RUSH: To the phones. We go to Matt in Baltimore. Matt, I’m glad you waited. Welcome to the EIB Network, sir. Hello.
CALLER: Hey, Rush. Mega dittos. How you doing?
RUSH: Very well, sir. Thank you.
CALLER: Calling from the land of crabs, beer, and high taxes. But I wanted to kind of change the subject and maybe to get you to thinking about something a little bit more fun, and that’s how you think your Steelers are gonna do against my Ravens this weekend.
RUSH: My thoughts on the Steelers-Ravens game. Well, I’m a Steelers fan, as you know.
CALLER: I know, and I’m a Ravens fan, and now you know that.
RUSH: I think the hype — what, the Ravens are favored by two.
CALLER: Right.
RUSH: I think the hype on this game — for those of you not watching the hype and don’t pay attention to the NFL, this is the game of the weekend. I’m going to Dallas for the Giants and Cowboys, but this game at 4:15 on Sunday afternoon, this is the game of the weekend. The AFC North Division is riding on this game plus the two that follow up. If the Steelers win this game, they wrap it up. They’ll get a home field and a week one bye. They’ll end up being the number two seed, it looks like, but they also play Tennessee the week after, so a lot is riding on this game. Baltimore wins this game, and theoretically it’s possible, depending on what happens in the last two weeks, they could end up the number two seed with the Steelers at the wild card at number six.
CALLER: Right.
RUSH: That’s what’s at stake here. Also the Steelers have not won in Baltimore since 2002.
CALLER: You’re right up there, Rush.
RUSH: And that is because the Ravens are the former Cleveland Browns. The Ravens and the Steelers have a rivalry that today is the most bloody, vicious, and genuinely filled with hate of any rivalry in the National Football League. The Baltimore Ravens, on any given Sunday, are a fabulously vicious, mean defense. But when the Steelers show up, it’s the Crips and the Bloods. This game is going to be marked by its genuine brutality, and I think both teams better bring extra stretchers and extra sets of crutches. I think Baltimore is going to win this game. I think that they are. When the Steelers come to town, I think they get so pumped, it’s like they’re shot up with adrenaline before they take the field. They just get so motivated. This is the game for the Baltimore Ravens every year. There’s the Hines Ward factor.
CALLER: Right.
RUSH: The Ravens despise him. They have a lot of respect for him, but they hate Hines Ward. He’s a little guy, he’s in his 11th year. He’s number 86, wide receiver, plays in the slot now for the Steelers, he is the best, without exception, outfield blocker when he’s not the primary target in a pass play. He laid out a Cincinnati Bengals rookie linebacker this year with a legal block that broke the kid’s jaw, out for the season. He has done the same thing to a couple of players. He didn’t break their jaws, but really laid ’em out, and earlier this year Terrell Suggs, linebacker, number 55, said that we have a bounty on Hines Ward. Now, the commissioner said, ‘Oh, no, can’t have this. Can’t. Oh, we can’t have that.’ He said it on the radio, so he had to apologize, ‘Oh, this is just football talk. We love Hines.’ I guarantee you if somebody in the Ravens can take Hines Ward out, there will be a big party thrown. This is a genuine hate-fest. I know some of you people are saying, ‘Come on, Rush. This is just the league hyping the game.’ No, no, no, no. You’re a Ravens fan. You confirm everything I’m saying here is right.
CALLER: As a person from Baltimore, you haven’t said one thing that isn’t actual and factual. The bottom line is, we hate the Steelers. We hate the Terrible Towel. We hate the players. We respect ’em but we hate ’em. And with the exception of Joey Porter (garbled) he’s not there anymore.
RUSH: Hang on. Hang on here. By the way, your cell phone connection is pretty bad. What he’s —
CALLER: (garbled)
RUSH: Ah, ah, ah, ah. Did we lose you? Are you driving, are you moving?
CALLER: I’m staying still and I’ve got four bars.
RUSH: Okay, then don’t move.
CALLER: Okay, I’m not moving.
RUSH: Who is your cell phone signal company, who is your cell service with?
CALLER: Verizon.
RUSH: Who?
CALLER: Verizon.
RUSH: Ah, that explains it.
CALLER: Yeah, I know. Tell me about it.
RUSH: Now, here. What he said was one thing I didn’t say. He said, ‘Ravens fans hate Pittsburgh.’ They hate the Steelers. They hate the players. They respect ’em, except for Joey Porter, but Joey Porter isn’t there anymore. He is in Miami.
CALLER: Right.
RUSH: He is with the Dolphins.
CALLER: No, I understand that.
RUSH: Right.
CALLER: But I wanted to get my score prediction in, too. In a twist of fate, the Ravens are going to beat the Steelers 11-10.
RUSH: (laughing) Well, now, the theory is it will be a very low-scoring game because the last game was 30-27 in Pittsburgh over time with this rookie quarterback that the Ravens have from Joe Biden’s state. He’s from the University of Delaware. He’s named Joe Flacco, and he’s stunning everybody with his poise and so forth as a rookie QB, but this game is expected to be defense. The Steelers are number one; the Ravens are number two. Both teams’ offenses are kind of, ehhhhh, haven’t jelled yet. So they’re expecting this game to be field goals, 6-3 or what have you. Now, watch it all be wrong. Watch it be, you know, 35-28 or something. Who knows, but I think the Steelers lose this one. I think they win the next two. I think the Ravens lose one of their next two. I think the Steelers going to end up number two seed with a bye week and home field advantage as the number two seed, and I think they’re going to beat Tennessee next week. But I think, you get Ed Reed and Suggs and Ray Lewis, oh, man! The Steelers have their bruisers. Their defense is solid, but they don’t have individuals that (laughs) make you think you need to be armed. That’s the best I can say.