In light of the Tony Dungy "issue"... - Page 2 - New England Patriots Forums

***DarrylS*** · 02-07-2007, 10:20 AM

I like Dungy, but will never like the Colts. Dungy is a good guy, who is christian not sure what comes first. Either way I respect how he runs his life, how he faced adversity when his son committed suicide and how he openly speaks of his faith. He is somewhat of an odditty in today's professional sports world.

pao · 02-07-2007, 11:38 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by PatsFanInVa

My understanding is that in response to media attention to Dungy/Smith being 2 black head coaches being in the super bowl, Dungy said they should really be talking about 2 Christian coaches being in the super bowl.

This flies in the face of reason, unless he believes this is the first super bowl in which both head coaches were Christian.

In other words, it is on a parallel with 2 black head coaches playing, if indeed Christian coaches are a rarity. I believe from hearing that comment that Dungy is using a very narrow definition of "Christian" that does not include drinking Christians, cursing Christians, etc.

If this is the case, it is mildly irritating to real non-Christians, by the implication that non-Christians are the majority of super bowl coaches, which is clearly not the case. But I would say it is way more of a slap in the face to, say, Cowher and Holmgren, both of whom are members of Christian denominations. Even in the case of a real religious minority coach -- say, Marv Levy -- it took multiple super bowls before his faith was mentioned in the national media. Why make such a point about Christianity, in the context of minority coaches, if you believe confessional group to be "business as usual" in this Super Bowl?

The other possibility is that Dungy is saying race is utterly insignificant, and by comparison, one should focus on dividing by religion, which is much more significant, so much so that "business as usual" in terms of dividing by confessional group (i.e., the usual Christian-Christian super bowl,) is more significant than making the historic "first" by the racial definition.

I think Dungy's saying he and Smith were "real" Christians, taking the familiar tack of using a very narrow definition of the confessional group "Christian," and thereby claiming it to be a minority faith.

But then, since he did not explain which he meant, he has left himself with a lovely halo of plausible deniability. Anyway, the natural most offended parties -- i.e., mainline Catholicism and Protestantism, particularly SB coaches of those faiths -- are not raring to call him out on it. Talk about looking like "sour grapes!"

I will note, however, that Dungy should make a run at Ricky Manning, Jr., who seems also to place confessional group at the heart of his worldview.

PFnV

Are you a writer? Or a lawyer? You are a wordsmith and I enjoy your posts.
pao

jcdavey · 02-07-2007, 01:20 PM

even if his quote was they should be talking about two christian coaches in the superbowl as opposed to two black coaches, sure some could take that the wrong way, but i don't think he's implying that the rest weren't, i think he just wants to use that moment to talk about his and lovie's faith and beliefs

if you want to take something bad from that, another person can just refute that and say , instead of making it just a black thing, tony was including all christians and making it a christ thing

people like to spin anything these days to satisfy their own agendas

PatsFanInVa · 02-07-2007, 07:42 PM

Thanks Pao. I do a good deal of writing in my work and have some publishing credits, but I'm mainly just a verbose jerk that happens to like the Pats

JC, I guess that's where not explaining what you mean comes in handy. Maybe someone should ask him: do you think two Christians haven't coached in this game before? Or are you just saying that any time two Christians coach, it is more worth celebrating than a "first" for a minority group?

Next year, when almost certainly two other Christian coaches (or possibly, one or more of these two return,) will it again be newsworthy from Dungy's point of view?

I don't mind his implications too terribly much, regardless of the case, but I don't see any explanation that isn't a little nasty, once it's fully explored.

(If Marv Levy came back and coached in a SB, for example, shouldn't this by contrast disappoint Dungy? If he is happy when 2 Christian coaches coach, is he less happy if 1 non-Christian does? How can he be "more happy" for it in both instances?

And doesn't it seem that he's defining Christian by his Christianity, a sort of chauvinism toward mainline Christian churches? Really -- doesn't his statement make it seem as if he thinks Holmgren and Cowher, for examples, were not real Christians, at least not both of them?)

PFnV