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From the NY Times
Limbaugh Resigns From ESPN's N.F.L. Show
By RICHARD SANDOMIR
ush Limbaugh resigned last night from ESPN's "Sunday NFL Countdown" three days after he made race-related comments about how the news media view the Philadelphia Eagles quarterback Donovan McNabb.
The remarks prompted demands for ESPN to fire Limbaugh yesterday by Gen. Wesley K. Clark, a Democratic presidential contender, and Rep. Harold Ford Jr., Democrat of Tennessee, who said that he had enlisted 20 other House Democrats and had interest from three Republicans to sign a letter to the ESPN protesting the radio commentator's comments.
On Sunday, Limbaugh elaborated on his belief that McNabb is overrated and that the Eagles' defense has carried the team over the past few seasons.
"What we have here is a little social concern in the N.F.L.," he said. "The media has been very desirous that a black quarterback can do well - black coaches and black quarterbacks doing well. There is a little hope invested in McNabb and he got a lot of credit for the performance of this team that he didn't deserve."
Two of the analysts on the show, Tom Jackson and Steve Young, commented on the football part of Limbaugh's remarks, but did not address the racial content.
"My comments this past Sunday were directed at the media and were not racially motivated," Limbaugh said in a statement issued at midnight yesterday. "I offered an opinion. This opinion has caused discomfort for the crew, which I regret.
"I love 'NFL Sunday Countdown' and do not want to be a distraction to the great work done by all who work on it. Therefore, I have decided to resign."
George Bodenheimer, the president of ESPN, said, "We believe he took the appropriate action to resolve this matter expeditiously."
Limbaugh's departure ends a monthlong experiment at ESPN in which the syndicated radio star - on a perch away from the other members of the show's main desk - offered essays about the National Football League and challenged the opinions of Jackson, Young, Michael Irvin and the host, Chris Berman.
While usually tart, Limbaugh's opinions on the program did not provoke much controversy, merely a lot of shouting and laughing on the set. But that changed with his discussion about McNabb. McNabb told The Associated Press yesterday that he wished someone on the show had challenged Limbaugh's view on race. "I wouldn't have cared if it was the cameraman," he said.
He also said that an apology from Limbaugh "would do no good because he obviously thought about it before he said it."
Early yesterday, Limbaugh refused to retreat from his comments about McNabb, saying on his radio talk show that the focus was on the news media, not McNabb.
"All this has become the tempest that it is because I must have been right about something," Limbaugh said. "If I wasn't right, there wouldn't be the cacophony of outrage that has sprung up in the sportswriter community."
Hours before the resignation, Clark wrote to Bodenheimer to say, "Mr. Limbaugh has the right to say whatever he wants, but ABC and ESPN have no obligation to sponsor such hateful and ignorant speech."
ABC, a division of the Walt Disney Company, owns 80 percent of ESPN.
Ford, who is black, said that he had no problem with Limbaugh voicing an opinion on McNabb's quarterbacking skills, "but when he injected race and said the reason we root for him or that we have something invested in him is because he's African-American is asinine. And it borders on his motivation for making the comment beyond his assessment of Donovan McNabb as a quarterback. It suggests to me that he was thinking of things in cruel and nefarious ways."
The Rev. Jesse L. Jackson told Bloomberg News that Limbaugh's remarks were insulting and asked that Michael D. Eisner, the chairman of Disney, and Paul Tagliabue, the N.F.L. commissioner, intervene with ESPN.
"ESPN knew what they were getting when they hired Rush Limbaugh," said Joe Browne, a spokesman for the N.F.L. "Donovan's status as a top quarterback reflects his performance on the field, not the desire of the media."
The rating for "Sunday NFL Countdown" has risen 10 percent from last season, and Sunday's show, Limbaugh's last, was the highest-rated edition in seven years.