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Nov. 9, 2005 - Rush Limbaugh Program
36:18
November 9, 2005, Wednesday, Hour #3
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Oops, there we go.
Hi, we're back.
We've got one more hour of broadcast excellence to go, a program that is eagerly anticipated, a program that meets and surpasses all audience expectations.
On a daily basis, I am America's anchor man, Rush Limbaugh, with play-by-play of the news, commentary of the news.
Just one harmless, lovable little fuzzball here.
Telephone number is 800-282-2882.
The email address is rush at EIBnet.com.
Forgive me a moment here, folks.
I'm trying to translate something here on my transcript roster for the audio soundbites.
This has nothing to do with Ted Stevens.
I said, this is unrelated.
But there's, let me, let me, let me, hang on.
Here we go.
Cut eight.
Grab cut eight.
Let's do that because that goes with this story.
Our buddies at Newsmax are back again.
Fitzgerald ignored witnesses who contradicted Wilson.
Special Counsel Patrick Fitzgerald's leakgate investigation is coming unraveled as witness after witness steps forward to challenge a key premise of his controversial investigation.
Was the identity of Joseph Wilson's wife, Valerie Plame, really a deep, dark secret before she was outed by columnist Robert Novak in July 2003?
The number of witnesses saying no has now climbed to four, and none of those witnesses have apparently been interviewed by the investigator Sir Patrick Fitzgerald.
On Tuesday, Wayne Simmons, a 27-year veteran of the CIA, told Fox News, as most people know now, Valerie Plame was traipsed all over Washington many years ago by Joe Wilson and introduced at embassies and other parties as, quote, my CIA wife, unquote.
Last week, Major General Paul Vallelli, Valally, sorry, Paul Valally told ABC Radio's John Batchelor that during a 2002 conversation with Wilson while the two waited to appear on a TV show, Wilson casually mentioned that his wife worked at the agency.
In October 2003, NBC's diplomatic correspondent Andrea Mitchell told CNBC that Plame's occupation, quote, was widely known among those of us who cover the intelligence community and who were actively engaged in trying to track down who among the Foreign Service community was the envoy to Niger.
Andrea Mitchell said, so a number of us began to pick up on that.
And in September of 2003, National Review Online's Cliff May wrote that when Plame's CIA connection was mentioned in Novak's column, this wasn't news to me.
I had been told that Plame was CIA, but not by anybody working in the White House.
I learned it from someone who formerly worked in the government, and he mentioned it in an offhand manner, leading me to infer it was something that insiders were well aware of.
The day his report appeared, Cliff May told Fox News channel's John Gibson, I knew this.
A lot of other people knew it.
In fact, rumors now swirl around Washington that Plame used to take her friends to lunch at the CIA's cafeteria.
So what has Mr. Fitzgerald done with the avalanche of testimony that contradicts his stated claim that Plame's job was not widely known?
Well, apparently nothing.
In the six days since he's gone public, General Valali says prosecutors have yet to contact him.
He was on Hannity and Colms last night, and Colms said to him, did Ambassador Joe Wilson expose his wife himself?
That's exactly what our next guest says.
Joining us now in an exclusive interview that you're not going to see anyplace else, Fox News military analyst and retired Major General Paul Valali, who says that Wilson told him that Valerie Plame was a CIA agent in 2002.
General, where did this happen?
Joe Wilson and I met in Washington in the green room of the Bureau there for Fox.
Met several times in 2002.
And as we talked about our families, he did not say that she was an agent, only that she was employed by the agency.
And as we've since learned, she is, in fact, and has been an analyst in Washington for a number of years.
So that basically is how we know how we discuss that.
So Joe Wilson's telling people, Cliff May didn't tell Reveal his source, but he says, I knew who she was when I knew she was CIA when saw Novak's column.
Andrea Mitchell said she knew who it was.
And Wayne Simmons, the new guy on the scene here, 27-year veteran of the CIA, said to Fox News, as most people now know, Plame was traipsed all over Washington many years ago by her husband and introduced at embassies and other parties as quote unquote my CIA wife.
You know, I thought this was really strange.
You remember the week of special counsel Fitzgerald's press conference, which was a Friday, on, I guess it was the Monday or Tuesday of that week, he was sending investigators, FBI, into the Wilson neighborhood and asking neighbors, did you know that Valerie Wilson down the street, there is a CIA?
Oh, no, I knew nothing about it.
And I remember thinking, this is an odd time after doing all this, after two years of the investigation, when this was the focus of it.
Original focus was who outed this brave, courageous covert agent whose life has been destroyed.
And to be going around the neighborhood asking this at that point, two years after the investigation began, was somewhat curious.
Then you learn that Wilson wasn't called to testify.
None of these other people have been asked to testify before the grand jury.
Now, clearly, what's going to happen here is that Scooter Libby's defense team, I'm sure they've got this dossier already loaded, and you've got witnesses here.
They're going to be called.
I mean, this is going to go right to the whole notion of whether she was covert or not, or the whole notion of how she could have been outed when she already was.
And so that's going to be fireworks time.
It's going to be fascinating to watch this.
All right, let's move on to other audio soundbites.
Let's go to audio soundbite 13 and well, it's 13 through 15.
Because Terrell Owens, T.O., went outside his Mooresville, New Jersey home and issued an apology yesterday.
And this one sounded genuine.
And he apologized to all the people he should have apologized to over the weekend.
And he did so in an effort to get back in the good graces of the Iggles.
So the Iggles would put him back on the team.
But the Iggles put out a statement saying, sorry, too late, too little, and we're not having it.
Now, I've often had this theory out there that no matter what crime you commit, all you got to do is go in there and say, you're sorry, express some remorse.
And for the most part, you will melt hearts and you will soften resistance.
Oh, look, he's sorry.
He said he was sorry.
He's not a bad guy.
We got to bring him back.
We can't punish him as bad as we said he's sorry.
He's remorseful.
In this case, it didn't work.
Well, Brian points out something very, very crucial is normally when you express remorse, you have to cry.
If you just express remorse without crying, it doesn't generally work.
And Owens didn't cry yesterday.
Owens did a tearful, non-tearful, heartfelt apology, but there were no tears.
Had he cried, never know.
I kind of doubt.
I think Eagles are fed up.
But when we come back, we'll play you just a little portion of Owens' apology and then his agent, Drew Rosenhaus, a couple bites.
And then an interesting comment from Donovan McNabb's father.
Quick timeout after all this.
We'll be right back.
You're listening to Rush Limbaugh on the Excellence in Podcasting Network.
We'll get to your phone calls here in an El Gifo, ladies and gentlemen.
But first, here is just a portion, a brief portion of Terrell Owens' apology, which the Eagles and the media have flatly rejected.
Well, I wish we had more of this, actually, because he went on a bit.
This is the nut of it.
Here it is.
To those fans that supported me through these tough times, I thank you for your support.
To every single Philadelphia Eagles fan out there that cheer from me, I want you to know that I'm sorry this has happened.
To you, I apologize.
He went on to apologize to McNabb personally.
He apologized.
He mentioned Andy Reid and Joe Banner, the general manager of the team, Jeff Luria, the owner of the Eagles.
But what was the great thing about being able to hear more of this is it's about him.
He still can't make this.
I'm not going to be able to play anymore.
I'm not going to be able to help my team go to the Super Bowl.
I'm not going to help my team get to the end zone.
I'm not going to help my team get to the pregame meal.
I'm not going to be able to help my team.
I'm not going to be.
I'm not.
I'm not.
I can't.
I want.
I'm sorry.
It's still all about him.
He says, hey, you know what?
I'm a fighter, and I'm not going to change.
And I'm going to believe and do what I think is right, which I've always done.
I've always done what I think is right, and I'm going to keep doing what I think is right.
So, but it was just so me, me, me, and I, I, I, uh, it's like Bill Clinton.
Bill Clinton, Rosa Parks feeling, hey, you know what?
Rosa Parks got nothing on me when I was a nine-year-old.
Even there weren't any public buses in my town.
I still made sure I went to the back of the bus when I found out she was not being let sit at the front of the bus.
It's all about him.
You know, I could have helped.
I could have helped, folks.
I have learned a lot in the last three years.
I could have helped this situation.
The problem is nobody's got the gut to talk to an athlete the right way.
Everybody coddles them.
I'm just agent, I'm sure, came out.
Don't worry, Terrell.
I'm going to get the money from them.
I know how to play these guys.
They can't do without you.
You got them all the way to the Super Bowl, and they almost won it because of you.
Hey, nothing going to let you go.
Nothing, nothing's going to, you just keep.
And they didn't know who they're dealing with in Andy Reid.
They did not know who they're dealing with in Andy Reid.
Some coaches might have buckled, but nevertheless, you can't coddle these people.
You've got to get them in the real world.
They haven't been in the real world since the first day they illustrated above average or superior talent.
These people get coddled from the youngest ages.
I mean, they become prodigies, as you know.
And so this is the first time that the reality has – I mean, Owens runs himself out of San Francisco.
His agent screws up in filing the paperwork that would allow him to become a free agent.
So he's locked into San Francisco.
The league's, okay, we'll let you out.
They don't want him unhappy in San Francisco.
It's bad television.
It's bad everything else.
So then he says, the 49ers said, we're going to trade you to Baltimore.
I'm not going to Baltimore.
I have no desire to go to Baltimore.
I don't have a quarterback in Baltimore.
I'm not playing in Baltimore.
So the 40s, okay, okay, the Eagles.
He goes over, meets McNabb at the Pro Bowl.
McNabb and he get together.
McNabb lobbies Reed to bring Owens in.
McNabb's the reason Owens is there.
McNabb went to Dandy Reed so we can make music together.
This guy can catch passes.
I can throw his premier receiver, blah, blah, blah, blah.
And he just ends up stabbing everybody in the back that ever did anything for him.
I mean, but the league bit over backwards, didn't hold him to the rules of the league a couple times.
How many players get traded to, I am not going?
I am not going.
Some do, some do, but that's my point.
They get coddled, and the better they are, the more they get away with it.
Now, here's the agent.
This is Drew Rosenhaus after T.O. has, without tears, but very sincere.
I thought it was a moving apology.
Here's what the agent said.
Terrell's received a lot of criticism, in my opinion, unfairly.
He agreed with the statement.
He did not come out and try and offend anyone.
He agreed with the comment.
He was asked if he agreed with the statement.
He said, I agree.
There was no intent.
There was no malicious intent.
Terrell's goal this year was to win a Super Bowl as a member of the Philadelphia Eagles.
Stop his goal was to get traded from the first day of training camp because he was unhappy with a contract he himself signed one year ago.
He wanted to get traded or he wanted to get a new contract.
That's what it was, me, Waiver.
That's his goal.
He hopes to do that.
This is very unfortunate that he's been sidetracked.
But hopefully you'll all help us get back on track.
Because the bottom line is, the bottom line is, I don't believe the media has been fair to him.
There are players in the NFL who are arrested, who violate the program when it comes to drugs or substance abuse, and they are not punished as seriously as he has been.
There are players who do not get criticized as heavily by the media who do very significant things.
He hasn't broken any laws.
He hasn't broken any rules.
He didn't follow the directions of his coach.
But, you know, that's a baby's defense.
Well, other people get away with more.
Well, that's not the way it works.
You know, you're not judging what other people do.
Adults learn that early in life.
You learn that there are things bigger than yourself, and you learn that to defend yourself against certain charges, you don't bring other people in.
And this is not fair.
It's not fair.
It's not fair.
Because that's not reality.
Reality isn't fair.
Life isn't fair.
Circumstances are what you have and you play the hand that's dealt you.
And so people are still caught up in childishness.
Rosenhaus, we don't have this on tape either.
Rosenhaus went on, asked all kinds of questions.
He wouldn't answer.
Next question.
Mr. Rosenhaus is Terrell on it.
Next question.
Mr. Rosenhaus's term.
Next, about 12 of those.
12, never answering.
Next question, refusing to answer this.
One more bite from Rosenhaus.
I believe the media has not been fair for him either.
I wouldn't want to talk to them if I were in his position to hear the way that people have ripped him.
He is a competitor.
He is a great competitor.
He gave up potentially his career to compete in the Super Bowl.
He did that as a member of the team.
He did that for the Eagles, for the fans, and now he is getting ripped, called selfish.
This is not about him being selfish.
He's a genuine, honest person.
He never intended to offend anybody at any time.
None of this washes.
I'm just, I'm sorry, folks.
None of this washes.
Terrell Owens, in fact, is who he is because the media has coddled him.
The media has made him bigger than life.
The media has rewarded his stunts.
The autograph after a touchdown with a Sharpie on a football or whatever.
All these dances in the end zone.
They've put him on ESPN and the highlight reel, and they've made him bigger than life.
They've encouraged his actions.
They've inspired him to keep going more and more over the line, becoming more and more outrageous.
They are exactly complicit in this.
I mean, it's one of the big problems.
And then, of course, at some point, as the media is want to do, they will turn on anybody after they build them up and make them huge.
Some point the media will be offended at this outrageous behavior.
Well, hey, who's been promoting it all these years?
Who's been making this guy bigger than life all these years?
It's like Bill Clinton.
The mainstream media builds this guy up.
He's the greatest liar in the world.
Hey, you know, I can keep doing it.
They love it.
Bill Clinton, biggest horn dog in the world.
Why, this guy's got women flocking.
Hey, that just gives me license to keep going out there and playing with women.
The media loves it.
It's not a big mystery here, but here's this is this is to me very interesting.
There's a story here on the foxsports.com website.
Donovan McNabb's father is relieved that Terrell Owens probably won't play for the Eagles again.
And you read it and all makes sense.
You get down to the last two paragraphs.
As for Owens, McNabb said the wide receiver's criticism of his son stung him not as a father, but as a black man.
McNabb's name's Sam McNabb, Donovan's dad, Sam McNabb, said that the wide receiver's criticism, Owens' criticism of his son Donovan, stung him not as a father, but as a black man.
This is what he said.
Within the last month, we have seen a man, Donovan McNabb, who is trying to accomplish something very difficult, to be an African-American quarterback at the top of his game, attacked by someone of his own race.
Sam McNabb said.
That's what really amazes me.
It's like another black-on-black crime.
Those are hurts that create scars that take a long time to heal.
Okay, so apparently Owens could have said this if he was white.
Well, no, we know that doesn't work.
And it's difficult to be an African-American quarterback in the NFL.
Didn't know you could say that.
And it really hurts Sam McNabb that the criticism is not the criticism, but that it's coming from a black guy.
It's like black-on-black crime.
So where's the solidarity here?
So there you have it.
I mean, it's a situation.
They're going to clean it up.
It's been repaired and the Eagles will move on with it.
I think Andy Reid had no choice but to do this.
Quick call here.
Bubba.
I don't have time.
I don't have time.
I've only got 30 seconds, and that's unfair to a caller who, by definition, is a rank amateur.
I, as a highly seized and highly seasoned, and highly trained broadcast specialist, could, of course, say whatever I want to say in 30 seconds.
But it's a bit much to ask a caller to do that.
So I got two callers that want to talk about this 49er or this Eagles thing in Terrell Owens and lots of other people that want to talk about other things.
Sit tight.
We'll come back and continue with all the rest of it.
If you want to be on the program, it's 800-282-2882.
And the email address is rush at EIBnet.com.
Stick with us.
Don't go away.
A man, a legend, a way of life.
All right, Cookie got the part of the Owens apology I was talking about, the me, me, me portion.
I haven't seen the transcript of it, but just over a minute.
And this is, I think, this is before I guess the apology.
This is how sorry he feels for himself.
I would like to reiterate my respect for Donovan McNabb as a quarterback and as a teammate.
I apologize to him for any comments that may have been negative.
To my head coach, Andy Reid, I owe you an apology.
You and I were in a tough spot this year.
I know you were just trying to coach this team, and we did not see eye to eye sometimes.
But on the practice field and on game day, you knew you could count on me to give my very best.
We had a lot of wins together, and I thank you for that.
I respect you as a coach and as a person.
To Joe Banner and Mr. Lurie, I understand that all along you were trying to do what you believe in the best interest for the team, the Philadelphia Eagles.
I apologize to the both of you.
As I said before, this is very painful for me to be in this position.
I know in my heart that I can help this team win the Super Bowl and not only being a dominant player, but also being a team player.
I can bring that.
In closing, I want everyone to know that football is my passion.
I've always given it my all, and I will continue to do so.
All right, so a little bit of both there.
You got the mention of the names of the people he's apologizing to, so you got direct apologies.
But then, you know, back to, you know, it's my passion, it's what I want to do.
I'm ready to come back as a dominant player and as a team player.
Here's Israel in Gainesville, Florida.
You're up next, sir.
Welcome to the program.
Hey, Rush, greetings from a blue county and a red state.
Thank you, sir.
Nice to have you with us.
You know, I would have rather have called to complain about the left-wing liberal media or some other thing.
Sometimes I haven't been able to get through to your show, but I don't want to say that you're exactly missing an opportunity here, but I think it is an opportunity to show how the media is biased and how it's unfair in its treatment.
I mean, the press conference that Rosenhaus was giving was to the media.
He wasn't necessarily addressing himself, you know, I guess to everybody, so to speak, when he was answering those questions.
It was media questions.
And he was telling them that they've been unfair with Tiama.
So how can they come now and ask these questions and make all these allegations?
And they don't treat all their athletes the same way.
I mean, look what happened with Kobe.
He didn't get grilled by the media.
They were trying to defend him, whether it was true or not, even before the trial was over.
And you go down the list, whether they're beating up their wives, whether they're taking performance.
Well, wait, a second.
I want to come back to the state.
They don't take Kobe the same way.
No, wait, wait.
You can do that.
When you come to Kobe, there's a legal case.
His lawyers aren't going to let him say anything.
Anything he says can be used.
No, no, that Kobe's not going to be able to do it.
I mean the media coverage of what happened and how they reported it as opposed to what they're doing with T.O.
And let's be honest, T.O. agreed with a statement, a comment that Irving made.
And I mean, even with what you went through at ESPN, I thought you would have come out and said, look, you know, the media does report what they want.
I mean, and they say it the way they want it to be.
He hasn't broken anything.
Let's go point by point here.
You know, I don't know if you're blaming Michael Irvin?
I mean, Michael Irvin is saying that he said, Michael Irvin.
Michael Irvin's interviewing Owens.
Owens apparently will really only talk to Michael Irvin at the SPM.
So Irvin says, I think the Packers, the Eagles would be better off with Brett Fire, that's what I think.
And Owens, who's already on record as having dissed McNab over and over again, agrees with him.
And then the press comes, he would just agree.
He didn't make a statement.
He was just agreeing.
He would just agree with him.
He was just agreeing.
That's his opinion.
I mean, I can agree with that.
Besides, what he initially said about McNabb was shocked.
Well, what's the difference?
If you're agreeing.
He got tired and got winded or whatever.
Sorry about the phone situation, sir.
These people can't hear me when I'm talking.
If you're agreeing with the opinion, what's the difference in agreeing and agreeing with the opinion?
It's the same thing.
I mean, you know, you kept saying life is unfair and that people get treated certain ways.
Well, isn't McNab bigger than that?
I mean, isn't he secure enough in himself to say, okay, well, that's T.O.'s opinion.
You know, go play for the Packers.
I mean, it's just that it's kind of odd that all this thing has been blown up the way it's been blown up because of something that he's been saying or, you know, him wanting to renegotiate his contract.
And when there's millions of dollars going all the way around, I mean, the bottom line.
But it's not like he, you know, committed a crime, went to a nightclub and stabbed somebody or shot somebody or was caught with drugs.
I mean, in that way, you can say, T.O. has been an upstanding guy.
That's the truth.
You don't hear about those kind of scandals with him.
All he brings on himself, and I'm agreeing that he does bring this on himself, is all the controversy with the stunts he does in the end zone and everything he talks and says.
But the media is being a little biased, a little too biased.
Wait a minute.
Don't misunderstand my point about that.
And I think.
I think, and you're speaking pretty quickly, and it's tough for me to follow you.
And our transcription is about two sentences behind you.
So I'm not sure I'm catching everything you're saying.
It's not your fault.
Don't misunderstand.
It's just, but let's see if I got the basic premise.
You think the media has been grossly unfair to Owens as opposed to giving other coddled athletes far more beneficial treatment when, in fact, some of those athletes have broken the law, have been charged criminally, and some convicted, where Owens is a model citizen in that regard.
He's just rather flamboyant on the field and off.
And so you think there's some treatment here that is, well, unequal?
Right.
And you know what?
I agree 100% that he's been wrong.
I agreed in the team having suspended him.
And maybe it was a little excessive.
I don't know.
But the media, as far as the media is concerned, I mean, you know, Phil Jackson in 1999 made a statement about how you're not going to get an argument from me about that at all, be it the sports media or anywhere else.
There are certain chosen subjects that are going to be given kid glove treatment no matter who they are, no matter what they do.
Well, no, it does matter who they are, and it does matter what they do.
But in this case, for the longest time, the media did coddle Owens.
For the longest time, I think the media is partially responsible for the way he behaves.
I think these, no, wait a second now.
Wait a second now.
Have you been around professional athletes in your life?
Have you worked with them?
No, not personally.
I have.
And I could tell you stories.
And this is not an indictment of them.
I'm just telling you that when the people that are qualified to play professional sports, football, baseball in this country, are so rare.
I mean, there's a reason there aren't a thousand teams.
It's because you don't have that many people who can play at this level.
So when these people, when these athletes display the ability, it's going to take them as far as college or professional athletics.
They are cobbled and they become sheltered from the normal growing and maturing aspects of life during a period of life where you learn those things.
They are not forced.
Wait a minute.
Now, let me finish it.
They're not forced to grow up.
They're not forced to handle things for themselves.
They're not forced to be mature.
They are allowed to get away with this because their talent is so rare.
In addition to that, they have hero worship from the fans.
All of this endorses and encourages this kind of behavior.
Now, some of them are different.
They're not all this way.
They're all individuals like we all are, and they all have differences.
But there's some character types here that I have found quite common, and there are exceptions to it, of course.
But my point is this.
When you have Owens doing these flamboyant things and the media getting their jollies off because it's great television and encouraging more of it by essentially giving him wider and more positive coverage every time he does it.
And yeah, you'll have some discussion groups talk about how I think this is bad and this is good.
But as I recall, the Sharpie incident and all this, even professional football, I like this.
Adding more fun to the game.
Football is a little stale.
This is all good stuff.
Well, Owens watches these shows.
He sees what the effect he's having is and he likes the attention.
That's what part of being a professional athlete is all about.
You love being on stage.
You like the attention.
You do what it takes to get it once you learn what you do that gets it.
And then after a while, they're going to turn on you like they did on him.
Right, exactly.
Yeah, I see that as them giving him rope to hang him with later on.
Oh, you think they do it on purpose?
Yeah, they don't, they don't, you know, maybe they, like you said, they coddle him for a while and then suddenly they turn on him.
When it's played out and it's going to be a bigger story to crucify him, that's what they do.
And I know the whole thing with T.O., and I'm not saying that I'm an apologist for him, but it's just when you read some of these, you know, articles and some of these columns, the way that they're going after him, it's like it's personal with the reports.
It is.
It most certainly is personal.
I've been there.
If he would have criticized the center, Hank Fraley, nobody would have cared.
He wouldn't have been penalized.
The Eagles wouldn't have been upset about it.
Fraley and he would have settled it sometime after practice.
They'd have patched up the blood bandage.
But he attacked McNab, and McNabb has been inoculated.
You don't criticize McNabb in Philadelphia.
You don't criticize McNabb in the media.
You don't criticize McNabb on that team.
You do not do it.
That was his, he targeted McNabb, blaming McNabb.
I'll tell you when this started, is after the Super Bowl, when he got on McNabb for being tired and not being in shape, that's after the season.
That's when this all started.
That's when it all, then he got greedy and wanted his money renegotiated, even though I just agreed to it a year ago.
Then you got the agent getting involved in this.
These guys, you know, they're not innocent in any of this either.
And I'll tell you something.
This is, you know, something nobody's talking about in this.
And I'm just going to take a wild guess.
But if you remember the two things, Owens got upset when he broke his leg in a game against Cowboys last November.
He got upset when McNabb and the rest of the Eagles, it's all right, we can win this without T.O. because, okay, that's what they've got to say.
Owens wanted to say, oh, no, T.O.'s out.
Oh, my God.
Oh, no.
Our chances, all we can do is hope to win this for T.O.
This is the baby in him.
He wants to be the focus even when he's not there.
He wants the team to think they may not win with him not there.
Then they go ahead and do it.
That's why he wanted to get back on the field for the Super Bowl.
Then, this is the real thing, folks.
Then nobody's talking about this that I've seen or heard.
I'm sure there are people in Philadelphia talking about it, but I'm not there and I don't know it.
But this fight that he had with Hugh Douglas last week in the locker room in the training room, do you know what precipitated that?
Douglas walked in there and he said, I know, and Owens is in a training room, I know for a fact that there are people faking injuries in this lock, in this training room.
Well, you remember after the Denver game, Owens announced that he was out for the coming two weeks.
He had sprained his ankle.
Well, nobody had seen any evidence of that injury post-game after it had supposedly occurred.
And clearly, some people thought he was faking the injury.
Now, I'm going to tell you something in a professional locker room, with those guys in football getting beat up to a pulp every week, with guys genuinely and legitimately hurt.
If they do think somebody's faking an injury, that can break the bond more than the criticism of the quarterback or anything else.
I will lay you a dollar to a donut that what really set this going and made this course irreversible was the thought that Owens was faking that injury simply to get attention to himself or to harm the team or because he was still upset that he wasn't being thrown the ball enough or credited enough for their success or what have you.
Mark my words.
We'll be back after this.
Israel, thanks for the call.
Stay with us, folks.
All right, to Philadelphia.
And John, you're next on the EIB network.
Welcome.
Nice to have you with us.
Thank you, Rush Dittos.
I would just like to say, McNabb is not inoculated from the fans in Philly, that's for sure.
Well, no athlete in Philadelphia is inoculated against fans.
I mean, I understand that.
That's what makes Philadelphia a great sports town.
They always say Philadelphia is a great sports town.
It absolutely is.
And boo Santa Claus.
I mean, you can't have a better sports town than that.
Well, I mean, he had to do something wrong in order to get booed, but not to defend the Philly fans.
But McNabb is injured, but he is hurting the team by playing injured the way that he is.
You know, my point is...
No, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no.
You got it wrong.
You got it wrong.
This is one of the most courageous efforts in the history of humanity.
He's playing with a sports hernia.
Most mortals would be in bed or on the operating table, but not McNabb.
You got to get it right on this.
Well, he should have been on the operating table the week before the buy, and he'd be back, you know, before the playoffs would start, fighting for his job.
What we're having here is a fan in Philadelphia criticizing McNabb.
But see, what are they going to do to you?
I mean, they can't ban you from the stadium unless you throw something on the field at McNabb, which you're not going to do.
So I understand the fans, nobody, the fans are not inoculated against criticism, but I'm talking about the media.
This previous caller was talking about the media.
And I'm simply saying, you know, the one guy on that team that is beyond reproach in terms of criticism by the media or by teammates is McNab.
Well, the point with T.O., I think he was set up for conspicuous failure from that slime ball, Rosenhaus, to be honest with you.
He basically, he's not welcome in Philly anymore.
Part of the press conference you didn't hear was a reporter asked Rosenhaus if he wasn't his agent, would this have happened?
And Rosenhaus was like, no comment, move forward.
Next question.
Right.
So, I mean, let's face it, T.O. wouldn't be in the position if Rosenhaus wasn't trying to make a dime off of him.
T.O. is being used in every situation.
They're both idiots that are made for each other.
Well, okay.
See, you're making my point.
How can he be used?
He can be used because he's immature.
These guys all think they need agents, and they do.
They do.
I'm amazed at the number of people that have agents.
Why pay somebody 15% what you can get for yourself?
I'm just totally amazed at it.
I'm just, that's my point, Mr. Snerdley.
He says, you heard Owens.
He's not going to negotiate a contract, but that's what he was doing.
That's what he was doing with all these antics was trying to get a new deal from Training Camp On.
That's exactly what he was doing.
And I'll tell you where this is headed, too.
Rosenhaus, you can call him a slime ball, but he's got a lot of clients.
And what he's doing, the collective bargaining agreement is going to be up in two years in the NFL.
And the players' agents don't like the fact that there's really no guaranteed money other than the signing bonus.
You'll hear about a guy getting, oh, a $49 million deal over seven years when you find out that maybe $8 million of it's guaranteed.
So it's not a $49 million deal.
And there's a push-on to change the whole structure of these contracts.
I don't like the fact that these rookies coming out of college, these first-round draft choices, and haven't even been hit or completed a pass, are getting multiple $19 million in guaranteed money.
So this effort to get a new contract for T.O. was just setting down a marker for the Players Association and for the owners as to what's ahead.
Mark my words on this, folks.
Quick timeout.
We'll be back.
Stay with us.
Okay, let's go to Orlando, Florida.
Mike, you've been waiting a while.
I appreciate it.
I got about one minute, but I know you can do it.
Hi, Rush.
I was just going to say, I'm a former prosecutor, and I think you're using Joe Wilson and all that in the upcoming Libby Trail as a smokescreen, basically, because that's not relevant at all to obstruction or justice or perjury count.
That has nothing to do.
That's not even going to be covered Whether she was a covert agent or not.
Well, we'll see because the prosecutor, despite admitting that no crime had been committed there, kept talking about how outrageous the covert agent had been, outed.
And this is going to help the defense.
The defense is going to call all these people because it may well be that Libby wasn't lying.
It may well be that he just misspoke or had a faulty memory.
We don't know.
But I'm just telling you that the defense is going to do all they can to get these witnesses in because we've only heard the prosecutor's side.
And I know you prosecutors are comfortable going first and you have the presumption of guilt on your side simply by making the charge.
It's just a human bias that we all have.
But the defense hasn't been heard from yet.
And I'm not trying to smoke screen anything.
I'm not making excuses for perjury.
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