RUSH: Here is Rocco in West Chester, Pennsylvania. Hey, Rocco. I’m glad you called. Great to have you on Open Line Friday. Hi.
CALLER: Hey, Rush. You sound good.
RUSH: Thank you. Glad to hear that, ’cause if you could hear me as I do, it would be good. My voice… We have great audio processing here, but it’s very, very weak today. So I’m glad it doesn’t sound that way.
CALLER: Rush, I’d like to take advantage of this Open Line Friday to talk about something not so political. Because, as you always point out, everything’s political. But I’m not watching any more NFL games to the end of the month, or at least until I stop seeing all this pink. I can’t take it anymore.
RUSH: Really bothering you?
CALLER: Yes, Rush, it’s bothering me — and it’s just part of a larger… I’m really tired of watching and listening to every minority under the sun put their grievance out there for me to have to, you know, shove down my throat.
RUSH: Well, the reason they do is because that’s how they advance. If they portray themselves as victims of you and others in the majority, then they’re gonna get what they want. All they have to do is claim they’re offended. The NFL/this pink business, you know, it’s an attempt to attract women as fans, as paying customers. It’s an attempt to show solidarity. Thing is, there are a lot of cancers out there, and there are a lot of cancers that are more deadly than breast cancer. So this was an obviously… That’s why you can’t take the politics out of things. This was obviously specifically done for a specific marketing reason, and it’s the whole month, the whole month of October. I mean, you’re not gonna be watching the NFL here. It’s only October 9th so you’ve got 22 more days, three weeks of NFL football that you’re gonna have to boycott.
CALLER: Hey, Rush? What if they were to take all the money they spend — and I can imagine how many uniforms and all the paraphernalia that they have to turn pink, okay? Take that revenue and donate it to breast cancer research.
RUSH: Well, what they’ll tell you is that all of that pink that you see translates to sales of the items — licensed merchandise — on NFL websites, team websites, and in retail outlets where NFL gear is sold. I mean, even now to the point where the pink bow is on the football. So they’ll tell you that’s promoting sales of these units and that’s where they’ll tell you the dollars go. Anyway, I am hearing more references to the pink being annoying this year than any prior season.
BREAK TRANSCRIPT
RUSH: We have a woman on hold that I’ll get to in a moment who also upset with all the pink in the National Football League. Snerdley, is anybody commenting on this? I’m hearing this more and more from people this season, being upset with all the pink. I mean, in the past people have commented on it and let it go. But it seems to be intensifying this year. I’ll tell you something. I did something last Sunday I haven’t done, and I don’t know if it means anything. I haven’t stopped to analyze it.
But I went out and played golf Sunday afternoon on an NFL Sunday for the first time in ten years. I looked at the slate of games and said, “You know what? I’d rather go out and play golf.” The Steelers had played on Thursday night. That was it. I knew I’d get home in time to see the second half of the late game and whatever the Sunday night game was, which I bumped out of that after about an hour. Yeah, I know. There are a lot of things.
There are many, many things, folks, I’m asking myself, “Are my interests changing simply because as I age my areas of interest change? As I age, do the things I used to have a tremendous amount of enthusiasm for just naturally change and transfer to other things? (interruption) No, no, no. So I started comparing myself to other people my age, and like I’ve been an ardent NFL fan a lot longer than other people my age are. So maybe I’m a laggard in this regard. But… (interruption)
No, no, I’m not panicking over it. It is what it is. You know, I just accept it. But I do catalog and recognize the changes. You wouldn’t have gotten me out of the house on an NFL Sunday to go play golf last season, season before. It just wouldn’t have happened. And last Sunday I didn’t even stop to think about it. I just automatically accepted the invitation, bammo. I might have a split second said to myself, “Steelers played Thursday. I don’t care about anything else this week. Bammo! I’m outta here.”
And you know what? I may go play Sunday again, instead of watching football, and this season’s going by pretty fast. You know, we’re already gonna be at week four or five. (interruption) Yeah. Yeah, the late game on Sunday is the one: You got the Cowboys and the Patriots. Tom Brady and the Patriots in Dallas. (interruption) What, are you worried they’re gonna go in and shred the ‘Boys? Is that what you’re worried? It probably is gonna happen.
The Patriots are looking like they did back in 2007. Unstoppable. You knew this was gonna happen. You know, the league tries to put ’em all in jail with that Deflategate thing, sue them out of existence. What did you think the Patriots are gonna do? They’re gonna come out all fired up. This whole thing has probably added a couple of years to Brady’s career, just in terms of intense motivation to show them. It’s the way it’s always worked.
BREAK TRANSCRIPT
RUSH: Worcester, Massachusetts, it’s Ruth, and you, too, not happy with all the pink in the NFL, I guess.
CALLER: No, and I missed the Patriots game last week ’cause they were on a bye, so I didn’t watch football, either.
RUSH: Well, there you go.
CALLER: Yeah. It’s just such a pleasure to be speaking with my favorite words literalist, and I’d like to follow up and applaud that gentleman that called about pink in football. I want to take a step further and say that I find it unseemly and totally inappropriate. I’m watching a sports event, and I’m gonna reminded of, quote, unquote, the big C? I mean, think of all the people in the hospital that that’s their source of entertainment. Do they want to be reminded of where they are? No. We watch football to have an hour to ourselves to watch and root for our teams. And to keep subjecting us to this, it just bothers me. I’m sorry.
RUSH: Well, but the league would tell you they’re taking advantage of all this tune-in to raise consciousness levels about this, to create in the public’s mind that breast cancer is a huge deal, a lot of people suffer from it, and you’re not doing enough about it. Donate money! Show you care! We in the NFL care, look at all the pink, you should care, donate.
CALLER: And do the fundraising after the event, really. I mean, the whole thing is about money anyway. You can’t give us a break for 60 minutes?
RUSH: It’s not 60 minutes. It’s like three hours, but I get —
CALLER: I know.
RUSH: — your point.
CALLER: Of all the things to talk to you about, Rush, I’m just so pleased. You make me laugh, cry. I stomp my feet. I gnash my teeth. It’s just wonderful to hear you and to have you promote and to say the things that you do out there. I very much appreciate you.
RUSH: Well, thank you. I really appreciate that, especially — well, any day I appreciate it, but I’m really glad you got through today. I thank you so much. And I caught your reference to literalist. Are you a literalist, too?
CALLER: I try to be. You’re my hero as far as that.
RUSH: Let me tell you, it’s a lonely existence.
CALLER: It is.
RUSH: You have to ask people three times what they’re saying. You have to explain yourself four times. It’s just a lonely existence to be a literalist because so few people are. Nobody says what they really mean. They dance around it or what have you. So it’s a pain. I wish I wasn’t sometimes. I really do. But I can’t stop it. I mean, we all are who we are.