Smith, Dungy remind us what is right in our land

By JASON WHITLOCK
McClatchy Newspapers

http://www.thestate.com/mld/thestate/sports/16522642.htm

INDIANAPOLIS — In the minutes after Peyton Manning answered his critics, Indianapolis advanced to the Super Bowl, and the Colts and Patriots completed a playoff classic, Tony Dungy said he didn’t want to talk about the overriding story of Super Bowl XLI.

Dungy, perhaps the classiest coach in professional sports, is right.

Today we should focus on the breathtaking comeback that Manning engineered, the wild ride the Patriots and Colts took us on and the joy football fans in Indianapolis must be feeling.

Indy’s 38-34 victory in the AFC championship is worth reliving and relishing. The Colts rallied from a 21-3 hole, two offensive linemen and one defensive lineman scored, and Manning and Tom Brady exchanged haymakers throughout the fourth quarter. It was Ali vs. Frazier, and the Colts landed the final blow, intercepting Brady at the Indy 35.

We should leave Tony Dungy vs. Lovie Smith in Super Bowl XLI for another day.

But I can’t do it. This is an historic moment in sports, a moment bigger than the game.

Two blacks, Dungy and Smith, will lead the teams in America’s biggest sporting event. No black coach has won a Super Bowl. No black coach had advanced to the Super Bowl. Now there are two in the same game.

This is significant, and it says something about America. Something that needs to be repeated and shouted from the rooftops.

America, while not perfect, is the land of opportunity.

We get so caught up in stating what’s wrong with America that we sometimes forget to talk about what’s right.

Dungy and Smith, the coach of the NFC champion Bears, prove that blacks can accomplish whatever they set their mind to in America.

Is racism still a problem in America? Yes.

But it’s inappropriate to tell kids that America is so governed by racism that a black man or woman can’t reach the highest level of professional success. Too many blacks have spent so much time using racism as an excuse for failure that we’ve failed to point out to black children just how much opportunity is out there waiting on them to grab it.

Dungy and Smith were unafraid to reach for the American Dream, unafraid to sacrifice for the American Dream, unafraid to help each other along the way.

This is a beautiful story that needs to be repeated and shouted from rooftops.

Dungy was born to educators in Jackson, Mich. He was a star quarterback in high school and at the University of Minnesota. He was twice MVP of the Gophers. Partly because of the NFL’s reluctance to embrace black quarterbacks in the 1970s, Dungy entered the NFL as an undrafted free-agent safety for the Pittsburgh Steelers.

Racism threw Dungy a roadblock. He sidestepped it and became a starter on a Steelers’ Super Bowl team. When his career ended, he set his sights on becoming an NFL coach. He paid his dues as an assistant at Pittsburgh, Kansas City and Minnesota and landed a head-coaching assignment at age 41 with the sad-sack Tampa Bay Buccaneers.

By perfecting his Cover 2 defensive scheme, Dungy turned the Bucs into winners, a team that knocked at the Super Bowl’s door. While in Tampa, he taught Lovie Smith and Herm Edwards the principles and philosophies that made them fine NFL coaches.

After six seasons, as pro teams are prone to do, the Bucs fired Dungy, and the Colts snapped him up.

Despite several playoff disappointments, Indy’s ownership remained loyal to the most beloved coach in professional sports. Indy general manager Bill Polian and team owner Jim Irsay helped Dungy weather the suicide of his son last season.

Their faith in Dungy was rewarded on Sunday when the Colts sneaked past New England.

America is far from perfect. But America has made great progress along black-white racial lines. We need to shout that reality as loudly as we shout the injustice reality. Kids need to hear it long after Super Bowl XLI is over.