Tony Dungy kept his team in Indy
for one additional day.
The Football Writers Association
of America protested.
What? Like someone actually had a
DIFFERENT question for the head coach about the
racial impact on the game?
Let me see if I have this right.
Dungy and Lovie Smith are both black. Whatever team
won, either would have held up the Lombardi Trophy.
History would have been made. Regardless. So what did
I miss here?
Coke and Doritos also did commercials
to celebrate the inevitable, although I thought the
chip company was a little gratuitous in their presentation.
Martin Luther King would have been
beaming at the accomplishment but at the same time spinning
in his grave at all the non-African Americans asking
these stupid questions.
I kept waiting for someone to ask
Peyton Manning what if feels like to be a white
quarterback or better yet, reverse the roles and ask
the media how much they knew about Black History Month.
Remember one thing. Both Dungy and
Smith are class acts and top notch coaches who just
happen to be black. Not the other way around.
A story is a story but this one continued
to beat the horse long after it died.
*************
For one of the top-10
newspapers in the country, the St. Petersburg Times
sports department went way over the top the Monday of
Media Week dedicating a majority of that front page
about the disparity in the number of black players and
black coaches in the league.
Must have been a slow
news day.
Why is this such an
issue? Last year the number of players were virtually
the same but the subject was never broached. Neither
was it the year before that, and the year before that
......
Now it
is relevant?
According to the graphic,
70% of NFL players are of color. Only six hold the position
of head coach. Are we then to believe that the Rooney
Rule should now mandate that teams hire based on numbers
rather than qualifications?
One thing the Rooney
Rule did was force owners to interview at least one
minority when the position opens up. You can't be hired
until you get the foot in the door. It is up to the
individual at that point.
In fact Rooney not only
interviewed a minority, he hired one.
Fans could care less
about the color of one's skin
*************
Snickers joins a long list (one)
of commercials that were shown just once but unlike
the Apple ad way back when which was designed that way,
this one was "pulled" by the Mars Incorporated
when it crossed the invisible line of good taste.
When spots try humor to sell their
product, fine. There were a number of knee slappers
along the way. But they are not supposed to offend,
intended or otherwise.
The commercial showed two so-called
macho auto mechanics chewing on a Snickers bar from
each end, a la the spaghetti strand out of the Disney's
Lady and the Tramp, when they appear to kiss.
After realizing this, each decided to do something manly
and proceeded to rip chunks of hair off their chest
while screaming in pain.
In a Clue movie sort of inspirational
idea, Mars had alternate endings but the "kiss"
was the focal point regardless.
The Human Rights Campaign and the
Gay and Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation (GLAAD)
complained to the maker of Snickers and Mars, Inc. pulled
the ad.
Smart.
Now while the candy maker could have
dragged this on getting as much free publicity as possible,
you have to tip your cap to them for reacting in a positive
way thereby ending any future controversy.
*************
Did anyone do the same as me and
check the calendar to see if this was the political
season instead of the football season? Maybe it was
Rex Grossman demanding equal time during breaks because
there was nary a commercial by the highly visible Peyton
Manning during the game.
*************
Speaking of Grossman, his rather
gross performance in Miami must have made Mother Nature
so mad that she tried to keep him from returning to
Chicago by throwing a storm that was more accurate than
some of the quarterback's attempts Sunday.
*************
There is no truth to the rumor that
Steve Bartman and Rex Grossman are related, although,
word has it the Bears are set to invite the Cubs' fan
to camp next July to compete for the QB spot because
he only has to throw, not catch.
*************
Don't you love all the know-it-alls
who say that they had no problem with Manning being
named Super Bowl MVP because all the other players just
wanted to win?
I wonder if Dominic Rhodes (113 yards
rushing, first triple digit game since 2001) or Joseph
Addai (77 rushing, a team leading ten receptions which
was twice as many as Marvin Harrison) would agree.
*************
Lisa Nowak, the future former astro-nut,
was rumored to have made one a stop on her virtual drive-through
dash from Houston to Florida when she swung by Miami
to deliver a partially used box of Depends to Rex Grossman
minutes after the final gun - not the pellet shooter
she was bagged with - of the Super Bowl before heading
up to the Orlando airport looking for that "other"
fly-girl (must have been a bad skit out of the Wayans
family FOX comedy, In Living Color).
Wonder if Nowak's new cell mate will
think she's fly? Better learn how to dance girl. Quick.
On a separate note, media members
wondered why Grossman looked a tad heavier after
the game at his post-game press conference than he was
before it.
When it was over he was seen on his
cell phone, probably talking to the Florida Gators athletic
director to see if he had any eligibility left.
*************
Just what the heck was the Heart
Association thinking when it spent $2.6 million of their
donations for that beat-down ad? That doesn't even factor
in the cost of making it.
Wonder how many people could still
be alive if that money had have been used in other ways?
*************
FOX is still the sports leader when
it comes to live events, however, the coverage of this
year's Super Bowl by CBS was top notch, with one exception
- the cameras.
The sky-cam and many of their "in
the weather" lenses were affected by the rain and
what fans saw appeared to be blurs or smudges on their
screens.
If networks can figure out how to
keep a lens clean on a NASCAR roof cameras with self-cleaners,
why can't the same technology be used for bad weather
football games?
*************
With the Pro Bowl still left to be
played, spring training cannot get here fast enough.