{"id":21789,"date":"2004-01-23T01:01:01","date_gmt":"2011-05-19T07:15:11","guid":{"rendered":""},"modified":"2011-05-19T07:15:11","modified_gmt":"2011-05-19T07:15:11","slug":"love_football","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rushlimbaugh.com\/daily\/2004\/01\/23\/love_football\/","title":{"rendered":"Love & Football"},"content":{"rendered":"
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RUSH:<\/strong> Well, you know, strangely enough, football is a game that most women probably think and feel about the same as you just expressed. My wife as an exception, she loves it, she understands it, she can talk football lingo with me, but most women do like the game because of the tight pants. <\/line> <\/line>CALLER: That helps.<\/line> <\/line>RUSH:<\/strong> See? <\/line> <\/line>CALLER: I\u2019d like to enjoy it with my husband, because we have a marriage made in heaven except for when he turns on football. <\/line> <\/line>RUSH:<\/strong> Wait, wait, let\u2019s talk about that. Wait just a second. If you\u2019ve got a marriage made in heaven except?<\/line> <\/line>CALLER: What?<\/line> <\/line>RUSH:<\/strong> Let me just talk about, forget whether you like or understand football now, let\u2019s talk about your marriage.<\/line> <\/line>CALLER: Okay. What do you want to know?<\/line> <\/line>RUSH:<\/strong> No, no, no, you don\u2019t have to answer these questions, but I\u2019m just going to pepper you with a few here. If you say you have a marriage made in heaven…<\/line> <\/line>CALLER: Just about.<\/line><\/p>\n

RUSH:<\/strong> Except when football comes on…<\/line> <\/line>CALLER: Yeah.<\/line> <\/line>RUSH:<\/strong> A simple question: If all the rest of the marriage is made in heaven.<\/line> <\/line>CALLER: Uh-huh.<\/line> <\/line>RUSH:<\/strong> But you don\u2019t like football.<\/line> <\/line>CALLER: Yeah?<\/line> <\/line>RUSH:<\/strong> It\u2019s on for six hours on Sunday.<\/line> <\/line>CALLER: Uh-huh.<\/line> <\/line>RUSH:<\/strong> Is there something you can do?<\/line> <\/line>CALLER: Oh, yeah. I find plenty to do.<\/line> <\/line>RUSH:<\/strong> Well, then what\u2019s the problem?<\/line> <\/line>CALLER: I just want to enjoy things that he enjoys because I think it would make him happy. <\/line> <\/line>RUSH:<\/strong> Okay, all right, now, that\u2019s a good answer. That\u2019s a good answer. If you want to enjoy these things with him because it would make him happy, cook the food that he\u2019s going to eat while he watches. No, the thing about women and football, I think it\u2019s related to violence, and it\u2019s controlled violence, and it\u2019s contact. And women don\u2019t grow up playing football this way. They watch it in high school and so forth. They don\u2019t understand it at all, but even if it comes to flag football, I mean in the wintertime young boys are praying for snow and rain so they can go play football in the mud.<\/line> <\/line>CALLER: Yeah.<\/line><\/p>\n

RUSH:<\/strong> It\u2019s just something women are not oriented to no matter how hard the feminists have tried they still haven\u2019t been able to do this, and I really do think there\u2019s something cultural in it. To most men, football is a metaphor for their lives. And it is a metaphor for the challenges they face, it\u2019s a metaphor for sticking to it, a metaphor or a lesson for not giving up. Plus, you have to understand what sports is in general. Sports is, this is the great thing about it, sports is Fantasy Island for people who love it. It is an escape from the humdrum of their ordinary daily lives, not to put them down, but everybody has a routine. Sports is an escape, and you have a team. And if your team does well you vicariously identify with it. If your team wins, you feel like a winner. Your team wins, you feel like you\u2019re supporting a winner. Your team wins, you\u2019re with them. When they lose, they\u2019re letting you down and it\u2019s disappointing and it\u2019s sad, but you still stick with them in most cases. But the fact is, when I worked for the Kansas City Royals back in 1979, it was through \u201983. The Royals won their division every year, went to the World Series one year in that period of time. You would not believe the self-esteem the city, the population of Kansas City got from the performance of the baseball team. The town was prouder of itself when the Royals were winning than when they weren\u2019t. And now it\u2019s the same way with the Chiefs. When the Chiefs are winning, the town is just there, they get an identity from it, they associate, it\u2019s Kansas City, or whatever team. And people identify in a whole bunch of different ways with it. But it helps to have played the game. I think also it has roots in competition. You know, men are raised and taught, little boys, to compete from the moment they\u2019re able to walk.<\/line> <\/line>CALLER: Yeah.<\/line> <\/line>RUSH:<\/strong> And football is the ultimate in competition. And there are a lot of vicarious thrills that men take watching these games. It\u2019s something they would all love to do. It\u2019s something they would all love to be able to do, something a lot of men fantasize about being able to do and being on the field. It\u2019s got so much tied up into it, but it\u2019s fast paced, it\u2019s just got so many ingredients. I tell you what, pro football today is like the Roman Coliseum back those days. When you are involved in pro football today, you are in the Roman senate in this country, and everybody wants to be part of it. I don\u2019t know how else to explain this. Plus, it\u2019s hard to do. <\/line>I\u2019ll tell you something, Lana, you watch those games and imagine doing what those players do yourself. And understand that most men are frustrated athletes, they all want to play Major League Baseball when they\u2019re growing up, they all would love to be able to play professional football, so they watch it. It\u2019s entertainment. I mean you strip all this other stuff away, it\u2019s just flat out good entertainment.<\/line> <\/line>CALLER: Yeah. Well, what about you? Because you have a full life and my husband has a really full life that he loves. He\u2019s an entrepreneur so he\u2019s doing what he wants to do, so he doesn\u2019t really have to live, you know, through somebody else, but does it just come down to the competition and the fun and the entertainment value for somebody like you?<\/line> <\/line>RUSH:<\/strong> Yes. But there\u2019s some vicarious, look, I would love to be able to play football.<\/line> <\/line>CALLER: Yeah, he would, too.<\/line> <\/line>RUSH:<\/strong> I\u2019m not any different than anybody else watching the game. It is part of my full life.<\/line> <\/line>CALLER: Yeah, okay, yeah.<\/line> <\/line>RUSH:<\/strong> You know, there was a column at ESPN 2, one of their web pages, one of their websites, Ralph Wiley wrote a piece asking just how is it that Rush Limbaugh hijacked the football season this year. You know, I got a lot of vicarious thrills from this football season.<\/line><\/p>\n

CALLER: I would have watched it if you would have stayed, I would have watched you.<\/line> <\/line>RUSH:<\/strong> Well, that\u2019s nice of you to say. I appreciate it. I mean, look, there are a lot of things that you do, Lana, that your husband probably doesn\u2019t understand. I mean, well, I don\u2019t mean that in a put-down way.<\/line> <\/line>CALLER: No, I know.<\/line> <\/line>RUSH:<\/strong> I don\u2019t want to be clich?d here but I don\u2019t know if you like shopping or not, but, you know, if there\u2019s something you want, send somebody out to get it while I\u2019m watching football. Instead you\u2019ll go there and you\u2019ll walk the mall for hours, not buy a thing. Have fun while I\u2019m watching football. <\/line>COMMERCIAL BREAK<\/emphasize><\/strong><\/line> Lana, I don\u2019t know if you heard just moments ago what I said, but the best explanation that I have heard for why men love sports, it\u2019s very simple. It\u2019s the one thing in life, you have to think about this, and you may end up being insulted by it and I don\u2019t intend that to be the case, and especially women. It\u2019s the one thing in life in which you can invest total passion without consequence, meaning you can open yourself up wide, you can hold nothing back, you can express your love and devotion for your team and you don\u2019t ever have to worry about them throwing you out. You don\u2019t have to worry about them abandoning you, you don\u2019t have to worry about them making fun of you, laughing at you, rejecting you, humiliating you. They might lose, and they might even embarrass you at times, but that\u2019s even a stretch. But you don\u2019t have to hold anything back, you don\u2019t have to play any games, you don\u2019t have to act coy with your support, you don\u2019t have to play it cool, you can just let it all go. Which is what people want to do anyway. And anytime something gets in the way of a sports fan having to moderate his emotion or support, he gets upset. So if you\u2019re sitting there watching the game with your husband and he\u2019s getting all excited and really into it and lying it, and you say, “Why do you like this so much?” It\u2019s not going to go over well. And don\u2019t get jealous of it. That\u2019s another thing. You women, you have a tendency, your husband is sitting there loving football on Sunday afternoon, you go why don\u2019t you love me as much you love football<\/emphasize>. Don\u2019t do that. That\u2019s not helpful, it doesn\u2019t advance anything and don\u2019t make that comparison. That\u2019s the point. That\u2019s why these hours that people sit there, spend watching, I don\u2019t care whether it\u2019s baseball, football, whatever it is the fan loves, that\u2019s part of it. That and the escape, the fantasy aspect. That\u2019s not even the right way to put it. But just the escape.<\/line><\/p>\n

How many of you people have active minds, you just can\u2019t stop thinking, and you\u2019re always thinking about stuff, you\u2019re worrying about this, something happened in the past, you\u2019re worrying about something you\u2019ve got to do or something, who wants to go through life doing that? Football, sports, whatever, shuts your mind down, that\u2019s all you\u2019re thinking about. It\u2019s an escape, it\u2019s peaceful. You may sit there thinking you\u2019re going crazy rooting, but it\u2019s peaceful. Because you\u2019ve shut your mind down. It\u2019s why men like to go fishing. It\u2019s whatever women do to accomplish the same thing, it\u2019s for the same reason.<\/line> <\/line>What? [talking to program observer] Shopping, whatever it is, I don\u2019t know what it is. I\u2019m not trying to be clich?d, I\u2019m not trying to put anybody down, I\u2019m just saying everybody\u2019s got activities they like doing because it stops their mind. I\u2019m just trying to help her understand why her husband loves it so much. Hell, her husband may not know what slot right 63 hook and go is, he may not know what a screen pass is, it doesn\u2019t matter. He still loves the game, he doesn\u2019t have to understand it. And chances are he does, probably not as much as he thinks he does, but still he does. All kinds of reasonable explanations for this and it has nothing to do with them not liking you, ladies, nothing whatsoever to do with not wanting to be with you, nothing whatsoever to do with not wanting you around, it has nothing to do with that.<\/line> <\/line>Too many people get in these arguments because they look at this as competition. “You\u2019d rather watch football than go shopping with me.” And, you know, guy sadly will not be honest and say, “Yeah, you\u2019re right, and say no, no, it\u2019s not that,” and start coming around with whatever excuses that his wife knows are BS, and just exacerbates the problem.<\/line>END TRANSCRIPT<\/emphasize><\/strong><\/line><\/p>\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

RUSH: Well, you know, strangely enough, football is a game that most women probably think and feel about the same as you just expressed. My wife as an exception, she loves it, she understands it, she can talk football lingo with me, but most women do like the game because of the tight pants. 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