{"id":8502,"date":"2014-08-27T17:34:03","date_gmt":"2014-08-27T17:34:03","guid":{"rendered":""},"modified":"2014-08-27T17:34:03","modified_gmt":"2014-08-27T17:34:03","slug":"should_espn_suspend_itself","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/admin.rushlimbaugh.com\/daily\/2014\/08\/27\/should_espn_suspend_itself\/","title":{"rendered":"Should ESPN Suspend Itself?"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Listen<\/a><\/p>\n

RUSH: Should ESPN suspend itself? ESPN has evolved into a company that habitually suspends its employees. One of its most recent employees suspended was Max Kellerman. Do you know why Max Kellerman got suspended? Because he admitted on the air that something like 20 years ago, he shoved his wife in the middle of an argument. They suspended him for two days for some sort of violation. <\/p>\n

And then there was the Stephen A. Smith suspension because Stephen A. Smith<\/a> said (paraphrased), “Well, you know, women might have something to do with the way they get treated by virtue of the way they act.” Uh-oh. Not tolerable. He was suspended. Well, guess what happened? ESPN has this infobabe reporter, and her name is Josina Anderson, and her assignment recently has been the St. Louis Rams.<\/p>\n

So they sent her to Earth City, Missouri, which is outside St. Louis, which is the Rams complex, the training complex. And during a discussion about the first openly gay player in the NFL, Michael Sam, a linebacker for the Rams, a co-anchor back in the studio, Jay Crawford, asked Josina Anderson, “How is Michael Sam fitting in with his Rams teammates so far?”<\/line><\/p>\n

ANDERSON: Defensive tackle Kendall Langford said, uh, that Michael Sam is simply just one of the guys. But another Rams defensive player told me that, quote, “Sam is respecting our space,” and that, from his perspective, he seems to think that Michael Sam is waiting to kind of take a shower, so as not to make his teammates feel uncomfortable. While Langford and linebacker Alec Ogletree told me that they didn\u2019t know that specifically, and also weren\u2019t tracking that.<\/p>\n

RUSH: Okay. So what do we have here? Let the record show that a well-known liberal media outlet — and make no mistake, ESPN is a liberal media outlet — not only reported on a matter of privacy within an NFL team\u2019s locker room, they reported on something rumored to occur in the bathroom\/shower portion of the locker room. <\/p>\n

It had nothing to do with Michael Sam making the team. It had nothing to do with how well or how poorly Michael Sam is playing on the team. It had nothing to do with how Michael Sam really is getting along there. They had to do a story about Michael Sam and the showers, and what is this but a liberal media outlet feeding a stereotype? <\/p>\n

And what\u2019s the stereotype? <\/p>\n

Now, keep in mind, this is ESPN, a liberal media outlet, and that report? The underlying assumption of that report is what, Mr. Snerdley? (interruption) The underlying subject of this report is, “Gay guys are on the prowl in the shower, and because Sam knows that that\u2019s what people think, he\u2019s waiting until all the other players are finished, and then he goes into the shower alone so that nobody thinks he\u2019s on the prowl.”<\/p>\n

What else could this report mean, if not that? <\/line><\/p>\n

So the reporterette says (summarized), “Well, you know, defensive tackle Kendall Langford said Sam is just one of the guys. But! But! Another Rams defensive player told me that, quote, “‘Sam\u2019s respecting our space,\u2019 and that from his perspective he seems to think that Sam\u2019s waiting to kind of take a shower, so as not to make his teammates feel uncomfortable.” <\/p>\n

Well, what… what… what… what would be uncomfortable? There has to be an underlying assumption, right, that the gay guy is on the prowl? A liberal media outlet doing this? How can this be! Why, this is the kind of thing you would see happen on Fox News, right? This is the kind of thing you would expect to happen on The O\u2019Reilly Factor, right? Not ESPN. <\/p>\n

But a liberal media outlet doing this? And then she said, “Well, Langford and linebacker Alec Ogletree told me that they didn\u2019t know this. They didn\u2019t know specifically that Sam\u2019s waiting to take a shower at that they weren\u2019t tracking it,” meaning they weren\u2019t paying attention to it. Well, that\u2019s only half of the report. Here is the rest of what she said.<\/p>\n

ANDERSON: Now, while Langford told me, “Listen, I have not been in the shower at the same time as Michael Sam,” he said that there definitely could be a million reasons as to why that is. He said he could be doing actual work on the practice field. He could be riding his bike. He could be doing extra cardio. But overall Langford said he seems to be adjusting to the life in the NFL and the speed of the game.<\/line><\/p>\n

RUSH: So they continued the speculation at the liberal media outlet, ESPN, as to why Michael Sam might be the last one in the showers. Normally you get credit in the NFL for being last guy off the practice field, but here Michael Sam — from a liberal media outlet — is getting great, great press, great reviews, great coverage, for being the last guy in the showers. And who knows why?<\/p>\n

It could be he is the last guy on the field and he\u2019s doing extra cardio work and he\u2019s working hard with the coaches and he\u2019s trying to get better and that\u2019s why. But they brought it up. Now, what happened is, one of the players, I think a defensive tackle for the Rams… Well, there are so many. It was Jake Long, Kyle Long, I forget which. Howie Long\u2019s son.<\/p>\n

He tweeted ESPN and said, essentially, “Hey, ESPN, this is over. Everybody\u2019s forgotten about this except you.” So ESPN has apologized. ESPN has asked for forgiveness. ESPN said, “ESPN regrets the manner in which we presented our report. Clearly yesterday we collectively failed to meet the standards that we have set in reporting on [lesbian-, gay-, bisexual-, and transsexual-] related topics in sports.” <\/p>\n

Aw no! They let everybody down! <\/p>\n

Oh, this is too much to handle, folks. They failed to meet their own standards. It\u2019s a sports network. They failed to meet their own standards that they set in reporting LGBT-related topics. Well, ESPN might want to start by not treating people according to their sexual preferences. I mean, it\u2019s like skin color. What\u2019s the big deal, right? I thought there was no big deal here.<\/line><\/p>\n

Who was it that said they wouldn\u2019t draft Sam because they didn\u2019t want all the stuff that would come with it? Oh, yeah. That was Tony Dungy, and remember what they said about Tony Dungy<\/a>. Oh, he risked all the credibility he\u2019d built up. So here you have ESPN behaving like everybody that works there would tell you the Tea Party thinks and behaves.<\/p>\n

And once again it isn\u2019t the Tea Party, and isn\u2019t the conservatives, and it isn\u2019t talk radio, and it\u2019s not Fox News that\u2019s behaving in a prejudicial manner. It\u2019s the liberal media outlet ESPN apologizing for being curious about Michael Sam\u2019s showering habits. I was thinking about all those reports. You know, I remember all those reports when ESPN was new about Joe Montana\u2019s showering habits. <\/p>\n

You remember those, right? <\/p>\n

And they were juicy, folks.<\/p>\n

BREAK TRANSCRIPT<\/p>\n

RUSH: You know what I can\u2019t wait for? I can\u2019t wait for ESPN to report from the locker room at the next women\u2019s professional golf tournament. Can you imagine sending a reporter in there and asking about the showering habits of some of the female professionals on the LPGA circuit? I mean, they\u2019ve broken new ground here, so we can look forward to that. <\/p>\n

By the way, I should point out that there are some commentators, media analysts and so forth at the celebrated Washington Post, who want this reporterette for ESPN canned. They want her fired, not just suspended. It\u2019s Josina Anderson. They want her out of there. It\u2019s vicious out there. <\/p>\n

BREAK TRANSCRIPT<\/p>\n

RUSH: I think ESPN ought to go off the air for two days. I think if they\u2019re really gonna be consistent here, they don\u2019t allow their employees to apologize, they make \u2019em apologize, they kick \u2019em off the air for a couple of days, a week. ESPN ought to suspend itself, just to be consistent. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

RUSH: Should ESPN suspend itself? ESPN has evolved into a company that habitually suspends its employees. One of its most recent employees suspended was Max Kellerman. Do you know why Max Kellerman got suspended? 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