Casual Football fans think Super Bowl Sunday is the most exciting day of the NFL season. But real fans know that day is conference championship Sunday. And true to form, yesterday’s NFC championship game between the Chicago Bears and New Orleans Saints (which Chicago won 39 to 14) and the AFC championship game between the Indianapolis Colts and New England Patriots (which the Colts won 38-34) did not disappoint.But since I’m not much of a fan (yesterday was the first time I even bothered to tune in to the NFL all season) and even less of a critic of this game, I shall suffice to make only this off-the-field commentary about yesterday’s games:
Almost everyone I know wanted the Saints to win the AFC Championship for no other reason than to revel in the pride and joy a victory would have provided the beleaguered victims of Hurricane Katrina. I, however, wanted the Bears to win because that would make their coach, Lovie Smith (right), the first black in history to coach a team to a league championship!
Of course, this is significant because – even though few of them would admit it today -not so long ago, most white people in America thought blacks did not have the mental ability to play quarterback, let alone coach an NFL Championship team. Therefore, imagine what sweet vindication and racial pride I felt when Smith’s team won in such convincing fashion.
Then, to overwhelm me with belated riches in this respect, Tony Dungy (left), the Colts’ black coach, came along in the second game and led his team to the largest comeback victory in NFL history (having been down at one point 3 to 21) to defeat the heavily favored Patriots in truly dramatic fashion.
Enough said?
Well, perhaps it’s worth noting that blacks are now the dominant quarterbacks in college football: with Troy Smith of Ohio State winning the 2006 Heisman Trophy in a landslide as the best player in college football, and Donovan McNabb of the Philadelphia Eagles being rated fourth amongst quarterbacks in the NFL this season.
So, on to what will now be an even more historic Super Bowl Sunday in Miami!
And, may the best man, um, er, team win. (Although, given my declared racial interest in these two teams, I really can’t lose….) But, because the Bears have already been declared the underdog, and because I know their coach had to have suffered merciless and relentless ribbing throughout his career – having a name like “Lovie” – my pick for the Super Bowl is Chicago!
NFL League Championships
WeblogBahamas.com says
Go Tony Dungy!
RachelsTavern says
We shouldn’t also forget the overwhelming personal tragedy facing Dungy in the past year. His son committed suicide just over a year ago, which adds an additional kind of sentimental overcoming the odds element to the Dungy story.
ALH ipinions says
You’re quite right Rachel. Dungy’s personal tragedy makes my sympathy for Lovie seem every bit as superficial as it was intended to be.
Of course, the sympathy you express for Dungy is the kind that had everyone I know desperately pulling for the Saints to win.
I’m beginning to think I need some sensitivity training ;)