One would hope that if race is going to be injected as a possible explanation why a player is overrated, that player would actually BE overrated. There are plenty of GMs in the NFL who would be MORE than happy to have this overrated player (who has been voted by his peers and fans to the Pro Bowl; apparently they have been fooled by the affirmative action media as well, in Limbaugh's world?). To paraphrase Dallas Cowboys coach Bill Parcells talking last week about Curtis Martin, if they're tired of him, just send him on down here. I'd love to have such an overrated player quarterbacking the Pokes.

Is there a conspiracy or coincidence going on?

Bennett (gambling), Novak (security), Limbaugh (drugs)

Who is going after conservative columists?

john:

They're doing a pretty good job of getting themselves in trouble, eh?

Oh I forgot...Coulter (bad hair)

McNabb is over-rated.

In McNabb's best year, 2001, he was the 7th highest rated passer in the NFL. 15th in passing yardage. 21st in Yards per attempt. 21st in completion percentage. Since the guy doesn't have a superbowl appearance, I guess we have to go on his numbers. His rushing stats aren't here, but they're incorporated in QB rating I think.

I think for Rush to make his point, he should have taken it a step farther. He should have brought up the fact that while McNair is the stud black QB who should be getting Chunky Soup commercials and all the publicity, he's not a good public speaker and I think has some sort of speech impediment or something. The super-likable, personable, and yes, articulate McNabb is the black QB that the NFL wants to project its image, and they have clearly overhyped him, which isn't to say he's not good. (Fans voting for pro-bowls are a product of the hype machine) Have you noticed how in that NFL 10-second montage that shows before/after games, they have like 6 or 7 players in history with faded footage. There's like Payton, Rice, Favre, Unitas, (I'm probably getting some of them wrong, but you know the type of players I'm talking about) and ....McNabb? That's over-hype.

Of all of the big-time sports football is the
most like horse racing and horse trading.

It's absurd that race/genetics couldn't be a reputable topic of discussion. Howe often
do you see someone in the NFL overcome the
cold hard facts of biology? Almost never.

More than that, though, why would anyone need to hype McNabb because he's black? Anyone heard of Michael Vick, Steve McNair, Duante Culpeper, Quincy Carter, or from longer ago, Randall Cunningham and Warren Moon? The idea that black QB's benefit from their own little affirmative action program in the sports media is ridiculous.

Noel Erinjeri

Noel:

Randall Cunningham was routinely said to "make up for his mistakes with his physical abilities". On Monday on the Tony Kornheiser show they were talking about Quincy Carter's bad decision making. Now, Vinny Testaverde is notoriously dim-witted, at least on the football field (remember when Belichick put in an offense where he wasonly allowed to look at the left or the right side of the field, but not both because it was too confusing?), but you rarely hear him spoken of in these same subtley racist terms.

O.J.,

You know the code words...

"Athleticism"
"Natural Ability"
"Mobility"

These are always used to describe
a certain type of entertaining athletic
QB who isn't particularly adept at hanging
in the pocket and throwing the ball downfield.

Disney/ABC/ESPN's failure to groom another Howard Cosell sits pretty well about now. The suits didn't get it. Cosell was an affected boob. Limbaugh is, among other things, a racist ass.

Jimmy:

Except that what Rush said is manifestly true and he stood by it, while Howard, in an unguarded moment, referred to a black player (Daryl Green?) as a "monkey".

It was the Redskin receiver Alvin Garrett (one of the "Smurfs" IIRC), and he said "look at that little monkey go!"

Rush, I love ya, but silly thing to say. Absolutley no dividend in the comment. Pointless.

All across the web today, I've been checking in on comments threads on this topic, hoping to find some invigorating debate about race, media and cultural perceptions. And nearly every one of these damned threads has been hijacked by idiots who turn the discussion into a long, droning football fest. "Well, McNabb's stats in 2001..."

Football is boring. It is lame. And I will never understand why Americans have embraced it as their favorite sport. How depressing.

This reminds me of a similar phenomena in auto racing.

Sarah Fisher, who races in the IRL, is outstanding as far as women racers go. But for a couple years the hype she was getting far exceeded her results.

Clearly, some media outlets with social concern were desirous that a female race car driver do well.

For the record: ESPN, you can't fire me. I quit.

Limbaugh was totally out of his element on ESPN. Why they hired him to begin with is beyond me, it was a worse decision than putting Dennis Miller on Monday Night Football. There is no crossover appeal in the sports world for politicos or rant-comics. Rush has never done very well outside of his home base on radio - he is too brittle a personality to stand up to the back and forth of a tv talk show. He's a bomb thrower with a glass jaw.