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Super(Bowl) Racism
January 22nd, 2007 @ 19:53:17 | Life, Sports
OK – only 5 of my 11 picks for the ongoing NFL Playoff season turned out to be right, and more importantly, my favorite team – New England Patriots – played uncharacteristically to loose another Super Bowl appearance. But no regrets – Colts played really really well in the second half to win the game. If at all they (Colts) go on to win the Super Bowl in two weeks, it will be nothing short of a Hollywood script – win over the once uncrossable hurdle, called Patriots, to get there – being the Bollywood like almost-climax scene 
Well, that is not the meat of this entry. Eversince Chicago Bears won their seat in the Super Bowl XLI, the commentators (and just about every other sportscaster, news reader, and so on) started the flood of statements – all in effect meaning — Lovie Smith, the first African American Head Coach to appear in Super Bowl. This flood only increased as Colts also so booked their Super Bowl ticket — Tony Dungy joins Lovie Smith as the first African American Head Coach to appear in Super Bowl.
Here’s something I don’t understand. For as long as I can remember, we have been trying to get past identifying people and their achievements not based on the color of their skin or the race they belong to. And for every one step we take in the positive direction, we seem to be taking two more steps in the backward direction – revoking unnecessary thoughts and forcing people to identify their fellows by color and/or race.
Just like just about anybody in the NFL family (owners, coaches, players, officials, front office staff, fans, …), I have the highest of respects/regards for Dungy and Smith. But come Super Bowl Sunday, I am more than 100% sure that much of the TV/Radio commentary will hover around two African American Coaches leading their respective teams. And come to think of it – one of them has to loose and the other has to win. What will the legacy of these two head coaches will be? The way media is portraying things, we will tend to (or be forced to) forget all the great things that these two have done to all the teams they have been with and just remember that Coach A was the first African American to win the Super Bowl and that Coach B was the first African American to loose the Super Bowl. Personally, I consider this to be a very big shame – on the media and on just about anybody who would make such a remark. Last year’s Pro Football (NFL) Hall of Fame induction ceremony also had one of them speak a lot about such things.
It’s not the first time that this has happened and it wouldn’t be last time that this will happen either but it’s about time (and we have been saying this for a loooooooooooooong time) that we stop saying and actually start acting/doing something about it. Now that I think about it, we would be accomplishing a lot in this regard if don’t even say anything – a rather very special case where doing something does not require any talking! If we don’t talk about it, sooner or later, we will (hopefully) stop thinking about it…
nice write up bro!
lotsa gutsy calls, appreciate it.
Just when I groaned – “Yet another football post”, you weeded it into something that interests me. I agree with you a 100%. Acknowledging the differences in skin colour at every level, ie, first African American to grow a nose et al, we are actively engaging in seperation of the world on the basis of colour. Ideally, we must be able to remain unified in spirit without lines of divide. But we never do it. Reminds me of my teacher’s quote : “Being different is fine, but expecting to not deal with differences is neurotic”.Lets face it. Yes, black is diff from white. But what can we do to co-exist in the real-world?? -Should be the mainstream thought. Not idealism that we are all the same. No! we are not created equal.
And, just because we are not born the same, it does not make the world any less beautiful! To be able to understand and appreciate differences- is hard. And it is easier to point to differences and crib