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Q&A with Rush Limbaugh The syndicated radio host, 52, will appear weekly on ESPN's Sunday NFL Countdown starting on Sept. 7.Posted: Thursday August 07, 2003 2:35 PM
Limbaugh: Oh, EIB. It changes people's lives. SI: What NFL player has, like you, "talent on loan from God"? Limbaugh: Kurt Warner. SI: What had you previously been doing on Sunday mornings at 11? Limbaugh: Watching ESPN's Sunday NFL Countdown! SI: How many times will you or someone on the set say "Rush for excellence" this season? Limbaugh: I don't think that's going to happen at all. I think my nickname on the set will probably be Pass Limbaugh. SI: When did you become a football fan? Limbaugh: Actually, I played football in high school. Also, when I worked for the Kansas City Royals, every Thursday afternoon we played the Chiefs front office in a touch football game that got pretty competitive and pretty rough. We even got George Brett and Jamie Quirk out there a couple of times after baseball season ended. That was the first time I really got into it. But I was living in Pittsburgh from 1971 to 1975, when the Steelers dynasty was forming and that's what got me hooked on it. SI: What position did you play on the flag football team? Limbaugh: Wide receiver. But everybody was a wide receiver. I really developed as a middle linebacker on pass coverage. SI: What's the best football team you've ever seen? Limbaugh: There's no question. It isn't even close. The 1970s Pittsburgh Steelers. SI: Speaking of your beloved Steelers, you're now competing against Terry Bradshaw, who is part of the studio show on FOX. Does Bradshaw scare you? Limbaugh: Only when I see him. SI: How would Rush Limbaugh, football analyst, rate this trade: Michael Irvin and Rush Limbaugh for Bill Parcells and Sterling Sharpe? Limbaugh: Whoever got Limbaugh and Irvin cleaned up in the deal, and I mean big time. SI: Is a President more like a quarterback or a coach? Limbaugh: The President is more like a coach. SI: So what kind of an NFL head coach would Bill Clinton have made? Limbaugh: [laughs] I think he would have had trouble keeping his eye on the field rather than on the cheerleaders. And he probably could not have kept himself off the field as a player because he'd be trying to impress the cheerleaders. SI: If things go well at ESPN, will we see Rush Limbaugh, SportsCenter host? Limbaugh: You never know. I look at this as just the door opening. That network is waiting to be captured by somebody like me.
SI Limbaugh: Sadly, not enough to satisfy him. SI: Can a team with a liberal philosophy on offense win a Super Bowl? Limbaugh: No, but we have to define the terms. People call me a conservative guy, meaning three yards and a cloud of dust, and that's wrong. That's not what a conservative is in football. A conservative philosophy is you go for it all, you try to change it up. A conservative philosophy in football is wide open and based on the pursuit of excellence, individuals working as a team. The liberal philosophy, if it were applied to football, would be you spend most of your time blaming everybody for why it didn't work. SI: Have you ever gone to the Super Bowl? Limbaugh: Oh, yes. And always in an owner's box. I've been to five or six of them. And I've been to Super Bowls with Bob Hope and Alex Spanos and even Steve Sabol. SI: Did your association with the Royals breed a hatred for the Yankees? Limbaugh: I did have one, but I don't anymore. Those teams in 1976, '77 and '78, we lost to the Yankees every year. SI: Be honest: Have you ever dreamed about lining up Al Franken on a tackling sled and just knocking the crap out of him? Limbaugh: No. SI: Of the athletes you've met, who most shares your political philosophy? Limbaugh: Tom Watson. SI: What do you love about sports? Limbaugh: One of the things I love -- and this is something people don't often consider about sports -- is it's the one thing in life in which you can invest total passion without consequence. Try that with a woman. SI: Will you work out of a separate studio at ESPN? Limbaugh: The plan is for me to be on set but in a separate area with my own camera. But these things always change and I can see myself getting so riled up that I'll have to confront [my co-hosts] face to face on a couple of occasions. SI: So is this a trial run for you to eventually succeed John Madden on Monday Night Football? Limbaugh: No, that's not the objective, but who knows what they'll decide. I think after a few weeks ESPN and the entire sports world will be trying to figure out even more things for me to do. SI: You kicked a winning extra point in a high school game against Carbondale High. Is that your greatest sporting achievement? Limbaugh: As a player, I'd have to say it is. But when I was working for the Royals I brought in some of the best ceremonial first-pitch tossers and some of the best national anthem singers the world of sports has ever known. That's one of the things I had to do. I even had to escort national anthem singers to second base during the playoffs to sing. And I was the best escort the Royals have ever had. SI: So how does Governor Schwarezengger sound? Limbaugh: It's always a fantasy. It's never going to happen. SI: What about President Limbaugh? Limbaugh: It's just not possible. I wouldn't take the pay cut. --Richard Deitsch Issue date: Aug. 11, 2003
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