Are You Ready For Some Football?

[Dan Gould]

ESPN announced the addition of Rush Limbaugh to their studio "ESPN Gameday" program; Rush is to represent "the fan" and be allowed to interrupt the regular group from a separate perch, kind of like the fan who sits on the couch and says "Mort, you don't know what you're talkin' about!"

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From ESPN's website"

Limbaugh will be voice of fan on ESPN NFL show

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ESPN.com

National talk radio personality Rush Limbaugh will join ESPN's Sunday NFL Countdown to provide the voice of the fan and to spark debate on the show, the network announced Monday.

Limbaugh will appear weekly and make his debut when Sunday NFL Countdown premieres Sept. 7.

"Football is like life and I know life," Limbaugh said in a statement. "I am a big fan of the NFL and now I get to do what every football fan would love to do. I get to take my observations from the living room couch to the ESPN studios and talk football with the best journalists and players in the business."

Limbaugh, who will appear either on the show's Bristol, Conn., set or via satellite, will provide a weekly opinion piece on an aspect of the NFL making news that week, and participate in impromptu exchanges with the analysts and challenging their opinions on various issues. Limbaugh will be allotted three challenge opportunities to use at his discretion during the show.

"Rush is a great communicator and a fan's fan," said Mark Shapiro, ESPN's executive vice president of programming and production. "His acute sense of what's on the minds of his listeners combined with his ability to entertain and serve as a lightning rod for lively discussion makes him the perfect fit for this new role.

"We want to give fans a voice, and Rush is the person who can do it."

As host of the top-rated Rush Limbaugh Show, Limbaugh has established a following of almost 20 million listeners in more than 650 markets worldwide. Limbaugh has written two national bestsellers, "The Way Things Ought to Be" and "See, I Told You So." One of his first jobs was as director of group sales for the Kansas City Royals in 1979.

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Interestingly, the NY Times' TV Sports critic, Sandomir, gives a thumbs up, calling the plan for Limbaugh to interrupt the others " ... appealing. The advantage ESPN has in Limbaugh is his brilliance as a communicator, whether you agree with his politics or not. He is not a former player learning sportscasting on the job; he is an effective entertainer."

So, what do our football fans, left-leaning or not, think?

[Dan Gould]

That's why I put that last option in, John!

[JSngry]

I fear that this "voice of the fan" schtick will get old pretty quick for me. I don't watch pregame to hear "the voice of the fan", I watch pregame to get info. I don't even like it all that much when the regular sports guys do schtick.

Rush says he knows football, but I remember a guest spot he did on MNF a few years ago, and he really seemed in over his head. He really DID seem like a fan, but again, who wants that on a sportscast? At least this will be pregame.

Another thing about Limbaugh is that he seems to be most effective when operating solo, where he can do his "all-knowing" schtick (and schtick is definitely what it is) in complete control of his pacing and his timing. The few times I've seen him outside of that element, like on talkshows or the previously mentioned MNF bit, he seemed a bit at a loss, as if he was trying too hard NOT to be the know-it-all that his fans love. It's a fine line he walks, and if he doesn't bring enough of his trip to the show, he'll be toast. BOR-ing! But if he beings too much, he'll get shot down REAL quick by the pros who KNOW how to work a show like that, and he'll lose all credibility. By the same token, I think Rush "works" much better on radio than on tv. The few times I saw his syndicated TV show, I was struck by how senseless it was - he was pretty much doing his radio show, and the few visuals he put in really broke the vibe.

So this is likely to be a BIG challenge for him - can he work in an ensemble effectively, and can he use more than his voice to do so? I detest the man's politics, but I'll be the first to admit that he is an EXTREMELY effective communicator in his own realm and to his own audience. This smacks to me a bit of the Dennis Miller thing that MNF tried. I LIKE Miller, and I enjoyed his quippage, but when he stepped outside of his niche as cynical wiseass and tried to talk football straightup with Fouts and Michaels, he floundered miserably and came off as a pitiful wannabe.

Sports broadcasting is neither all about sports nor all about broadcasting, it's about both simultaneously, and a shortcoming in either area seems to prove fatal pretty darn quick. Miller knew the game as well as most any "fan", but who cared? Again, who wants to hear somebody tell them what they already know? Rush might prove to an expert about the game to a degree that surprises us all, but I'm inclined to doubt it, since his "voice of the fan" role seems to stipulate a lack of "deep" knowledge from the git-go. So what's he going to do. try and stir up some shit just to be "controversial"? I'm sure there are some who might go for that, but on gameday, I want straight talk about the games, not some contrived controversy. Will Rush prove to be the second coming of Howard Cossell and find a way to be controversial AND relevant? He might, but Cossell paid SOME dues in the sports broadcasting industry before gaining his high profile.

The whole thing smacks of gimmickry to me. It might work, but I'm skeptical. It's got nothing to do with politics, either. I just don't dig the aspect of condescension implicit in hiring a "civilian" to appeal to other "civilians". Leave it to the pros, I say.

Edited July 15, 2003 by JSngry

[catesta]

Makes no never mind to me.

He might suck, and he might not.

It seems everyone is doing a sports show these days that includes some type of celebrity.