Happy MLK Jr. Day- Something to think about
by Brad Wells on Jan 19, 2009 8:18 AM EST
in Colts Analysis
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PrintToday, we celebrate the greatness of the reverend Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Tomorrow, our country will swear in its first black President. On the football side, here is something to chew on: Yesterday, Pittsburgh Steelers coach Mike Tomlin (a young black man at age 36) became the third black head coach to make a Super Bowl. Do you recall any media making a big deal about this?
Flash back to two years ago, when Tony Dungy and Chicago's Love Smith became the first black head coaches in a Super Bowl. Remember what Dungy said when asked about the significance of the event? Well, he pretty much echoed the sentiments of former Boston Celtics great Bill Russell:
"My hope is that someday soon we will get to the point where no one notices the ethnicity of winning coaches, but rather the merits of their success."
Again, Mike Tomlin (a black man) coached his team to the Super Bowl yesterday, and I don't recall the media making a big fuss over the fact that he is, indeed, black. They just simply called him a great, young head coach.
Slowly, we are seeing progress. Happy MLK Day.
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It really is amazing when you think about it.
Only 2 years ago with Tony and Lovie…a big deal. Tomlin was only mentioned as being the youngest coach to take his team to the SB. Isn’t that something? Awesome.
"I throw, you catch. It's NOT that hard!"
Peyton Manning, SNL, 2007
by peytonsthebest on Jan 19, 2009 10:21 AM EST reply actions
Exactly...
I think we’re there. I think MLK’s dream is accomplished. It’s a welcome sight.
Well
I personally don’t think we are “there.” But have gotten closer, that much I do know.
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Yeah I agree with that. There’s still so much blantant racism in this country it’s ridiculous.
This line will remain in my signature until the Colts draft Rashad Jennings in 2009.
by KingRichard on Jan 19, 2009 12:00 PM EST up reply actions
People will still deny it
The election brought out the best and worst about our country. The worst being the Islamophobia and the best being race overlooked enough for a black man to be elected president.
by Colts Homer on Jan 19, 2009 12:09 PM EST up reply actions
Yeah the only people I don’t like are Carnies. Circus folk. Nomads you know. Smell like cabbage. Small hands.
This line will remain in my signature until the Colts draft Rashad Jennings in 2009.
by KingRichard on Jan 19, 2009 12:13 PM EST up reply actions
Nothing a little Slayer can’t fix.
\m/
This line will remain in my signature until the Colts draft Rashad Jennings in 2009.
by KingRichard on Jan 19, 2009 12:16 PM EST up reply actions
awww stupid picture :(
This line will remain in my signature until the Colts draft Rashad Jennings in 2009.
by KingRichard on Jan 19, 2009 12:24 PM EST up reply actions
lol yes
This line will remain in my signature until the Colts draft Rashad Jennings in 2009.
by KingRichard on Jan 19, 2009 12:28 PM EST up reply actions
there are only two types of people I hate
People who are intolerant of other people’s cultures and the Dutch
Shonn Greene for Heisman
Doak Walker award winner
144 yards per game
6.2 yards per carry
08 TDs per game > 06 GPA
by shake n bake on Jan 19, 2009 12:18 PM EST up reply actions
There was also the contingent
who came out to vote for Obama BECAUSE of his race. That’s also racism.
the difference is
That they weren’t voting out of hate of a person because of race unlike people who voted for Obama because he’s black.
Exactly,
I didn’t think that race alone was a good justification to elect anyone, but at least the people who voted for Obama because he was black weren’t voting AGAINST McCain’s race, so much as they were voting FOR Obama’s.
It wasn’t racism, just weak reasoning.
But then again, I thought that there were some “reasons for voting candidate X” that were even weaker than that (OMG, OBAMA IS RADICAL MUSLIM! :P).
What will it take..
for us to get there???
How do you measure something like that? I personally think we are there….
I think we're actually experiencing the reverse right now
Now people are trying so hard to act like race doesn’t matter. Like LovinBlue said, some people voted for Obama solely because he is black. The party in DC right now is a “look how tolerant we are!” party. It looks more like a scene from the election-night episode of South Park than it does a ceremony to swear in our 44th President.
But then again….I voted McCain. :(
Reminds me of something an aunt once said to me
“I was very tolerant of other races growing up – after all, my best friend was Chinese!”
I didn't realized that no one mentioned Tomlin being black.
I agree with BBS; we as a nation haven’t completely gotten ‘there" yet, but we are moving in the right direction. Even though I’m black, I was rooting for Tomlin and Steelers because he’s from Tony’s coaching tree, and I respect Dungy for all he did for the Colts and the NFL, not because he’s black. If Rob Marinelli made it to the Super Bowl, I would be rooting for him too.
I think they mentioned it once, but only tangentially
as in, “Tomlin coached with Dungy, and Dungy and Lovie Smith were the first 2 African American coaches to appear in the Super Bowl.” But his ethnicity was definitely not the focus.
Personally, I’d root for a green-bellied swamp thing if he were the Colts coach.
Will never get there...
Humans will never get to this point because people will always have a bias against others for different things. Homosexuals, obese people, ugly people, handicapped, etc. The idea that people who look different or have different genetic make up will be seen as equal is a dream.
I think hating people being biased for/against based on skin colour is stupid but it is what it is and is no different than all the other bias that exists in the world.
Don’t get me wrong, I think it is great that a black person can be president and it is nice that the whole race thing is getting better (you know, from slavery, segregation, etc) but you’ll never get to the point where everyone is equal because humans in general do not have the mental capacity to be that logical.
What this does do though that is also good is make people like al sharpton and jesse jackson shut up because if a black man can be president and blacks can be in these high profile jobs then nobody should cry that the country holds them down simply because of their skin colour. Obviously there will be some who experience discrimination where they live and from others but again, non-blacks also experience that (specifically from the examples listed at the start of this post) in places too but the point is that there is no ceiling for blacks in the country like there used to be so nobody should say “blacks can’t make it in this country” since reality is showing otherwise.
My only fear is that Obama will be head under a magnifying glass and if anything bad happens under his watch many will bring up his race and we may lose years in progress. It’d be pretty damn pathetic if something happens and you hear some say “that is what happens when you let a black man be president” or get a little bitchy towards blacks…I HOPE this would not happen but I would not be shocked if it did because I am pretty sure that many humans who today may say race doesn’t matter to them will bring it up in a situation like that.
So here is hoping Obama doesn’t have to deal with that and also that he does a great job and maybe turn some of the current “race skeptics” around to realize race should not matter at all.
I hope Al Sharpton and Jesse Jackson
go far, far away. They need to realize that not everyone is holding people down because of their race. Some people are holding themselves down.
It's funny
That Obama’s being called a black man first off. Secondly, I guess I’m happy I’m of mixed race because honestly, and throughout my entire life, race hasn’t been an issue. Obama is just as white as he is black, however, people in the United States, and even some here are referring to him as a black man.
And I don’t know, maybe he won the election because he was an extremely intelligent, head of the Harvard law review and chose Biden as V.P. instead of picking someone who touted Russia’s proximity to their state as foreign relations experience and sole person was to smear and slander someone? It’s funny, I personally think that yes, some people voted for him because he was “black” (even though he’s genetically just as white as he was black and was completely raised by a white family), but I also think that, I don’t know, maybe he was considered more presidential and intelligent? Call me crazy, I know I’m throwing curveballs out there, but I find it highly unlikely that millions of people flocked to him because they felt guilty. I don’t know how old people here are, but I do know that my generation (Y) hasn’t had the same stigmas and prejudices clouding our ability to ascertain if someone has good ideas or endearing qualities based on race as before.
And yes, there were people that voted for him because he was black, but to think that was millions upon millions of people is pretty foolish to believe. The same counties that consistently went Republican still went Republican, and the counties that went Democrat still went Democrat. The difference is, the Democrats, young people, and African Americans finally showed up.
That’s my point, and that’s BigBlue’s point. Regardless of what just happened, future generations won’t be “wowed” by people of different ethnicity’s accomplishing goals that were previously thought unobtainable. I don’t care who you voted for and I don’t care about your reasoning or “they voted for him because he was black or voted against him because he was black”. The fact that the next time a black, asian, female or any other minority does anything substantial won’t be as shocking is what you should be taking out of this. Saying there is no racism is ignorant, but saying Obama only won because of racism is ignorant as well. In fact, if as many people had seen him as a person and listened to him as colorblind as myself and the younger generation as a whole had, it would have been a larger margin of victory. As it stands now, it was a landslide.
I do agree with loregnum that if he fails, he will be a black man that failed. If he succeeds though, he won’t be a black man that succeeded, he’ll be a great president. He has a long way to go and many obstacles along the way to fix the country. How about we give him the benefit of the doubt and support because without it, our country will be worse off, not just African Americans?
Just to clarify
I didn’t mean to imply that Obama was elected only because the black vote turned out (though you yourself do make the point that the African Americans “finally showed up.”) I simply used the example to illustrate another side of racism that people don’t often think about. Truth is there were some people who voted the way they did because of race; they said as much in interviews that day. But I’m quite aware that there were millions of people who voted for other reasons.
As a Libertarian, I voted for neither of the 2 major candidates, knowing I would end up having to support one of them in the end. So please give ME the benefit of the doubt that I can stand behind our federally-elected candidate. Trust me I understand that a rising tide raises all ships.
Uh
If I were directly posting an argument against you I would’ve replied directly underneath you. In fact, what you said I didn’t really have anything against. As you referenced in response to my post. I did, however, see the direction this was heading with the “The party in DC right now is a "look how tolerant we are!" party.” quote.
I’m actually a libertarian myself. And shake’s right, way too political.
Nice quote:
“My hope is that someday soon we will get to the point where no one notices the ethnicity of winning coaches, but rather the merits of their success.”
Too bad the deranged liberal who runs this site completely missed that point with all the other words in his post.
and we've offically gotten too political for a sports blog
Shonn Greene for Heisman
Doak Walker award winner
144 yards per game
6.2 yards per carry
08 TDs per game > 06 GPA
by shake n bake on Jan 19, 2009 7:59 PM EST up reply actions
c'est la vie
give an opportunity for opinionated people to let everyone know what they think,
and they will POUNCE.
What happened to
qoute “This is a sports blogg site and we will keep it as that”. I should have put "I will keep this site clean of political bullshit, on my SB blogging entrance letter. I am not calling this election bullshit, just go to a different blogg to talk about politics.
-sorry I had to use my Big Boy voice.
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