RUSH: So let’s go to Thursday Night Football. Last night on CBS, it was Jim Nantz and Phil, who used to play for the New York Giants, doing the game between the New York Giants and the Washington Redskins. And Phil had vowed back prior to the season he would not say “Redskins” because of its racial connotations, the fact that it offends people and so forth.

So we vowed yesterday on this program not to ever say Phil’s last name. He’s just gonna be “Phil” or “Phil, who played for the Giants,” or “Phil, the quarterback” or whatever. Let’s go to the audio sound bites. James Brown last night on CBS, rather, NFL Thursday Night Kickoff.

BROWN: Here in Washington last week US Senator Maria Cantwell of the state of Washington led a small group of senators that introduced legislation aimed at revoking the NFL’s tax-exempt status if the league fails to force Washington owners Daniel Snyder to stop using the term “Redskins.” Several prominent leaders in the Native American community, including Dennis Welsh of the National Congress of American Indians, the oldest and largest organization of its kind, have repeatedly stated that the Washington team nickname is derogatory.

RUSH: “[T]he Washington team nickname is derogatory.” So politics, once again, a prominent feature in an NFL pregame show. Here’s an AP story on Phil Simms… Ah! Ah! Ah! Darn it, darn it, darn it, darn it! See, that’s how easy it is? I vowed never to say Phil’s last, and look at how easily it just came out of my mouth. Aw, darn it! To violate my vow that quickly? Oh, my gosh. How bad am I?

Sadly, ladies and gentlemen, the same thing happened to Phil last night during the game, and the Associated Press has a story. “CBS lead analyst Phil … referred awkwardly to ‘the Washington team’ early in the Redskins’ nationally televised game against the New York Giants on Thursday night. Otherwise, his decision not to say the NFL club’s nickname wasn’t very conspicuous.

That is unless you watched the show.

“[Phil] first told The Associated Press last month that he would refer to the team only as ‘Washington’ during the broadcast. He said he wasn’t taking sides on whether the club should change its nickname, but he was sensitive to complaints that the term is offensive. [Phil’s] broadcast partner, play-by-play announcer Jim Nantz, used ‘Redskins’ as usual Thursday, so the word was still heard plenty during the telecast.

“Nantz said last month that it’s ‘not my job to take a stance.’ As an analyst, Simms has less reason than Nantz to mention a team’s nickname.
Most times it was clear which squad he was talking about,” because they wear different uniforms], so he would just say a player’s name, or ‘the defense,’ or even ‘they.'” We have just a short little montage here of Phil’s attempt. Most of the night he called them “Washington,” which sounds normal, but it didn’t sound so normal when he tried to call them “the Washington team.”

PHIL: The Washington team, they have a lot of weapons… They play a lot of man coverage, the wash — the Washington team does. … Let’s see how the Washington team plays.

RUSH: And he slipped up a couple times. (laughing) Does that not sound strange? “Washington team.” He never said, “The New York team.” It was always the “Giants” or “the Jints” or “New York,” but “the Washington team.” He did slip up a couple of times and he happened to say “Redskins.” So the silliness continues, ladies and gentlemen, it just continues to, it seems, multiply.