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Sat. Jan 10, 2004

Football Karma Report

Can it be a mere three months since the disparate physical specimens of Donovan McNabb and Rush Limbaugh squared off on the sports stage? My, how things have changed in such a short time.

You might remember, Limbaugh essentially said that McNabb was quite overrated, and only had the quarterback job because of “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.”

Three months later, Donovan McNabb will be leading the Philadelphia Eagles in the NFL playoffs, after winning their division with a 12-4 record. This year he completed 57.5% of his passes for 3216 yards and 16 touchdowns. He also rushed 71 times for 355 yards, and three more touchdowns. A couple of weeks ago he was nominated for his fourth straight trip to the Pro Bowl.

Meanwhile, in the past three months Rush Limbaugh resigned from ESPN over his comments about McNabb, his housekeeper revealed his drug addiction, his lawyers revealed the blackmail money he’d paid her, he spent a month in rehab, and is now facing potentially serious charges.

Who looks overrated now?

You know, I like Dennis Miller, but he was a left shoe on a right foot in the Monday Night Football broadcast booth. Limbaugh was a similar “fish out of water,” without the sharp humor of cultural subreference that Miller at least brought to the table. One half expects FOX to hire Paris Hilton to do sideline reports.

If you’re looking for inane comments during your football broadcast, you don’t have to leave the realm of former players like Terry Bradshaw. There’s no need to bring in Carrot Top (“Look, those players lined up spell out “1-800…”), or Donald Rumsfeld (“I find that kind of piling on to be most unhelpful”), or Michael Jackson (“I only follow the rookies”).

Let football be football. And let those who don’t like football change the channel, rather than try to add “personalities” in an effort to increase “stickiness,” because it ends up becoming an entirely different kind of mess.

Yet still sticky.