RE: Rush "resigns" from ESPN

[Bob Nelson <raccoonradio@yahoo.com>]

> Wasn't he supposed to be the 'color' commentator?

Err... yuk yuk yuk :)
Last night on the Sean Hannity show (WTKK tape delays
it from its original afternoon airing), guest host
Tony Snow--who acknowledged that Rush got him into
talk radio, etc.-- defended him. He said that in
the old days of the NFL, teams did not use black
players as quarterbacks. Now, the NFL is trying to
make up for its racist past by doing such things as 
insisting that teams interview African Americans for
coaching positions (one team was penalized for
not doing so).

Snow said that many of the best quarterbacks in the
game now, happen to be black (Michael Vick for
example). He also said that Rush's
comment was simply his opinion; namely that the media 
WANTED to see a black quarterback succeed (maybe
as part of that whole making-up-for-racist-acts
of the past deal), but he felt McNabb was over-
rated as a player. Whether he felt all black
players are sub-par or not wasn't brought up.
Snow said that Rush "doesn't have a racist bone in his
body".
(And supposedly a couple of Rush's ESPN co-horts
on the show, who are also black, agreed with his
opinion...)

Limbaugh said, though, that he felt his comments
would make his co-workers feel uncomfortable, 
so he resigned. (He also apologized to McNabb IIRC.)

Supposedly ESPN hired Limbaugh to be a controversial
figure, perhaps serving as the ombudsman for the
common fan. (Oh yes, I'm a typical fan and I
have $100 million too :) But like Michael Savage
and MSNBC, you have a situation where someone is
hired to "be controversial" and get ratings and then
shock, horror, they actually get controversial.
What did they expect?