There's no liberal bias in football!

Not anymore. Thanks to ESPN, pigskin fans don't have to miss out on an opportunity to bash bleeding hearts on Sundays. That's right, Rush Limbaugh will be joining the team at "Sunday NFL Countdown", ostensibly "to provide the voice of the fan and spark debate on the show".

Puh-leese.

First, if they really want to give fans a voice, why don't they got ask Johnny Sixpack at a sports bar or stadium tailgate for his thoughts on why the J-E-T-S SUCK-SUCK-SUCK. Frankly, few NFL fans outside of the Republican National Committee can identify with Limbaugh beyond blindly assenting to the drivel that spews from his piehole.

Second, most sports shows don't suffer from a dearth of debate. While no one should operate heavy machinery while listening to a couple of ex-jocks pontificate on the relative merits and drawbacks of the 4-3 and 4-6 defenses, I think most would agree that we need someone like Limbaugh to liven things up. I mean, it's not like anyone's stupid enough to tune into "Sunday NFL Countdown", expecting to see Dick Gephardt and Howard Dean going toe-to-toe on prescription drug coverage in Medicare. (Incidentally, this debate hinges on exactly the same arguments as the aforementioned 4-3 vs. 4-6 discussion.)

What ESPN has neatly done is given Limbaugh an opportunity to inject subtle -- strike that: subtlety seems a bit of a stretch for someone of Limbaugh's oratorical talent -- jibes at Democrats during a football show. Congratulations. You've politicized America's most popular sport.

It's a good thing I always mute the TV when I watch football. I always claimed no football commentator had ever said anything insightful, and ESPN has neatly substantiated my claim.

So there, did I blow this sufficiently out of proportion? :P