RUSH: By the way, look at this headline. It is totally unrelated, but I want to get this out of the way now. It’s a story from Yahoo Sports from yesterday. Headline: “Viagra Won’t Advertise on NFL Games, Signaling Softening Ad Market.”

Viagra is out of the NFL because of a softening — he-he — softening ad market. This could be quite indicative, folks, a little bitty story here, not attached to anything. “Last year, the NFL’s declining ratings, in the face of zombie hordes, presidential campaign fatigue, and general public indifference (along with, maybe, a touch of political protest),” like Kaepernick turning people off, “dominated much of the early-season conversation. Ratings rebounded as the year wore on,” but they never got to levels reached in the past.

“The Super Bowl pulled in its usual nine-figure viewer total. But now we’re seeing the reverberations of that ratings slip, as well as other indications of a break in the ever-increasing ad market, and the news isn’t ideal for the NFL … Ad Age reports that preseason ad spending is the softest since the 2008 recession.”

Throw into the mix that Viagra and Cialis will be ending their sponsorship entirely because of the softening of the market. Now, these two products, you’d be amazed. They’re targeted at not just men; they’re targeted at women, too. Big time. And if they’re pulling out — well, if they’re pulling out of the NFL, this could be just a little, minor — not minor — small indication of a possible trend. Advertising tells us much about our culture.