Media Matters  ESPN and the End of Rational Discourse  The cruel
fate that befell Rush Limbaugh.  By 10.7.03  Send to Kindle  For
once, ESPN's "Sunday NFL Countdown" didn't begin with the usual
happy anticipation of the grand spectacle of controlled warfare
and mighty collisions that is pro football in America. Instead,
Chris Berman, Tom Jackson, Steve Young, and Michael Irvin sat
tensely in their seats. We knew they'd have to address the Rush
Limbaugh-Donovan McNabb controversy, but we didn't know how.
Given the fact Rush had acted to protect the program and his
former castmates by resigning, one might have assumed Berman and
company would give a brief postmortem and apologize for the
uproar. Regrettably, that was not to be the case.  One by one,
Berman and crew explained their deep sorrow that they had failed
to react appropriately to the divisive nature of Limbaugh's
remarks. According to Steve Young, former star quarterback of
the San Francisco 49ers, "We all missed it. I missed it. And the
truth is, ever