All sorts of pregame details can be found here, with the view from Chicago, Indianapolis, and places in between.
Let's hope we can have a politics-free day, but that may prove difficult. We already had some global warming nonsense earlier this week and one fan would like to forget ethnic politics and enjoy the Super Bowl.
Straightaway after the Chicago Bears defeated the New Orleans Saints and then the Indianapolis Colts defeated the New England Patriots the type was set, the story locked in. Lovie Smith, the Bears coach, and Tony Dungy, the Colts coach, are both African-Americans, and this will mark the first time that an African-American coach has brought his team to a Super Bowl. That there would be two African-American coaches with teams playing against each other was too big a journalistic bonanza to ignore. Far from ignoring it, the fact has been endlessly emphasized. Great vulgar minds think alike.
Yet every time I hear mention of Lovie Smith and Tony Dungy as African-Americans, I wonder if this emphasis on ethnicity is a good thing. The more it goes on the more I feel that on game day Jesse Jackson will be called in to kick extra points, with Al Sharpton holding. Lovie Smith and Tony Dungy are superior men, smart, dignified, cool under fire, and high above the average of ex-jocks who have gone on to coach National Football League teams. Why make such a journalistic meal out of their being African-American? Nothing nearly similar would be taking place if the two coaches were Italian, Jewish, Irish, Ukrainian or Texan.
Enjoy the game!
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