I didn’t come up with that. Peter King did in his Monday Morning Quarterback column. But I can’t express how glad I am that someone else - someone who is respected in the sports media - has finally noticed and actually said something.

King writes:

I think for any of you — us — feeling the least bit of pity for Rush Limbaugh after his silly remarks about black quarterbacks and the media, we can all now rest easy. The guy’s a race-aholic. He injects race where it has no business being injected.

What King is referencing is this quote from Limbaugh’s radio show a week ago:

“And before we go to the break here, folks, I’ve got to get something off my chest. You know, the game was the game. And the game was what it was. But I - I can’t handle any more press criticism of Rex Grossman. They’re writing his name W-R-E-C-K-S. They’re just … worst quarterback ever to play in the Super Bowl. And it’s been like this since the Green Bay game — actually since the Arizona game, a little crescendo of it in the Green Bay game, the last game of the season for the Bears. And it’s just unrelenting! It’s just — they’re focusing on this guy like they don’t focus on anybody!

“And I tell you, I know what it is. The media, the sports media, has got social concerns that they are first and foremost interested in, and they’re dumping on this guy — Rex Grossman — for one reason, folks, and that’s because he is a white quarterback.”

King then writes:

Rush, we’re dumping on him because, in a five-point game in the fourth quarter, with the Bears in possession of the ball and still with a very good chance to win, he threw two ridiculous passes in the biggest game of his life. Two interceptions. Buried his own team. Had it been McNabb or Brees or Leftwich or Kitna or Daisuke Matsuzaka, we’d have buried them too.

I’m really tired of the race-aholics in the media. Rush Limbaugh, Scoop Jackson, it doesn’t matter. I’m sick of it.

It’s the year 2007. And for those of us who actually belong in this century, we don’t care about race. We don’t see color when we look at a person. We don’t prejudge based on ethnicity.

What we see is the person.

In sports, the things we notice are production, winning, attitude, responsibility, ego, behavior. When we, as fans, see a guy like LaDanian Tomlinson we don’t see a black runningback; we see a great running back, maybe one of the all-time greats in the making, who is humble about his abilities and relentless on the field. We see a winner. When we see a guy like Peyton Manning we don’t see a white quarterback; we see one of the greatest passers and field generals of all time, who will likely own every meaningful passing record by the time he’s done, and who plays the game with the same humble attitude and relentless pursuit of perfection that Tomlinson plays with. We don’t see color here. We see players and recognize them for who they are and how they play the game.

What’s interesting about Rush’s comments is that not only is he wrong, but he’s clearly out of touch with reality. I know he’s a conservative radio talk show personality, but my opinion of that profession has always been: they may engage in rhetoric on a daily basis, but at least it’s grounded in some reality. But here, Rush isn’t even living on the same planet as the rest of us.

Take, for instance, my brother-in-law. He rooted hard for the Colts in the Superbowl, partially because he wanted to see Manning win, but more I think because he didn’t want to see (his words) “that punk Grossman win it. He doesn’t deserve it.”

You see, my brother-in-law saw Grossman for what he was: not a white quarterback, but a punk kid. A guy who felt it was more important to get to a New Year’s Eve bash that study the gameplan for the season finale against Green Bay. A guy who couldn’t take care of the ball during the regular season, but who was bailed about by the defense. A guy who didn’t display the character or drive or attitude to win like Manning did.

It had nothing to do with race. It had everything to do with character. And it’s just amazing to me that Limbaugh is so completely out of touch with that reality.

But mostly it’s just disappointing.

I hope I live long enough to see the day when someone can make comments like Limbaugh and the general publish ostracizes them. It shouldn’t be acceptable to say those sorts of things. It only proves that we haven’t evolved into a more civilized society… Yet.