Super Bowl Special: For African-Americans, This Year's Game Is a Much Bigger Deal Than You Think
Talk About Making History: Not Only Are Both Super Bowl Teams Being Led For the First Time By Black Coaches, But the Game Itself is Being Held During Black History Month -- And On the 30th Anniversary of the 'Roots' TV Miniseries, No Less
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DEAR READERS: In a break from my usual commentary, I've chosen to present the following article to commemorate the special historic significance of this year's Super Bowl in Miami. My next regular commentary will be posted next Monday, February 19. Enjoy the game! -- Skeeter Sanders
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SATURDAY SPECIAL
By Errin Haines and Steven Wine
The Associated Press
With two African American head coaches leading their respective teams in the Super Bowl for the first time, the historic accomplishment presents a welcome dilemma for many black football fans: Which one do you root for?
Many are not picking sides in Sunday's game — they see Indianapolis Colts Coach Tony Dungy and Chicago Bears Coach Lovie Smith's presence in the NFL's biggest game as a win-win situation.
"We can't lose," said New York University history professor Jeffrey Sammons, who studies sports and race.
Black coaches led two of the four teams that reached the NFL's conference title games, so the odds were good that one would make history and become the first black coach in the Super Bowl. Many African American fans without team allegiances prepared to root for either Dungy or Smith over a white rival.
But with Dungy and Smith set to oppose one another in the NFL's championship game -- which is taking place on the first weekend of Black History Month -- many black fans are deciding who to pull for on even more trivial criteria.
In Atlanta, a city often regarded as a bellwether for African American popular culture, the topic has been on the minds of many blacks for days.
Some Are Even Calling This Year's Game the "Soul Bowl"
Music artist Greg Xmaz idolized former Chicago Bears defensive lineman William "The Refrigerator" Perry as a child, so the 25-year-old plans to root for Perry's old team. "He was a black man that was very successful when I was growing up as a kid. And he was fat and I was fat. It was something I could relate to," Xmaz said.
Xmaz showed off a T-shirt that read "Soul Bowl I: The First African American Super Bowl Coaches," with photos of Dungy and Smith.
Andre Wiggins, an accountant, has rooted for Dungy for a couple of years, hoping the black coach would finally get his chance. Wiggins said he had the same feeling of pride when Redskins quarterback Doug Williams led his team to win Super Bowl XXII, becoming the first black quarterback to do so nearly 20 years ago.
Wiggins, 38, said he likes Dungy because he has helped other black coaches break into the field, including Smith, who was an assistant to Dungy when he coached at Tampa Bay. "I like to see black people do well," Wiggins said.
Colleague Mike Holley said he will be looking farther down the sidelines to see which coach has the greatest number of African Americans on his coaching staff. In a league where 70 percent of the players are black, nine of the Colts' 17 coaches are black, as are seven of the Bears' 19 coaches.
Fans Raise Issue of of Blacks In NFL's Management Ranks
Radio personality Ryan Cameron brought up the topic on Atlanta's V-103 FM last week after hearing two black women discussing the issue in an elevator. On the show, Cameron said the callers — predominantly African American women — were very passionate about the subject, whether or not they were football fans.
"For somebody who's not a sports fan, they've got to have a reason to root," said Cameron. "In today's society, race is still an issue, even though we try to say it's not as big a deal anymore." The fact that Sunday's game is also being held on the 30th anniversary of the "Roots" television miniseries about the late author Alex Haley's African American ancestors wasn't lost on Cameron, either.
Reggie Green, an architect who was a newborn baby when "Roots" first aired, said he will cheer for Chicago, but said he's just out for a good name for blacks. "It's always a black thing for me, even if it's ice skating," he said.
Tyrone Buckner, a 37-year-old accountant in Atlanta, said the issue in this year's Super Bowl is one of African American pride. "We know that a black man's gonna win the Super Bowl," he said.
The "Roots" miniseries, which aired on ABC on eight consecutive nights in February 1977, attracted a then-unprecedented 130 million viewers, according to the Nielsen television ratings service. Officials of both the NFL and CBS, which is broadcasting Sunday's game, expect that record to fall, with as many as 150 million viewers -- 50 percent of the nation's population -- expected to watch the game.
A Proud Moment For the Coaches, Too
Posing for photos Friday alongside the Lombardi Trophy, Dungy wore a blue suit and slight smile. Smith wore a gray suit and his game face. Kickoff was only 57 hours away. A new wrinkle in the Super Bowl week routine, added months ago, briefly brought the coaches together during their morning news conferences.
It's believed to be the first time the two Super Bowl head coaches have posed together with the championship trophy before the game. The pictures will commemorate the Super Bowl's first black head coaches — who also happen to be close friends. When the photo session ended, they shook hands and hugged, and Smith departed.
"It's a proud moment for me, an awesome moment," Dungy said, "not only because of what that symbolized for African American people and African American coaches, but more than that because of who I was standing with."
Their relationship dates to 1996, when Dungy hired Smith to coach linebackers for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. They have been the lead story all week, discussing daily the laid-back demeanor and Christian faith they share, as well as their groundbreaking achievement.
Like Dungy, Smith was pleased to pose with his friend — a genial moment before the biggest game of their careers.
"This is a different week," Smith said. "We have two black head coaches leading our teams. We're doing things a little bit differently. You can respect an opponent and have a relationship with them before and after the game. That's how we're doing it."
They've crossed paths at several functions this week, but may not see each other again until Sunday. The Colts playing in their first Super Bowl since they moved to Indianapolis from Baltimore in 1984, while the Bears seek their first NFL title since they smothered the New England Patriots in Super Bowl XX in 1986.
During their final pregame media session, the coaches answered questions posed by reporters from such exotic locales as France, Germany, Hungary and Tyler, Texas. Smith recalled growing up in Big Sandy, Texas, where he led the Wildcats to three consecutive state championships — and envisioned taking part in the Super Bowl.
"At Big Sandy, we won just about every game," Smith said. "It helps you to picture winning wherever you are. You wanted to end up here. This is where the true champion is crowned."
For NFL, A Chance to Exorcise an Ugly Ghost: The Super Bowl Riots of 1989
For the NFL, holding this year's game in Miami is also an opportunity to exorcise a ghost -- and a much uglier chapter of African American history -- that has haunted the league since 1989. It was in the days leading up to Super Bowl XXIII, also in Miami, when the city's African American neighborhoods of Liberty City and Overtown were swept by rioting.
The violence was in response to a white off-duty police officer shooting and killing a fleeing black motorcyclist on Martin Luther King Jr. Day two weeks earlier. His passenger, who was also shot, died in the hospital a day later.
Players preparing to compete in the Super Bowl struggled to cope. The Cincinnati Bengals, who stayed at the Omni International Hotel -- just six blocks from Overtown -- could see fires from their rooms and were cautioned not to leave the hotel.
Cincinnati quarterback Boomer Esiason said, 'What's going on out there is life. It makes you ask yourself, `What does football really matter?' ''
In addition to questions about the game, players were asked about the morality of the NFL shielding its players from the violence rather than using the Super Bowl to try to quell the riots.
Bengals guard Max Montoya preferred players not interject themselves into the uproar. ''It's not the place for the NFL or its players,'' Montoya told reporters. ``It's a deeply rooted problem for the city, a lot deeper than football.''
Five days before the Super Bowl, following a trip to the theater, Cincinnati Bengals defensive back Solomon Wilcots said: "A bunch of us went to see [the movie] 'Mississippi Burning' and came back to see Miami burning.''
Two days before kickoff, vendors began selling T-shirts with the slogan: I survived Miami '89: It was a riot.''
The Bengals didn't survive the game, however. They lost to the San Francisco 49ers, 20-16.
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(Sara Rothschild of The Miami Herald contributed to this report.)
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Volume II, Number 9
Saturday Special Copyright 2007, The Associated Press.
"The 'Skeeter Bites Report" Copyright 2007, Skeeter Sanders. All Rights Reserved.