Limbaugh's comments stir wrath of sports fans

By Michael Tsai
Advertiser Staff Writer

What Limbaugh said about 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." Associated Press

When the always-outspoken Limbaugh told a national television audience that Philadelphia Eagles quarterback Donovan

McNabb was overrated because the NFL and the media want a black quarterback to succeed, he sounded the opening lines to a drama that has been well rehearsed over the years.

Limbaugh made the remarks on ESPN's Sunday NFL Countdown before the Eagles' win over the Buffalo Bills on Sept. 28. By midweek, even Democratic presidential candidate Gen. Wesley Clark was calling for Limbaugh's telegenic head. Limbaugh refused to apologize but resigned from the show Thursday.

Though relatively mild by the news commentary standards set today by political pundits on the left and right, Limbaugh's remarks were universally rebuked by a sports media and culture highly sensitive to the connotations evoked when white commentators criticize black athletes.

Limbaugh received little sympathy from veteran Hawai'i broadcaster Jim Leahey.

"Rush is a giant egomaniac, and that's why he said what he did — to get people to listen to him," he said.

Leahey said Limbaugh's comments seem to reflect a desire on the part of some white men to hold on to their traditional systems of power.

"Why is it always the white man that goes through that door?" Leahey said. "Is it because they feel their values and institutions are slipping away?"

Particularly explosive are comments that suggest blacks are superior athletically and inferior with regard to tasks that involve complex thinking or leadership.

In 1987, despite a record of progressive minority hiring practices, former Los Angeles Dodgers general manager Al Campanis was fired after he appeared on "Nightline" and told Ted Koppel that blacks "may not have some of the necessities to be, let's say, a field manager, or perhaps a general manager."

A year later, Jimmy "The Greek" Snyder was fired by CBS Sports after he said, in a televised interview on Martin Luther King Jr.'s birthday, "The black is a better athlete to begin with because he has been bred that way. This goes all the way back to the Civil War, when the slave owner would breed his big black to his big woman so he could have a big black kid."

Right or wrong, Limbaugh's remarks were viewed in the same light because they were interpreted as questioning the ability of McNabb to play quarterback — a position considered more complex and cerebral.

In an online poll conducted by ESPN.com last week, 64 percent of 25,873 respondents said they did not find it appropriate for sports media to bring up McNabb's race when discussing his performance as a quarterback. Yet, more than half said that Limbaugh should not have resigned.

Many who defended Limbaugh's right to voice his opinion point to cases in which black sports figures have made what could be considered racist remarks without getting fired or reprimanded.

"When Isiah (Thomas) and (Dennis) Rodman said the same thing about Larry Bird, how come they weren't fined and suspended?" asked Ronald DeLone, 34, a University of Hawai'i student.

In 1987, Rodman, then a rookie with the Detroit Pistons, said the media favored the Boston Celtics' Bird because he was white. Asked to respond, Rodman's teammate Thomas added, "If Bird was black, he'd be just another good guy."

DeLone said, "I think (Limbaugh) was wrong, but the anger and the punishment should be the same for everybody."

In fact, black athletes and black sports analysts often talk freely about perceived racial differences.

Retired NBA star Charles Barkley, who is black, has criticized the Professional Golf Tour for what he sees as institutional racism. At the same time, he's regularly chided white basketball players on their supposed lack of athleticism.

Earlier this year, Chicago Cubs manager Dusty Baker, who is black, was criticized but not fired for saying that black and Latino players play better in hot conditions than white players.

The difference, says UH student Denise Lewis, is that whites remain in a position of power.

"When a white person emphasizes racial differences based on some old, stupid anthropological misconception, it kind of reveals something about the motivation behind discriminating against minorities," said Lewis, who is of black and Asian ancestry. "If a black person says the same thing, they're basically shooting themselves in the foot. I think the difference is really who is in the position of power."