In addition to Curt Schilling, there appears to be another person ESPN isn’t too fond of. That would be San Diego Chargers quarterback Philip Rivers, well, and babies. In a Q&A with fans in ESPN Magazine, ESPN pulled the editorial goalie and allowed an offensive and completely ridiculous question to be lobbed at Rivers, who happens to be the father of a large, and growing family:
Six kids? Regardless of your profession, it’s impossible to be a good parent to six kids. Not enough hours in the day.
— From TheBigLead.com comments
Rivers response:
It’s a two-year rotation: Once the diapers come off of one, we usually have a newborn. And we have another one on the way, due in October. I help when I can, but my wife, Tiffany, is the key. My big, growing family keeps everything balanced and grounded. My oldest is 11 now, and the kids are getting into football. They’re Daddy’s biggest fans, and they don’t get on you as bad as most fans. If you throw an interception, they still love you.
I can say without hesitation that Philip Rivers is a far better man than most. I myself would have come undone, not just at the questioner but also at ESPN, who is supposed to regulate questions and protect the people they invite to host Q&A’s.
Now, if the question had been something along the lines of:
“Wow. Six kids and counting? How do you find the time for football?”
Then that’s a normal question with no political attack or edge in and there’s no issue with that. But to make a declarative statement that Rivers is a bad parent based on some kind of subjective parent-to-kid ratio? That’s entirely different. Just because you can’t be a good parent to six kids doesn’t mean someone else can’t.
Of course, there’s the possibility that ESPN just made an honest mistake in letting a blatantly anti-family question get through to a devoutly Catholic and staunchly Pro-Life football player. Then again, this is the same network that cut-off a coach’s post-game victory speech as soon as he mentioned God.
In other words, all those “mistakes” are starting to add up.
