McNabb shoulders an unusual burden

Donovan McNabb won't be the first you-know-what quarterback to play in the Super Bowl. Come Sunday, however, he will hold another distinction. No other quarterback in the history of the Super Hype has ever played with two civilians sitting squarely on his shoulders.On his right, of course, will be Rush Limbaugh, the insouciant talkmeister who blew out his eardrums with OxyContin. Limbaugh's aural disability attracted to his defense one Armstrong Williams, the undercover brother-for-hire. So many hustles, pandered Williams, so little time.Disguised as a "fair and balanced" journalist, the TV host of a Fox chat show once lobbed his softball about Limbaugh's addiction to the PR Magpie who usually charges actual cash to lie for other right-wing birds.Williams fouled it out of the park. Limbaugh probably used OxyContin, Williams explained, because of his ear problem. The reverse was the case. Hearing loss is a side effect of heavy OxyContin use, according to pharmacists, and the addled Limbaugh was popping enough pills to keep one of the five Mafia families solvent.OxyContin may well have been speaking the night Limbaugh ripped Donovan McNabb on ABC's "Monday Night Football." "I think what we've had here is a little social concern in the NFL," the addict chortled. "The media has been very desirous that a black quarterback do well."With reasoning as tortured as his syntax, Limbaugh had reduced McNabb's huge talent, smarts, dedication and thousands of practice hours to a perceived desire of what he misconstrues as a liberal media. The historic truth, obvious even to the sporting press that sustained it, is off in the other direction.The quarterback position in the NFL, despite on-field desegregation elsewhere, remains largely reserved for white players. This is changing, to be sure, but not because the "media has been very desirous that a black quarterback do well." Nor is it changing because the owners and NFL powerbrokers have abandoned their policy of "white job reservation."Blacks are creeping into NFL quarterback positions and flooding into college ball, for the same reason they initially knocked down the wall for all the other positions in the game of football itself. The simple reason is that the powerbrokers must keep their paying fans happy and they want to win - even if it means starting a black quarterback.This is not a given. Black quarterbacks have had to come to the huddle better armed and with more weapons. Not only did they have to throw farther than their white counterparts, to make the team, they also had to run patterns. Joe Namath, who practically played his last few years in a wheelchair, would never have been allowed such longevity were it not for "white job reservation." Joe Gilliam, of Pittsburgh, tried it and was driven to the bench and down the rabbit hole.Blacks have had to revolutionize the quarterback position in order to eek out a career. Randall Cunningham, for example, earned the position with the Philadelphia Eagles because of his twin gifts of passing and running. Still, the media, as they had with "Jefferson Street Joe" Gilliam, sought to curtail Cunningham's success by daring him to stay in the pocket like white quarterbacks.Bowing to media and fan pressure, Cunningham cramped his style, got himself injured and confused and stormed into early retirement to install drywalls in Las Vegas. Though he re-emerged to play NFL ball, he never salvaged what he had lost.In the Super Bowl next week, Donovan McNabb should learn from the trials of Cunningham, his predecessor on the Eagles, and from the tribulations of Gilliam. But the quarterback would do well to disregard the advice of the media as Othello should have avoided the sweet whisperings of Iago.This, then is the Limbaugh factor for McNabb.Super Bowl success for the black quarterback, as genuine success for any African-American over-achiever, is earned in this country only by turning a deaf ear to what others think. Limbaugh, indeed, was but a set-up for McNabb. What he's getting from the media this week, the stuff about the New England Patriots Tom Brady and Bill Bellichick, is the follow-up.On the eve of the game, experts, so-called, will question McNabb's skill, courage and leadership. He must find a way to ring down the gavel and end the debate. Cunningham and Gilliam learned just how insidious - and powerful - are the defenders of "white job reservations."With Limbaugh whispering from his perch into his right ear, McNabb - who indeed can win Super Bowl XXXIX - need only pay heed to that great neutralizer on his left shoulder. That voice of inspiration, of course, would be the first black Super Bowl quarterback, Doug Williams.