PA Gov Ed Rendell on NFL and Snow: US Becoming a ‘Nation of Wussies’
EmailABC’s Z. Byron Wolf reports:
Pennsylvania Gov. Ed Rendell raised eyebrows Sunday when he complained that the NFL postponed the planned Philadelphia Eagles games against the Minnesota Vikings because of the snowstorm that crippled much of the East Coast.
He quibbled Sunday with a Philadelphia meteorologist Sunday about the severity of the storm. Rendell’s anger at the postponed game carried into Tuesday, when he called into “The Fanatic” sports talk show on a Philadelphia radio station and expressed his fear that the United States is becoming a “nation of wussies.”
Engaging in a bit of hyperbole, Rendell suggested that Chinese football fans would be heartier, march through the snow to the game, and do math equations; whereas the American NFL postponed Sunday’s game.
Here are some of the choicer soundbytes selected from Monday’s lengthy exchange between Rendell and show anchor Mike Missanelli:
RENDELL: Maybe it’s because I’m old, and I grant that I’m old. But it just goes against everything that football’s all about.
RENDELL: This is part of what’s happened in this country. I think we’ve become wussies. I agree with Will Bunch and I think that in most places in the world, people would have sneered at us. This is football. I played football. I played in the snow. The fans can make judgments themselves. They can decide if they’ll go to the game—or they’ll drive home a little more slowly, or take Broad Street, which was fine last night. That’s up to the fans.
RENDELL: We have become a nation of wussies. The Chinese are kicking our butts in everything. Will Bunch is right—did you read what Will Bunch wrote?
ANCHOR: I think Will Bunch is full of crap to be honest with you. I read that story.
RENDELL: I think it’s a Pulitzer Prize winner. If this was in China, do you think the Chinese would have called off the game? He’s right, the people would have been marching down to the stadium, they would have walked, and they would be doing calculus on the way down.
RENDELL: What do you think Lombardi would say? He would say we’ve become a nation of wusses.
Listen to the interview HERE.
UPDATE: Gov. Rendell addressed his comments on ABC News’ “Top Line” Friday:
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Was the Governor ready to clear the 100 accidents to get people to the game? Was he ready to take the blame if a emergency happened and the emergency vehicles weren’t able to respond? We all like football but playing the game was the least of the concerns on Sunday night.
Posted by: J. Frank Nash | December 28, 2010, 12:51 pm 12:51 pm
Not much point in asking people to attend a game, where they must risk life and limb to get there.
No ball game is worth getting killed over.
Posted by: Rick McDaniel | December 28, 2010, 1:14 pm 1:14 pm
How serious should Ed Rendell be taken, he’s touting Will Bunch…. Really?
He belongs to the anti business party and anything big business says he would disagree with. Had the NFL come out and said that “Under No Cicumstance Will The Game Be Rescheduled”, he would have been out there complaining on how the NFL didn’t care about the average fan that would possibly be injured or worse on the way to the game because the NFL didn’t want to mess up it’s TV revenue. That’s the kind of guy Rendell is.
We are a bunch of wussies? You mean the kind that go around and appologize for our country like his illustrious leader Obama?
Yep…. Rendell should be taken real serious.
Posted by: John Eaton | December 28, 2010, 2:13 pm 2:13 pm
A liberal, big government, entitlement loving governor calling others a wimp. BWAHAHAHA
Posted by: JamesJ | December 28, 2010, 2:30 pm 2:30 pm
I don’t know anything about this Governor or his politics but … he does have a point that stands on it’s own. We ARE becoming (or ARE already) a nation of entitlement-seeking “wussies”. We DO want to be taken care of and we DO want something for nothing. Ask the “greatest generation” what it was like growing up in the depression and you will see how “wussified” we have become. Hardship builds strength of character, we have it easy folks so go back and watch Sports Center ya lumps ;)
Posted by: BigD | December 28, 2010, 2:54 pm 2:54 pm
Gov Rendell also said he would have gone to the game/is that sitting in the official box for the Gov or would he have been out in the stands with the rest of the fans??? Up on that top tier of Lincoln Financial??? Would his driver have picked up all the fans needing to take the subway and buses which were not running that afternoon??? Or schlep them back to So Jersey over the bridges or up the Trnpke???? Yeah I did not think so/it is good to be one of the people except when you are not!!!!
Posted by: Karla1953 | December 28, 2010, 4:13 pm 4:13 pm
Rendell would have been driven or flown to the game. He would have been sitting inside a temperature controlled sky box unlike the average fan. Who is he calling a wussie?
Posted by: John William Chalus | December 28, 2010, 7:00 pm 7:00 pm
Thank goodness he is soon out of office, we don’t need someone who does not care about the safety of the public.
Posted by: James Keper | December 28, 2010, 7:48 pm 7:48 pm
We are wusses that can’t sit in the cold, walk or drive our SUVs in the snow, avoid getting into accidents, let emergency vehicles through, or sell our tickets on stub hub and watch the game on our big screen TVs if decide not to go. The posts prove the point. We can’t figure out the common sense actions much less calculus. I agree with the lame-duck Governor and I’m a voting Republican.
Posted by: Steve | December 29, 2010, 8:24 am 8:24 am
wusses to say the least.pretty soon will have to wear a helmet to sit on a toliet on public property.time to let darwin takeover and cull out the herd.
Posted by: cataman | December 29, 2010, 3:21 pm 3:21 pm
Democrat Rendell looks for a way to describe the pathetic weakness of Americans, so he uses a misogynistic term.
And the media yawns. And giggles.
You can bet if he were a Republican that the media and the NOW would be spitting fire and calling for his resignation.
What’s that called? oh yeah a double standard
Posted by: Joe White | December 29, 2010, 5:11 pm 5:11 pm
Its amazing how the primary arguments and comments regarding his statements are taking more into offense being called ‘a nation of wussies’ and his position on postponing the football game. What should be more apparent is the offensive and childish character of the Governor making public stereotypes about the Chinese for no real apparent reason. His comment was derogatory in nature and I’m sure if he made some other reference like black people picking cotton on their way to the stadium the media would be entirely focused on that portion of the statement rather then the prior.
Posted by: Kevin | January 5, 2011, 1:21 pm 1:21 pm