Two African American Coaches Taking Teams to the Superbowl
Above: Tony Dungy of the Indianapolis Colts
Below: Lovie Smith of the Chicago Bears.
Tony Dungy has just coached the Indianapolis Colts to come from behind 21-3 at halftime to win the AFC championship. It was the largest comeback in AFC (or NFC) championship history.
He will face Coach Lovie Smith of the Chicago Bears in the Superbowl on February 4th.
***Update*** January 22, 2007 - The incomparable Kai Chang of Zuky left this comment, which deserves a front page posting and reply:
Kai said...Dear Kai:
Just got home from watching today's football games with a group of friends almost all of whom were men of color, and throughout the game we were discussing the implications of the spectacle of two Black men coaching the Superbowl. Some see it as a grand opportunity to talk about race on the biggest stage in America, not just the tokenism but the history. Others were less optimistic, fearing a racist backlash of some sort.
As I always say to my friends who are passionately arguing about, nay delivering speeches on, the hyper-technical arcana of sports predictions: "If you just watch the game, we'll see. That's why we're doing this."
Cheers.
I spent the day mulling over what you said about the coaches going to the Superbowl and your friends' conflicted feelings in regards to celebrating these men's triumphs. I also had reservations about the spectacle that is the Superbowl and my engagement with it. Not only are the drug-pushing commercials hideously sexist, but it's a male-dominated sport that is grotesquely exploitative of men of color and highly elitist.
But damnit, what it must have taken for those two coaches to have risen to the places of leadership that they did! I can remember hearing my racist, white father bashing black athletes when I was younger by saying that there would never be a black quarterback because they weren't smart enough. In addition, I am painfully aware of the second class status that women athletes in this country face (where's our super-hyped Superbowl?), so I felt many conflicting emotions while watching the spectacle of the AFC championship game Sunday night.
But by god it sure was good to see my racist father's lies given a much-deserved deep sixing by not only black quarterbacks, but now outstanding African American coaches as well.
Someday I hope Coach Dungy will tell us what it was that he said to his players in that locker room at half time when they were down by eighteen points. The way they came roaring back onto the field like they truly believed they would win, Coach Dungy's remarks must have been extraordinary. He must have known, from all his years of struggle against racist doubters, just exactly what to say to motivate his team to do the impossible, to do what had never been done.
All I can say about my choice to engage in the spectacle that is Amerikan football is that I want all of us who fight so hard to win against impossible odds to witness and learn from excellence in motion. And that instructional excellence is often going to come from places where we have been taught to least look for it.
So Kai, I think you are dead-on when you say "If you just watch the game, we'll see. That's why we're doing this."
Yep. Cuz we are not only going to see it - in our lifetimes - but actually be a vital part of making it happen.
We are going to make happen what everyone said was impossible.
Labels: Kai Chang
posted by Fire Witch at 8:24 PM
7 Comments:
Just got home from watching today's football games with a group of friends almost all of whom were men of color, and throughout the game we were discussing the implications of the spectacle of two Black men coaching the Superbowl. Some see it as a grand opportunity to talk about race on the biggest stage in America, not just the tokenism but the history. Others were less optimistic, fearing a racist backlash of some sort.
As I always say to my friends who are passionately arguing about, nay delivering speeches on, the hyper-technical arcana of sports predictions: "If you just watch the game, we'll see. That's why we're doing this."
Cheers.
Dear Kai:
I spent the day mulling over what you said about the coaches going to the Superbowl and your friends' conflicted feelings in regards to celebrating these men's triumphs. I also had reservations about the spectacle that is the Superbowl and my engagement with it. Not only are the drug-pushing commercials hideously sexist, but it's a male-dominated sport that is grotesquely exploitative of men of color and highly elitist.
But damnit, what it must have taken for those two coaches to have risen to the places of leadership that they did! I can remember hearing my racist, white father bashing black athletes when I was younger by saying that there would never be a black quarterback because they weren't smart enough. In addition, I am painfully aware of the second class status that women athletes in this country face (where's our super-hyped Superbowl?), so I felt many conflicting emotions while watching the spectacle of the AFC championship game Sunday night.
But by god it sure was good to see my racist father's lies given a much-deserved deep sixing by not only black quarterbacks, but now outstanding African American coaches as well.
Someday I hope Coach Dungy will tell us what it was that he said to his players in that locker room at half time when they were down by eighteen points. The way they came roaring back onto the field like they truly believed they would win, Coach Dungy's remarks must have been extraordinary. He must have known, from all his years of struggle against racist doubters, just exactly what to say to motivate his team to do the impossible, to do what had never been done.
All I can say about my choice to engage in the spectacle that is Amerikan football is that I want all of us who fight so hard to win against impossible odds to witness and learn from excellence in motion. And that instructional excellence is often going to come from places where we have been taught to least look for it.
So Kai, I think you are dead-on when you say "If you just watch the game, we'll see. That's why we're doing this."
Yep. Cuz we are not only going to see it - in our lifetimes - but actually be a vital part of making it happen.
We are going to make happen what everyone said was impossible.
Fire Witch,
You're so right about the racist sexist exploitation that kicks you right in the teeth in the context of NFL big time. And yet here we are in America, innit? We gotta deal. The Superbowl isn't the only place where I feel my teeth getting kicked in. And at least I like sports.
You know what's funny? I watched the games this weekend with mostly black men (also a couple of Latino and Asian brothers, and any white brother who hangs with us is a brave sucka) who basically couldn't make sense of the commercials. At first, during every ad break, we would look at each other with scrunched brows and palms raised and questions in our eyes, until after a while we fell upon ignoring the ridiculousness, talking about other things during those breaks rather than feeling offended while paying attention. I know that a lot of women think that male sports fans are cavemen, but actually plenty of my brothers feel insulted by the crass commercial culture that has arisen around games that they love.
As for what Dungy said at half-time, I hate to contradict you sister, but I saw it coming during the Colts' final possession in the first half: the offensive crew found holes to exploit and Manning started cranking out plays so quick that there was no time to react. He's a genius at that. I call it his "steamroller mode", because once that starts happening, the defense gets thrown into disarray and there's really no stopping it, the defense is on its heels and unable to find balance. Not that I'm marginalizing Dungy's role, because he puts it all together and draws up the plays that allow Manning to do this. But still, football is a QB's game, and from what I can see Manning is as good as it gets. Plus, two of the Patriots first-half touchdowns were pretty lucky, and the amazing athleticism of the Patriots' cornerbacks could only last so long against a sustained assault...
Anyway, I spoke to a couple of my brothers today who said, "Watch how the corporate media turns this into proof that racism is over."
We'll see. They might spin it to mean that racism is over but I don't care because reality speaks louder than spin.
Peace.
Kai,
I like your take on the unbeatability of someone like Manning who masters tempo. Indeed winning is all about disrupting the opponents' decision making cycle so that they keep getting hit before they can react.
Good tactic for football. Good tactic for political struggles.
I believe that when one has purpose, everything teaches.
So. Predictions for winner and point spread?
Fire Witch,
Yeah you totally get what I was trying to say. I really like the way you put it: mastering "tempo" and "disrupting the opponent's decision-making cycle". That's what it's all about; in my martial arts study, striking on the off-beat is just as fundamental as skeletal alignment and balance. Rhythm matters.
As for predictions...hehe, I guess I should have expected this question to come next after running my mouth like that. Well let's see, the two coaches are intimately familiar with one another's work, so one suspects that the defenses will be well-prepared and able to make precise adjustments, suggesting a low-scoring chess-match type game, which you'd think would favor the hard-hitting Bears. But then, I think that the Colts' passing game is just too good, as we saw on Sunday when the Patriot's amazing cornerbacks (who are better than the Bears' corners) were able to contain the Colts' receivers for the first half but finally crumbled under the sustained assault, repeatedly giving up long plays and resorting to interference. I mean, how long can you sprint down the field covering a quick tricky receiver? Not for a full game, I don't think. As all the big hitting takes its toll and the feet slow down and Manning keeps throwing those bullet-like strikes, I anticipate another big second-half for Manning. So perhaps under the influence of my affection for Dungy and Manning, I'm going with the Colts, by say 10 points or so, in a medium-scoring game (say 40 or 50 total points).
Now I will prepare my bib for the coming meal of crow...
Yea and verily, Sir Kai:
All excellent assessments, but you have not factored the wounded thumb of Magic Manning into your predictions.
Therefore, ye mighty Fire Witch predicts a relatively low-scoring game, in the twenties, with the Colts by one point - in overtime.
I fear it's gonna be a slog-fest.
Oh snap!
Looks like we have a little blog wager brewing here... ;-)
I guess we have no real way of knowing the condition of Manning's thumb, and I don't follow sports punditry (so many words, so much chest-pounding, so little meaning or thought). But I can see where your prediction is coming from. I guess we'll see. :-P
Cheers.
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