NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell says the league is setting a good example when it comes to treating concussions. He says the NFL used caution during Monday night’s game between the Washington Redskins and Philadelphia Eagles in treating Eagles running back Brian Westbrook who suffered a concussion after taking a knee to his helmet. (0:19)
DeMaurice Smith, Executive Director of the NFL Players Association, says NFL players are obligated to set the standard for football of all ages. He says that along with Commissioner Roger Goodell, he believes NFL players should be the model for younger athletes to look up to. (0:18)
NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell says a concussion is a serious injury. He says it is important that athletes at every level understand the need for medical care after a concussion. (0:16)
By Ravi Bhatia, Talk Radio News Service
Senior Fellow for Media Matters Eric Boehlert said that Rush Limbaugh, the conservative talk show radio host, has virtually no chance of the National Football League accepting his bid to purchase the St. Louis Rams, citing the league’s efforts to avoid controversy and Limbaugh’s “incredibly long track record” of “hateful, inflammatory rhetoric about African-Americans.”
“The comments this week from the commissioner, some of the owners, the players, the union reps… make it pretty clear that Limbaugh’s chances are basically zero at this point,” Boehlert said.
In 2003, Limbaugh tendered his resignation from ESPN’S Sunday NFL Countdown pregame show for saying NFL quarterback Donovan McNabb was not as the good as the media made him seem. “The media has been very desirous that a black quarterback do well,” he said in the pre-game show.
“Every couple of years [Limbaugh] sort of ventures out of his protective right-wing radio bubble into the mainstream culture, and the reaction is immediate and unambiguous,” Boehlert said. “Mainstream pop culture, in this case sports, does not want anything to do with Rush Limbaugh.”
Boehlert added that he was unsure if politics and sports can co-exist.
“Having an owner who spends his day talking about the president as a communist or a racist or hates white people … doesn’t go over well in a professional sports community,” he said. “Larger sports culture … has no patience whatsoever with mixing politics and sports. Sports fans don’t want anything to do with politics, they want to leave that stuff outside.”
Eric Boehlert, a Senior Fellow at Media Matters, says that Rush Limbaugh is getting beaten up in the sports press for his bid to buy the St. Louis Rams, a professional football team. Boehlert also mentions that Limbaugh tends to receive “good press” overall. (0:24)
Eric Boehlert, a senior fellow for Media Matters, says that mainstream pop culture, particularly sports culture, wants nothing to do with Rush Limbaugh. (0:20)
