RUSH: The NFL circumstance. What happened in Baltimore yesterday is not just what happened in Baltimore is what is fascinating, but the way the media — it\u2019s classic how they don\u2019t understand the average, ordinary American. It\u2019s classic! And we\u2019ll get to it eventually. I\u2019m gonna tell you what happened. Well, the players kneeled, and then they stood for the anthem, and the PA announcer had some — the fans booed the PA announcer and the media doesn\u2019t understand why.<\/p>\n
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They think the fans of Baltimore are reprobates for what they did. They haven\u2019t the slightest idea why the fans booed the PA announcer. The media thinks the fans were booing prayer, and that\u2019s not what was happening. These are the same people that still to this day cannot understand why 10 people, much less 60 million, voted for Donald Trump. It\u2019s classic.<\/p>\n
BREAK TRANSCRIPT<\/p>\n
Now, to the National Football League and particularly in Baltimore. Yesterday was rivalry day for the Steelers and the Ravens. It may be the best rivalry in the NFL at this moment in time. It has lost some of its fervor because the Ravens suck. They\u2019ve had a lot of injuries. I said that trying to be funny. They don\u2019t suck. They\u2019re not the team that they have been the past couple years. The Steelers may not be, either; time will tell. It was still intense, however, and the pregame featured both teams — I think both teams kneeling, some of the Ravens did, and then rising and standing for the national anthem, and yet the fans in the stadium booed!<\/p>\n
And the sports media is beside itself. They don\u2019t understand. They think they know why and they think it was horrible. Now, I want to play for you the fans booing. This does not contain — I don\u2019t believe it\u2019s only — maybe it does. They booed the PA announcer. That much the media understands, but they totally misunderstand why. So let\u2019s listen. It\u2019s 14 seconds here. Let\u2019s see what this actually is<\/a>.<\/p>\n RUSH: There\u2019s no PA in there, right?<\/p>\n PA ANNOUNCER: Thank you. (boing)<\/p>\n RUSH: (laughing) The PA announcer in Baltimore asked the crowd to pray for kindness, unity, equality, and justice. And that\u2019s when the crowd booed. And the sports Drive-Bys don\u2019t have any idea why. They think it is reprehensible. One sports Drive-By said the crowd booed players bowing their heads in prayer. No, they weren\u2019t booing the players. They might have been booing the players if the players were kneeling at any point. They might have been booing the players if the players linked arms instead of hand over heart.<\/p>\n It reached peak hilarity Sunday in Baltimore when the PA announcer asked the crowd to pray for kindness, unity, equality and justice in America. The Ravens dropped to one knee and bowed their heads in prayer, and the audience started booing. This was before the anthem. Before they got to playing the anthem. And the sports Drive-Bys are beside themselves thinking, “Oh, my God, this is horrible, this is horrible. Fans are just so in a frenzy here, they don\u2019t even know why they\u2019re booing. But, boy, when you boo prayer, whoa, that\u2019s it.”<\/p>\n Now, how many of you think, based on what I\u2019ve just told you, what you\u2019ve heard, that the fans were booing prayer? You think so, Mr. Snerdley? Okay, I don\u2019t have anybody on the other side of the glass who thinks the fans were booing prayer. Remember, now, this is Baltimore. All I mean by that is Baltimore is not known for its right-wing conservative Republicanism. So if they weren\u2019t booing prayer, what were the fans booing?<\/p>\n Folks, I happen to think that if you\u2019re at the football game and you\u2019re expecting some kind of controversy over the anthem and the flag and players kneeling or not, linking arms, showing respect for the flag or not. And when it\u2019s time to play the anthem, when you expect the PA announcer to say, “Please rise as we honor America, and here\u2019s so-and-so singing our national anthem,” and instead what you hear is a bunch of left-wing tripe, “Let us pray for kindness, unity, equality, and justice,”<\/p>\n I mean, that is pure left-wing social justice warrior language. And I am convinced that that\u2019s what the fans were reacting to. They resent that intrusion into the game. But the sports Drive-Bys — this proves my point that the media makes the mistake of thinking that everybody thinks like they do, that every intelligent person, that every reasonable person, that every educated person, that everybody who knows what\u2019s what thinks like they do. And so the PA announcer asking for people to pray for kindness and unity and quality and justice in America — now, unity is a red flag anyway.<\/p>\n Unity has become a left-wing term just like diversity has, and it doesn\u2019t mean what they mean. Unity means you agree with them or else. Unity does not mean we are all unified in one patriotic belief. Unity means that you will agree with the left. You will agree with the social justice warrior types, and you will love it or else. Equality, they might as well throw in sustainability in there.<\/p>\n Now, it\u2019s also possible that the fans were booing because there were some players kneeling. I don\u2019t know if there were or not. I didn\u2019t watch. The Steelers said they were gonna stand, but I don\u2019t know if they all kneeled before the anthem was played. But I think fans that are upset at all of this recognize that language as divisive language. It\u2019s not the language of unity. “Let\u2019s all pray for kindness, unity, equality.” That\u2019s, in essence, a criticism. That\u2019s how the left criticizes the country. There is no unity and there is no equality and there is no justice, and that\u2019s why all this stuff is happening, and people resent it. I don\u2019t think I\u2019m wrong about this.<\/p>\n Now, there is a related story. Ravens linebacker C. J. Mosley was not surprised when the hometown fans booed at M&T Bank Stadium. He said he wasn\u2019t surprised while the Ravens took a knee Sunday before the national anthem, but the actions of the crowd he said did show him something. Quote, “Even though it was supposed to be a silent prayer, it was mainly boos. But it goes to show that it has nothing to do with the anthem. We stood up for the anthem because we respect the flag and respect the veterans and everything that got misconstrued with us taking a knee last week.”<\/p>\n And one other bit of news that I want to repeat. Of all people, John King, somebody at CNN, announced on his Sunday show on CNN yesterday that he knows that the owners and the league know that they are losing viewers and attendance is down because of these protests. The league publicly will not admit that. The league has tried to say, well, it was the election and the Trump campaign. Then they tried to say it was Hurricane Irma and they\u2019ve tried to say it was Christmas shopping and it was climate change and it was anything other than that.<\/p>\n They still haven\u2019t admitted why. And attendance was down, ratings were down this past weekend, too. According to preliminary numbers, it was down again. Now, the thing to watch. We\u2019ve already had some sponsors pull out, but they\u2019re regional. The next thing to watch is to see if any of the highfalutin national sponsors of NFL telecasts or of the NFL enterprise, the NFL Network, the NFL website, if they begin, if one pull out or if two pull out, and people are looking at it because they\u2019ve heard rumblings, \u2019cause this is far more serious than people in the middle of it want to acknowledge. The owners, however, according to John King at CNN — and I think this is true only because I think it\u2019s true. Not because CNN\u2019s credibility, fake news all over the place.<\/p>\n But this I think is right. I think they know. And even though they know, they are siding with the players. They\u2019re making a calculation. Do not doubt me when I tell you they\u2019re scared over the choice that they have to make. But they are choosing to be seen siding with the players. How many NFL owners endorsed Barack Obama in 2008? There were a few. Why do you think that is?<\/p>\n If your locker room is 75% African-American, and you publicly are holding fundraisers for, who was it, Romney, or if you are donating to Romney — but if you\u2019re out there supporting Obama, isn\u2019t it gonna make you that much more popular in your own locker room if you\u2019re the owner? I\u2019m just asking it. I\u2019m throwing it out there as a think piece.<\/p>\n But, I mean, it makes sense to me that that would happen. In this case they\u2019re siding with the players because they\u2019re judging that if some fans tune out and don\u2019t show up, that\u2019s temporary, but if the players all unify and don\u2019t show up on a Sunday, then there\u2019s no product, and then there\u2019s nothing to sell, and then there\u2019s no TV money, and then there\u2019s trouble. And I know that\u2019s the decision they\u2019re making. But they know.<\/p>\n Now, note what none of them think is an option. These people are all employees. This is workplace. And apparently — I could be wrong about this. I may not be fully informed, but apparently there isn\u2019t — well, that I know of — there isn\u2019t an owner or an organization which will tell his players, “You\u2019re standing. For the sake of this team, for the sake of this league, for the sake of our business enterprise here, you are standing. And if you\u2019ve got a problem we\u2019ll deal with it some other way.” I\u2019ve had bosses tell me what I can and can\u2019t do all the years of my life, except the last 29 \u2019cause I haven\u2019t had one.<\/p>\n BREAK TRANSCRIPT<\/p>\n BREAK TRANSCRIPT<\/p>\n RUSH: The left outside linebacker the Baltimore Ravens, number 55, Terrell Suggs — his nickname is T-Sizzle — and he said after the game yesterday, “We don\u2019t want anybody to lose the narrative of why we are doing it. We don\u2019t want people to think that we\u2019re disrespecting the flag or the military or anything like that.” Mr. Suggs, that\u2019s exactly what Colin Kaepernick said he was doing, and it is unity with Colin Kaepernick that is driving the actions of the players who are taking a knee or linking arms or not standing for the national anthem.<\/p>\n If you\u2019re not disrespecting the flag or the military or anything like that, what are you doing? Why are you doing it? And this is what I say constitutes everybody backtracking now. I mean, it started out full bore, unity, solidarity with Kaepernick. And then it didn\u2019t go the way the left thought it was gonna go. The left thinks everybody thinks like they do, which means everybody supports the players. Everybody thinks America\u2019s racist. Everybody thinks the cops kill people indiscriminately. Everybody thinks the cops are racists. Everybody thinks “hands up, don\u2019t shoot” happened.<\/p>\n No, most people don\u2019t think any of that and resent having it jammed down their throats when they don\u2019t want any of this kind of politicization of the game they love. So now backtracking, saying, “We don\u2019t want people to think we\u2019re disrespecting the flag or the military.” Why do it, then? With whom are you in solidarity if it isn\u2019t Kaepernick? What are you doing? ‘Cause Mr. Suggs — Terrell Suggs, by the way, is a great player. And he\u2019s an intimidating guy. He\u2019s had two Achilles injuries, and he\u2019s come back from \u2019em.<\/p>\n But all this is doing is hurting the National Football League, which is the objective of the people who support this. I\u2019m not saying the players are trying to hurt the league. They may. Hell, I don\u2019t know. I don\u2019t know what they know and don\u2019t, but I\u2019m telling you, this is hurting the NFL, and that\u2019s the objective. The objective is not to change the cops. The objective is not to raise consciousness. It\u2019s to hurt the NFL.<\/p>\n The left sees the NFL as a problem. It stands in opposition to what the left wants this country to be and known for. The NFL contains all these things that on college campuses are trying to be weeded out. Masculinity, white privilege, in terms of the ownership, patriotism, rugged individualism, men being men. All of these things that the left is trying to scrub and erase as identifying factors for the United States. And whether the players know it or not, they\u2019re unwittingly helping this along.<\/p>\n In addition to 62% saying they\u2019re gonna watch less, 36% said they\u2019re gonna spend less. They\u2019re gonna buy less NFL merchandise. Thirty-two percent have chosen not to attend a game that they otherwise would have gone to. So those people show up disguised as empty seats. Do you think that it\u2019s wrong for players to kneel during the anthem? Seventy-seven percent, “yes.” And yet the left and the sports Drive-Bys and others think the country agrees with the players. If the anthem controversy caused NFL owners and players lasting financial harm, 10% say it would bum them out, 30% say they wouldn\u2019t care, 48% said they would be pleased, if the anthem controversy caused the owners and players lasting financial harm.<\/p>\n Guys, this isn\u2019t tracking in your direction. And your substitute here of kneeling while linking and then standing in time for the entire anthem, it isn\u2019t the solution. All the people in the sports Drive-Bys and some of the player management, the ownership, “Oh, we got a great idea. We can do both.” You can, but it isn\u2019t gonna work.<\/p>\n Here is Henry in Portland, Maine. Henry, glad you called. Thank you for waiting. Hi.<\/p>\n CALLER: Oh, thank you. A couple of quick points. You know, the reason why the Baltimore fans booed is because first the players disrespected the flag and the country. Now they\u2019re disrespecting God because they\u2019re using God as a tool, and that\u2019s the only thing that they\u2019re using it for because I don\u2019t think they really care. And then the other thing is that now high school players and little lad football players were taking knees to protest a couple weeks ago. So now if they take a knee to pray I\u2019m sure the left is gonna be totally happy for football players to pray. And so what\u2019s good for the goose is good for the gander. Let\u2019s see what happens with that. How many football players on the high school level are gonna be suspended for praying but they\u2019re just following —<\/p>\n RUSH: Hey, it\u2019s a good point because you can\u2019t pray at many high school commencements now, remember? That\u2019s not new. That goes way, way back. Can\u2019t pray, \u2019cause not everybody is religious, and you can\u2019t force your religion on people by having commencement prayers. You can\u2019t do a moment of silence at commencement, graduation, this kind of thing. You can\u2019t do it because not everybody there is religious. We know that was it Cahokia, Illinois, a bunch of eighth grade football players have begun emulating the NFL and have been kneeling during the anthem.<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.rushlimbaugh.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/10\/NFLRavens.jpg\")
<\/a>(playing of audio — booing)<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.rushlimbaugh.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/09\/650-092917-Kaepernick.jpg\")
<\/a>Now, Mr. Mosley, I know that you are an intelligent man, but you have to understand the fans are not as dumb as you think. The fans know what these kneelings and the lack of respect is. It is to support Colin Kaepernick, and Colin was very clear about why he was not going to stand and salute the flag and do the anthem<\/a>, because he doesn\u2019t think this country treats minorities fairly and equally. It was an anti-America position that he took. The players now trying to say that this is not about the flag, it\u2019s not about the anthem. It most certainly is. Kaepernick made it about that, and the fans are very much aware of this.<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.rushlimbaugh.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/10\/650-100217-Ravens-crowd.jpg\")
RUSH: Okay. So the Ravens PA announcer asked for the audience to pray for justice, peace, equality, and unity. How many fans remember that this league pretty much kicked Tim Tebow out of it because he prayed in public? Remember that? Tim Tebow would take a knee after a touchdown or after a good play or something and remember how the league got nervous, TV announcers got nervous at this public display of worship? And now look. Now look. We\u2019re asking the fans to pray for not God, no, pray for justice, peace, equality, unity. Why don\u2019t you throw climate change in there? Cover every base.<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.rushlimbaugh.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/10\/NFLLogo-cracked.jpg\")
Yahoo Sports. Yahoo News, Yahoo Sports<\/a>, don\u2019t ever confuse them with people like Ronald Reagan or me. Exclusive poll, Yahoo Finance poll, suggests the NFL has an enduring problem on its hands, not a temporary, but enduring. They interviewed 9,000 people at Yahoo Sports. They found that nearly 62% of 9,056 people told them they plan to watch less pro football in response to the anthem controversy.<\/p>\n
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You know the one Steelers player,