Pace Paw Print

Who knew that history could be made twice in the same day and in a matter of hours? As strange as it might sound, that's what happened when Chicago Bears Head Coach Lovie Smith and Indianapolis Head Coach Tony Dungy became the first two African-American coaches to lead their teams to the Super Bowl after NFC and AFC Championship wins on Jan. 21.

Smith achieved the feat first as his Bears team played the 3:30 p.m. game and Dungy followed suit after an amazing comeback in the 6:30 p.m. game.

Smith and Dungy are very close friends due to their mentor and apprentice style relationship. Dungy helped Smith through the coaching ranks and now both are in the game every coach and team dreams to be.

Even more gratifying for the two coaches was that both of their teams were viewed as the underdogs or the teams that were supposed to lose. The Bears were supposed to lose to the New Orleans Saints although they had a better record than the Saints, and the Colts were supposed to lose to the New England Patriots for the simple fact that in the past they have not been able to beat the Patriots.

Usually in sports, racism or discrimination is the last thing you think about because many of the top professional sports (football, basketball, and baseball) are either dominated by or have large amounts of African-American players within the game. The place where this is not the case is coaching.

In the NFL today there are six African-American coaches including Dungy and Smith of 32 teams. Three of them led their teams to playoffs, one of them had an 8-8 season, another was just officially hired last Monday, and only one had a losing season.

That's the breakdown. Pretty impressive, when you think about it. I am not saying that every team should hire or even have to interview a black coach, but when you do hire someone, race should not even come into play because the success of Dungy and Smith is more than enough proof that African-American coaches are capable of leading a team to the promise land.

No I am not an NFL expert, just a fan with a lot of opinions but one thing I do know is that history is guaranteed to happen one last time in the National Football League (NFL) on Feb. 4 as either Dungy or Smith will be the first African-American coach to win a Super Bowl and hoist the coveted Lombardi trophy.

I believe the Colts will defeat the Bears 27-20 for three reasons. 1. Dwight Freeney will get to Rex Grossman early and often. As soon as Grossman is out of his rhythm the game is over. 2. Peyton Manning is a beast. Once he gets on a roll, I don't know if the Bears can stop him, especially since they didn't have the opportunity to play the Colts this season. 3. Beating the Patriots took the monkey off of Manning's and Dungy's back, so I expect them to be very relaxed but ready to cap the season off with a well deserved ring.

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