One thing that I haven’t understood over the past few weeks is the big issue about how a black head coach was going to win the Super Bowl for the first time. Maybe it is because I am white, but I fail to see how that has any relevance whatsoever. Tony Dungy and Lovi Smith did not get to the Super Bowl because they were black. They got there because they were damn good coaches. It is not as though the Super Bowl has only been won by white head coaches.
Now that Tony Dungy has won, how come he is getting so much attention? Tom Flores has four Super Bowl rings; one as a quarterback, one as an assistent coach, and two as a head coach. He was the first minority to win in at least two of the three positions (I am not sure about whether he was the first minority assistent, and I am too lazy to look that up). Obviously I was pretty young for his head coaching wins, and was not alive for his quarterback win. But I have heard very little about his wins. The only reason that I have been hearing his name this week was because he is one of only three people to have a Super Bowl ring as both a player and a coach, now that Tony Dungy has won.
Are hispanics that much different than black Americans that his wins were not as remarkable as Tony Dungy’s win? Has racism become so much worse over the past 26 years that we feel the need to glorify Tony Dungy’s win?
I am really having a lot of trouble understanding this. I think that Tony Dungy is a great head coach. His teams have always done well, and the teams that he has built have gone on to do great things immiediately after he has moved on. I am glad that he has had a chance to be there when one of his teams got to and won the Super Bowl. I think that he will make it into the hall of fame. I just do not think that the color of his skin has anything to do one way or another with his talents as a coach.
Does this make sense to you?
I would venture to guess that if Tom Flores (never heard of him before your post) were to be in the spotlight today, then, yes, he would get more media attention because he is a minority. It seems to me that racism is not worse today than it was before, but that the minorities are using a new found “trump card” to play on their own behalf.
I don’t currently live in the US and therefore am not as connected to all that is going on. But, I would suspect that Dungy is not the one playing this trump card. To him it is a win, regardless of the color of his skin. The attitude that makes a big deal out of him being a minority is the one that keeps the divide between any two (or more) ethnic groups. Dungy seems to be a man of character, therefore the this bit of trivia (a black coach winning the Super Bowl is not that important to him. What is important to him is that he won a Super Bowl. [Now I could be way off on these last statements since I do not see much of the media from the sporting arena and therefore do not know how Dungy is handling things].
Yeah, to be fair, Tony Dungy is not the one making a big deal of this. It is the media that perplexes me.