Some background information by Bob Raissman, and interesting observations by Mike Lupica, both of the NY Daily News...
Jackson was ready
to Rush out door
By Bob Raissman, NY Daily News
In the hours leading up to Rush Limbaugh's resignation from ESPN Wednesday, the network's suits faced another dilemma that could have ripped apart the cast of their Sunday "NFL Countdown" show.
Well-embedded moles report that Tom Jackson, a 16-year ESPN veteran and the most popular member of the "Countdown" cast, would have quit the show if Limbaugh had stayed.
Spies say Jackson was "beating himself up" for not responding directly to Limbaugh's racist remarks concerning Donovan McNabb on Sunday. Limbaugh said he never thought McNabb was "that good" of a quarterback.
"I think what we've had here is a little social concern in the NFL," Limbaugh said. "The media has been very desirous that a black quarterback do well. They're interested in black coaches and black quarterbacks doing well. I think there's a little hope invested in McNabb, and he got a lot of credit for the performance of his team that he really didn't deserve. The defense carried this team."
Spies say that in a short post-production meeting following Sunday's show, which Limbaugh did not attend, not a word was said about his remarks.
But McNabb was upset that none of the "Countdown" crew — Jackson, Chris Berman, Michael Irvin, Steve Young — had directly challenged Limbaugh's noxious spew.
Jackson, who did challenge the football element of Limbaugh's commentary but not the racist part, also caught heat in some media quarters and from some of his friends.
On Wednesday, Jackson told an ESPN executive by phone he was going to attend the "Countdown" production meeting tomorrow, tell Limbaugh what he thought of him, quit the show and fly home.
Jackson's stance was exactly opposite to the one ESPN wanted the "Countdown" cast to take. With outside pressure mounting, management wanted Jackson & Co. to cooperate and help cool things down.
That might explain why Berman went on the record saying he didn't believe Limbaugh's tone or intent was malicious, but "I probably should have looked to soften it."
Spies say Jackson wasn't buying Berman's spin, or the words of ESPN executive VP Mark Shapiro, who rushed to Limbaugh's defense in Wednesday's USA Today.
Even Shapiro had to know there would be major problems if Jackson had quit. If that happened, the rest of the "Countdown" cast members, all close to Jackson, would have been forced to do something.
How would they, or any ESPN suit, be able to justify why Limbaugh, after offending with his remarks, was still on "Countdown" and Jackson was not? How would they explain why Jackson had left the show?
Jackson's colleagues would have either taken an integrity hit, giving tacit support to Limbaugh and his warped perspective, or followed Jackson out the door. If Limbaugh had stayed and Jackson had split, "Countdown" would have been in serious trouble.
Jackson's decision to bolt was a major pressure point leading to Limbaugh's resignation. Well before Limbaugh's McNabb statement, the "Countdown" scene could not be described as a lovefest.
Some staffers were uneasy and angry when Limbaugh was hired. They knew he was capable of stirring the pot in a negative way. So, when it happened, Jackson got burned for not responding to Limbaugh. The fuel for this particular fire was provided by the ESPN executives who hired Limbaugh.
Perhaps that's why Jackson was so angry. After all, it wasn't his idea to hire someone who brought absolutely nothing to the table in terms of football knowledge. No, this was all about having a human train wreck on the scene to juice ratings. The message was clear: Watch "Countdown" or you might miss what Rush said.
Limbaugh is history and Jackson will be back in the studio Sunday morning. What will he say? What will all the cast members say? I'm sure ESPN suits are spending much time figuring out how to handle Sunday's show.
Perhaps they should just ignore this whole Limbaugh thing. Why give this creep, and the pathetic creeps who hired him, more publicity?
Maybe Jackson should look at Young and just start talking football.
After all, that's what this show used to be about.
Originally published on October 3, 2003
http://www.nydailynews.com/sports/story ... 0481c.html
AND....
What's the big Rush?
By Mike Lupica, NY Daily News
ESPN hired Rush Limbaugh hoping he would improve ratings on their Sunday NFL pregame show, and that's exactly what he did. They hoped he would either take viewers away from the other pregame shows, or simply drag some of his listeners into the tent at ESPN. He was billed as a fan, but a fan with all those radio stations. And he sure wasn't there to analyze football games. He was there to stir up trouble.
You better believe Limbaugh was hired to say provocative and even controversial things in a setting where the most provocative and controversial statements are usually about whether the coach of the Rams should start Kurt Warner or Marc Bulger.
Last Sunday, Limbaugh said something provocative and controversial about a black quarterback for the Eagles named Donovan McNabb. The comments cost Limbaugh his job.
He resigned, ESPN was happy to accept his resignation, because they were getting heat from football players, Presidential candidates, civil rights organizations. You can also bet all your football-pool money that pressure was coming from the all-powerful NFL itself. Networks never stand in there too well against assaults like this.
So the way this played out was predictable, and rather uninteresting.
What's a lot more interesting is that Limbaugh lost his job for doing precisely what he was brought to ESPN to do. That is ridiculous and the hysterical reaction to what he said about Donovan McNabb is ridiculous. He was supposed to be a lightning rod. And the very first time lightning hit, he quit and his bosses let him. They all look hypocritical.
If ESPN didn't know what it was getting with Limbaugh, or what might happen, maybe they should have called around.
They didn't hire him for noble reasons and Limbaugh didn't quit for noble reasons. That is just Limbaugh trying to be the hero of his own drama. I don't think what he said was racist, but he wanted race in the conversation. In that way, he knew exactly what he was doing.
Which is what he was hired to do.
And once he said that Donovan McNabb was some sort of media creation because he was black, an amazing thing happened on that set:
Nobody went after him.
Limbaugh was provoking them, they all knew it was a stupid notion, without merit, they should have been talking all over each other to see who got to jump him first. No one did. They all sat it out. Now I read in Bob Raissman's Daily News column that Tom Jackson, upon reflection, decided that not only what Limbaugh said was wrong, it was so wrong Jackson was ready to quit the show if Limbaugh didn't.
Tom Jackson is a good man. But it was a little late in the game for that.
And finally, there is the damage control Limbaugh has tried to do, puffing himself up, as always. He did it for the show, he says.
No, he didn't.
He did it because he couldn't take the heat. If that doesn't make him a hypocrite, it at least makes him a phony.
Again: What he said wasn't racist. Just dumb. Now we're all supposed to believe his fight isn't with McNabb, it's with the media (read: liberal media). The media did this. The media pumped up McNabb, great black hope.
Just speaking for myself, I know I sure missed the memo telling me it was my job to prop up all black quarterbacks.
Now Limbaugh wants his radio audience to believe that one of the reasons he is taking this kind of heat is because he is the big, brave truth-teller who stood up to the media. It is as much a lie here as anything else.
Here is a question for Limbaugh, passionate football fan:
If everybody in the media was carrying McNabb's water, how come we didn't do it for Kordell Stewart in all the years when he was playing quarterback for the Steelers? Why did Stewart get beat up in western Pennsylvania when McNabb is getting hyped in Philadelphia? Why do we have to carry McNabb's water when Steve McNair might be the best and toughest quarterback in the league, and would also be the most charismatic if another young black talent like Michael Vick wasn't around?
Why do I need McNabb so much if I have McNair and Vick in the house at the same time?
Limbaugh is allowed to think these things, and allowed to say these things, without losing his TV gig. Of course he sounds foolish. You can check this, but it isn't the first time. But there really isn't a reason in the world why he shouldn't be working with Chris Berman and Jackson and the rest of them this Sunday. He should be there running his mouth about football the way he runs his mouth about everything else under the sun.
The guys he said he had to quit to protect will probably have a lot to say about him today on television. One week late. Limbaugh? He wants to be the rough, tough, truth-telling conscience of America. But the very first time he gets hit, he quits on his stool. Even some of the Democrats he hates so much can take a punch better than that.
http://www.nydailynews.com/front/story/ ... 0981c.html