Tony Dungy & Lovie Smith

**laram0** · -01-23-2007

All I'm reading and hearing is how these 2 guys are the first African-American (BLACK) Head coaches to lead their respective teams to the Superbowl.

(Now mind you I don't have a prejudice bone in my body.)

I say, so what, I don't care what color these guys are, what nationality they are, really this topic needs to be dropped in my opinion. They are 2 great leaders of their teams and that's that.

***cowboyhater*** · -01-23-2007

My Canadian wife REALLY didn't get the fuss. I wouldn't mind a little fuss, like those crawls on the bottom of the screen. You know:

"No dome team has ever won a conference championship in an outdoor stadium . . . Boomer Esiason, Steve Young and Ken Stabler are the only left-handed quarterbacks to start in a Super Bowl . . . The only Dallas Cowboy with a vowel at the end of his name to lead the team to a championship is Danny White . . . Lovie Smith and Tony Dungy are the first African-American head coaches to lead a team to the Super Bowl . . . Bob Montgomery, the back-up catcher for the Boston Red Sox was the last Major League Baseball Player not to wear a batting helmet . . ."

Anyway, you get the idea.

***81~BIG-GAME*** · -01-23-2007

IMO the whole Dungy/Smith story is getting way to much coverage.The build-up to the SB should be about football,not this non-sense,I'm tired of reading about it.Let the players and coaches strategy be the talking points..:l

***ramsbruce*** · -01-23-2007

Originally Posted by 81~BIG-GAME

IMO the whole Dungy/Smith story is getting way to much coverage.The build-up to the SB should be about football,not this non-sense,I'm tired of reading about it.Let the players and coaches strategy be the talking points..:l

It's hardly nonsense. I will agree to an extent the issue is getting a little over hyped but it still deserves a lot of attention. I am white, but I want to look at it from an African American perspective as best I can. Just 20 years ago or so there were NO African American head coaches, and I'm sure there were some that were qualified but just never hired because it was "taboo" to hire an African American Head Coach in the NFL. So realistically this is a big deal to some people, and to dismiss it as nonsense is well, nonsense.

**r8rh8rmike** · -01-23-2007

Originally Posted by ramsbruce

It's hardly nonsense. I will agree to an extent the issue is getting a little over hyped but it still deserves a lot of attention. I am white, but I want to look at it from an African American perspective as best I can. Just 20 years ago or so there were NO African American head coaches, and I'm sure there were some that were qualified but just never hired because it was "taboo" to hire an African American Head Coach in the NFL. So realistically this is a big deal to some people, and to dismiss it as nonsense is well, nonsense.

I agree. The constant hype may be way over-the-top, but the significance of the event is not. This is a first, so it's naturally going to get a lot of coverage. Hopefully this slams the door on any lingering doubts about the abilities of black coaches and makes the whole issue a non-issue in the future.

**Nick** · -01-23-2007

Originally Posted by ramsbruce

It's hardly nonsense. I will agree to an extent the issue is getting a little over hyped but it still deserves a lot of attention. I am white, but I want to look at it from an African American perspective as best I can. Just 20 years ago or so there were NO African American head coaches, and I'm sure there were some that were qualified but just never hired because it was "taboo" to hire an African American Head Coach in the NFL. So realistically this is a big deal to some people, and to dismiss it as nonsense is well, nonsense.

Agreed. Like every championship subplot it's going to get overhyped, but it is a rather important milestone IMO. There aren't exactly a wealth of black head coaches in the league to begin with, so two of them making the Super Bowl for the first time in history is pretty noteworthy.

***81~BIG-GAME*** · -01-24-2007

Originally Posted by ramsbruce

It's hardly nonsense. I will agree to an extent the issue is getting a little over hyped but it still deserves a lot of attention. I am white, but I want to look at it from an African American perspective as best I can. Just 20 years ago or so there were NO African American head coaches, and I'm sure there were some that were qualified but just never hired because it was "taboo" to hire an African American Head Coach in the NFL. So realistically this is a big deal to some people, and to dismiss it as nonsense is well, nonsense.

Nonsense is to strong a word,so I admit that was a mistake on my part.I was merely trying to put my opinion forward that the Dungy/Smith card was getting more publicity than the game itself.They are both very good coaches and I would prefer to read about their coaching styles and their friendship and the players who have both helped get them to the game itself.:l

**AvengerRam** · -01-24-2007

I learned long ago to ignore the hype and just watch the game.

***Varg6*** · -01-24-2007

Originally Posted by Nick

Agreed. Like every championship subplot it's going to get overhyped, but it is a rather important milestone IMO. There aren't exactly a wealth of black head coaches in the league to begin with, so two of them making the Super Bowl for the first time in history is pretty noteworthy.

Like Lovie and Tony said, it will be a great day when news like this isn't such a big deal. Me personally, I try not to see color, and I usually don't, but sometimes it is inevitable and race comes to mind. But it'll be a great day when you don't have say this race or that race is the first to come to a superbowl, or any sporting event really. Race really shouldn't be the issue, its the coaches. And it just so happens that these great coaches who are in the superbowl right now are black. To me, big deal :x

They got there because they're great, simple as that. No color needs to be specified...