Tomasky"s take on Rush/ESPN... very nice!

[chiburb]

Snip:

One goal of the right wing in this country is to politicize aspects of life that had not historically been overtly political. It has politicized faith. It has politicized love of country. It has politicized the very geography of the nation by presenting the notion that some parts of America are more "American" than others. It has, through the rhetoric and propaganda of which Limbaugh has been such a vital instrument, sought to attach a political odor to cultural institutions and individual acts -- with the intent of equating liberalism with effeteness and infirmity, and conservatism with manliness and certitude. Drinking wine and going to the symphony are suspicious. Drinking beer and watching football are genuine.

Well, I do drink wine and go to the symphony. But I like beer, too, and I love football. And I know loads of liberal men, and a few women, who do, too. The game belongs to us. And it belongs to conservatives. One fundamentally healthy thing about sports fandom is that, if I'm sitting in a bar cheering for my Browns and they score a touchdown, I can high-five the guy next to me without a thought of how he voted even crossing my mind. We do not, in this country, make allegiance to a political persuasion a prerequisite for loving or participating in sports, and I think I need only type the words "East German gymnasts" to remind you of what kinds of societies do politicize athletic competition.

ESPN's hiring of Limbaugh starts to change all that. It directly associates a sport with an ideology -- in the form of one of the most viciously ideological people in America, at that -- and tacitly tells people of the other ideology (or no ideology at all) that if they should happen to have any anger about this, well, tough, they just need to repress it. If Mark Shapiro doesn't think that's the case, he should poll his liberal friends. And if this can happen in sports, it can happen in other heretofore apolitical venues. From the network whose hallmark was once explicitly to invite everyone in, one expected much, much better than this.

http://www.prospect.org/webfeatures/2003/07/tomasky-m-07-16.html

[AlabamaYankee]

1. You beat me to it

I just sent an e-mail to ESPN very politely asking them to reconsider their decision (honey's better than bile) and included the link. Tomasky says it better than I could.

[RedSox02]

2. Very Very eloquent point

The right's objective seems to be to create this negative image of "liberal" in the public's mind. If your a Conservative, your a Conservative. But if your a Liberal, somehow that means much more than just a different political philosophy. It means you are this anti-american, idiotic, tree-hugging extremist. ALmost as if there are "Americans" and "Liberals" and you can't be both. COnservatives like real American sports, while Liberals want every game to end in a tie. I once heard some idioitic LImbaugh caller try to make that argument.

[chiburb]

3. Kind of funny in a way...

For decades I've always associated the NFL with the right anyway. I really used to resent Pete Rozelle's flag waving and military fly-overs, etc. I never linked that sentiment to baseball, and basketball was very much the anti-establishment game (all in my mind of course).
I'm not saying I was correct, but to this hiring of Rush seems to confirm what I thought all along...