be a human hilight real so just watching Sportscenter will make you think that he's an awesome player even though his game may not have been that great.

[FilthyFinMavs]

Originally posted by: madape
Did anyone see Pam Oliver's interview last week with an offensive line (I can't remember which team).

There were four black guys and one white. She turned to the white guy and said: "What are you doing here? Are you the token white guy?"

Was that suppose to be a joke? Rush's comments were not considered to be a joke. I'd have a problem with her saying Brett Favre is overrated because he is white rather than saying someone is the token white guy. There is nothing you can bring up to excuse Rush's comments. They were ignorant and stupid.

[madape]

What? That's ridiculous! Would you be OK if someone were to say "Pam Oliver is obviously the token black woman on the show. We all know why she's there."

I would think that stament would cause much more of a furor than what Rush said.

And if it's acceptable to say racially insensitive things as long as they are jokes, then you'll love this one: A black guy, a chinese guy, and a gay guy walk into a bar.... on second thought, nevermind.

[LRB]

All of this hullabaloo over one man stating his honest opinion? [img]i/expressions/face-icon-small-confused.gif[/img] I mean he didn't use any racially derogitive terms. He didn't say McNabb was a bad quarterback because he was black. Just said that he thought that the media overrated McNabb because, they, the media, wanted to have a superstar quarterback who was black.

So you don't agree with his opinion. That's ok. Nothing wrong with that. But if you get offended over this, you're just way too sensitive IMO. I guess commentators should have the right to express their opinions as long as they aren't politically incorrect opinions.

Rush's insult was to the media and not to African Americans. Maybe that was his mistake as well.

[FilthyFinMavs]

Originally posted by: madape
What? That's ridiculous! Would you be OK if someone were to say "Pam Oliver is obviously the token black woman on the show. We all know why she's there."

I would think that stament would cause much more of a furor than what Rush said.

And if it's acceptable to say racially insensitive things as long as they are jokes, then you'll love this one: A black guy, a chinese guy, and a gay guy walk into a bar.... on second thought, nevermind.

No it's not ok to ay racially insensitive things as long as they are jokes. I never said that. I'm stating why Pam Oliver's statement wasn't front page news like Rush's comments were. Rush was wrong leave it as that. He has made statements like these before so it doesn't suprise me at all and I have just come to ignore the guy. He was making a valid point till he brought race into it. I have no problem with him saying that McNabb is overrated but to state that he was never a good quarterback to begin with and rright after that state he is overrated because he is black is what frustrates people of any color and it should. The guy made another idiotic statement. Nothing new.

[kg_veteran]

I know I'm coming into this discussion late, but I wanted to add a few thoughts.

It seems to me that what most people are upset about is that they believe Limbaugh is just flat-out wrong. They think that if McNabb is in fact overrated, it has nothing to do with his skin color. If that's the case, why is Limbaugh being lambasted like he is?

I remember just two short months ago, the following being a story of striking similarity that received much less national attention:

Link

Baker stands by heat comments
By Chuck Johnson, USA TODAY

Chicago Cubs manager Dusty Baker, dismissing suggestions he made a racist assertion when speaking with reporters about day baseball, stands by his comments that black and Hispanic players are better suited to playing in the sun and heat than white players.

Cubs manager Dusty Baker didn't back down from his comments, but he also won't address it any further after this.

"I'm not playing the race card. I'm telling it like it is," Baker said by telephone Monday.

"What I meant is that blacks and Latins take the heat better than most whites, and whites take the cold better than most blacks and Latins. That's it, pure and simple. Nothing deeper than that."

Harry Edwards, a sports sociologist who served on the faculty at the University of California-Berkeley for 30 years, called the comments "unfortunate and not totally informed" but said they weren't malicious.

"Dusty and I go back a long way, and Dusty by no means is enamored with ethnic or racial stereotypes," Edwards said. "If we didn't have a race issue in this country, that statement would have little or no consequence. But we do have a race issue."

Baker, whose Cubs play a majority of their home games in the daytime, made his comments Saturday.
"It's easier for most Latin guys and it's easier for most minority people because most of us come from heat," Baker said. "You don't find too many brothers in New Hampshire and Maine and the Upper Peninsula of Michigan. ... We were brought over here for the heat, right? Isn't that history? Weren't we brought over because we could take the heat?"

Tony Bernazard, a former major leaguer from Puerto Rico who is special assistant for the players union, didn't think anything was wrong with the comments.

"It's somebody's opinion," Bernazard said. "I don't think anybody can accuse Dusty Baker of being a racist because Dusty Baker is not a racist."

Baker's comments were ripe fodder for the talk shows Monday. Some charged that a white manager would be under fire if he made similar statements.

"If a white manager made those statements, there's no question he would find himself in a group that includes Al Campanis and Jimmy 'The Greek' Snyder," Edwards said.

Baker, one of four African-Americans among seven minority managers in the major leagues, agrees. "But as a black manager, I can say things about blacks that a white manager can't say, and whites can say things about whites that blacks can't say."

Baker said he won't address the issue any further. "People have accused me of being sensitive, but maybe they're too sensitive," he said. "I'm not elaborating on it any more. End of topic. I said what I mean."

If Rush's comments were "unfortunate and not totally informed," where is Harry Edwards now? Why isn't he defending Rush? Surely he likewise believes that Rush's comments weren't malicious.

Arguably Dusty Baker's comments were MORE inflammatory than Limbaugh's comments. Either way, though, Baker was pretty much given a free pass, and most jumped to his defense.

I'm not saying either Rush or Dusty Baker was right. But I do think it's ridiculous for one guy to be raked over the coals by the media while the other is just "giving his opinion."

[mary]

And if it's acceptable to say racially insensitive things as long as they are jokes, then you'll love this one: A black guy, a chinese guy, and a gay guy walk into a bar.... on second thought, nevermind.

Well yeah actually it is fairly acceptable. Many minority comedians build their entire routine on racial material. I don't see anything wrong with that. Its time to get some thicker skin America. Besides, knowing or being politically correct doesn't necessarily make you any "less racist" than the next guy. Its akin to believing you're not racist because you have black friends.


For the record, I AM NOT a fan of Rush. He hasn't exactly been a fan of the feminist cause. But there was nothing inherently racist in his statement.

First he stated that he thought McNabb was overrated. This is just his opinion. Name any famous athlete and there's probably somebody out there willing to claim he is overrated.

Secondly, he feels the media props up black quarterbacks because they want them to succeed. Again, it was just his opinion. He offered no real argument or any anecdotal evidence of why he believes this. Is this a racist comment? Not on its own, I just can't see it.

Maybe Rush is a racist pig, I don't know the guy so I couldn't say. But this episode has been blown way out of proportion.

[OutletPass]

Just two things...who's this "media" that he's referring to.....

Print Journalists ?
Radio talk shows ?
TV analysts and the networks ?

and who in the "media" actually "profits" by overrating Donovan McNabb ?

[Jeremiah]

[Jeremiah]

[Big Boy Laroux]

From the sports guy this week:

While arguing that Donovan McNabb was overrated -- a point also made in this column just last week -- Rush Limbaugh claimed that the media was pushing for a black QB to succeed, so they pumped up McNabb and made him seem better than he really was. This wasn't much different than Isiah Thomas claiming that Larry Bird would be "just another good player" if he were black, was it? Didn't think so. But everyone let Isiah off the hook, while Limbaugh has been barbecued for a solid week. Go figure. I'm not saying he didn't deserve it ... it's just interesting, that's all.

[mavs_afroman]

Originally posted by: Jeremiah

That's how I see it as well, black just happens to be one of the topics. I don't watch McNabb except on soup commercials, and when he's playing the Cowboys, but if he's overrated it's news to me. I think, initially, he was underrated when he came out with the qb class of Peyton, Ryan, Akhili, and someone else, right? And that he was coming from syracuse, not ND, Michigan, UT, UT, UCLA, USC, Penn, yada yada yada, as in, from a team that gets less pub on nat'l tv. Then, at one point, maybe I can see overrated because he came from such a (perceived) deep class.

He's a good qb, isn't he? He just signed for about 100 million over 12 years, right? Isn't that one of the largest contracts in the NFL today? (which would then put it in the running for the largest in the nfl ever) So maybe Rush was also speaking to the fact that the guy has not superbowl rings, but a heckuva lot of money. Or maybe he doesn't understand football and how the qb gets a crapload of blame and credit after every game, deserved or not.

This reminds me of the the government official that made a comment 4 years ago about a "niggardly" person, and got fired, only to be reinstated after the offended figured out the meaning of "niggardly." Rush isn't attacking black people at all; at least, that's how I interpret the statement.

I agree with madape in that talking negatively about race is not really allowed without consequences. Rush is an intelligent man, and he knows that, and he made the statement anyway (that really doesn't seem to speak negatively about race but rather the media).

I've written way too much about an incident I don't have much interest in at all. Geez. The funny thing about it all for me is that I thought this was a joke the first day.

I saw it as more of a strike against the media as well. The reason that I believe that this has been blown so far out of proportion is because it reminds people of the "black qb" fad of years ago. It has progressed to the point where I don't think the media and people, in general, see them as "black qbs". They're just quarterbacks, no different than anyone else. I really can't find anything offensive with the statement, but IMHO I think people see it as a sign of the way Rush thinks. He, emphasis on the HE, probably doesn't just look on the field and see players but he's also very aware of race and you can see how that would have a marked affect on his words.

[madape]

Rush didn't get fired for stating an unsubstantiated rumor. People make unsubstantiated rumors all the time. In fact, that's pretty much what these guys get paid for. No, Rush was forced out becuase what he said offended some people. Why it offended people, I don't know. There was nothing in his comments that suggest he is a bigot, or thinks less of black people at all. He just stated his opinion that one specific black man achieved some success because of his color. There is nothing wrong with Rush's opinion and people shouldn't be offended by it.

[kg_veteran]

Much like people shouldn't have been offended by Dusty Baker's comments or Isaiah Thomas' comments, regardless of whether those comments were correct or whether people agreed with them.

Well, perhaps Isiah's comments were made out of spite. Baker, I think, was just stating an honest opinion without any malice involved.

[Murphy3]

just because you say something stupid involving race doesn't mean that it's a racist comment.

[thebac]

Originally posted by: Jeremiah

Probably all of them, I would assume. Again, I don't follow stories on the guy, but that would be my assumption. Also, by being the spokesman for Chunky's soup seems to give him plenty of attention, since past spokesmen were Superbowl MVPs, superbowl winners, (was it just kurt warner or kurt AND marsharll that were spokesmen?)and sack record holders.

Profiteers? Those guys that do the writing and talking since it's "news." (not that the profits are big), and the guys selling it to us - though it's only a teeny piece of the pie. But those are just assumptions, I'm not in media sales, advertising, or publishing, so I don't know much about it.

Well, the caveat I see in your argument is why do the media want to overrate McNabb? Why not choose a white player b/c a most people in this country (also most football fans) are white and are more likely to empathize with a white person? Wouldn't the media gain much more from that? On a side note, how do they profit from it?

[thebac]

I disagree with people who say that what Rush said was not an insult to McNabb. Yes, Rush primarily wanted to get out his message about the liberal-media-bias, but he also attacked McNabb and indirectly other black quarterbacks. How is it not an insult for Rush to say: Donovan, people say you're a pretty good player. But you know what, you're not. It's just the liberal media who hype you up b/c you're their big hope as a black qb. If you were white, you'd be just another qb.

What he said came in several parts:

a) the liberal media overrate black qb's b/c they want to see black qb's succeed. I.e., the media have an agenda and aren't reporting truthfully b/c of their misguided love for black qb's. The liberal media are so pervasive, they won't even leave sports alone!

b) implicit in his statement is that black qb's who seem successful aren't really; they've just been hyped by the liberal media. That's an insult to all black qb's (well, at least the good ones).

c) there aren't any good black qb's out there--that's the reason the liberal media are "desirous that a black qb do well." Another insult to black qb's.

If I really wanted to go out on a limb here, I'd say that Rush, by implying that there are no good black qb's out there, he doesn't think blacks have the necessary intelligence to play qb. But that's probably a stretch.

I'd say, Rush, stick to talk radio, but maybe he should just check himself into a clinic now.

As for Dusty Baker, who cares about baseball? That's the first I've heard of this (b/c I don't follow baseball), but yeah, it sounds pretty bad. At the same time, I don't know Dusty Baker, but Rush's record on race relations isn't so good, and he said it on national TV. Why shouldn't there be an uproar?

[LRB]

thebac you must be a tabloid reporter because you sure put a lot of words into Rush's mouth that he never said. A good example of how some people are just way to thin skinned and over sensitive. It's like telling your wife or girl friend that she looks great tonight and she get's mad at you because that "implies" at other times she didn't look great. So now you're calling her an ugly hag when that's the farest thing from your mind.

[Simon2]

I guess the idiot didn't look at Dallas. QCar has been ignored and blasted by the media since the beginning. Last time, I checked, he is black too.

[Murphy3]

I know McNabb doesn't have alot of talent around him at the skilled positions....but, he sure seems to get rattled when he's blitzed.