My Obligatory Statement on the Negro Bowl

Honestly, I'm not all that excited Tony Dungy and Lovie Smith are going to be the first Black coaches to participate in the Super Bowl (coined as the Negro Bowl by T.A.N.). They don't coach my home team nor do I find them otherwise exciting. (I like my men exciting.) But I'm happy for them - and Us. The first step is to be seen. Just be seen. Being seen as leaders, managers, and/or winners is just icing.

I've been one of the few, the proud, the integrating for as long as I can remember. And I know that many people in the US lack the opportunity to have a meaningful interaction with a person of another race. And it goes for people of all races. White people tend to feel more comfortable with other White people. Black people tend to feel more comfortable with other Black people. Hispanic people tend to feel more comfortable with other Hispanic people. And so on and so on... Most people live their whole lives within a few miles of where they were born. I think it would be generous to say that maybe 30% of the people in this country have had a voluntary, genuine, "having a beer together"-type interaction with a person of another race.

Articles about race are always better with a personal anecdote, so I won't leave you hanging. It was not that long ago that I was in high school. I live in Atlanta, a city more mixed than most in this country. I went to a mixed high school but spent most of my time as one of 2 Blacks in the pack of about 30 mostly White students that I traveled with. In getting to know my classmates, it shocked me that my classmates had never been to my neighborhood. My high school was in a neighborhood called Buckhead, which is a traditionally affluent White neighborhood in north Atlanta (Ray Lewis incident, Gold Club). My home was in a neighborhood called southwest Atlanta, which is a traditionally affluent Black neighborhood in south Atlanta (Hank Aaron lives there). As someone who lived in Atlanta my whole life, I had been to just about all of the neighborhoods in my city - to shop, to visit, just to drive through. But many of my classmates had no idea where my neighborhood was. And it is a whole quadrant of the city! (Not to mention, the other two quadrants of the city are also predominantly Black.) I couldn't believe they had never even gotten lost there. My classmates were nice people, but my community was literally invisible to them. That reality still shocks me to this day.

All that to say, I don't belittle the value of just being present and noticed.

But the recent development involving Black coaches that caught my attention was the hiring of Mike Tomlin. Getting an opportunity to be seen by a gatekeeper or even a television viewer in a small town in Utah is great, but it is only a first step. That first notice will eventually evolve into a sincere appreciation. And the Steelers obviously value Mike Tomlin. I'm not so cynical as to believe the Rooneys would sabotage their own legacy by hiring someone they didn't genuinely believe would elevate their franchise (although I do believe they might have been looking to save a little coin).

Considering that other teams were having 10, 12, 14 hour marathon interviews with their minority coaching candidates, my own Atlanta Falcons quickly dispensed of two minority candidates in one day just to hire some college guy the GM had been buddies with for a long time. But the Pittsburgh Steelers didn't do that. They had candidates that were favorites - Ken Whisenhunt and Russ Grimm. It would have been easy for them to just choose one of those guys. That's what was expected of them. But the Rooneys weren't looking to meet expectations, they were looking to fill a position that had certain and specific criteria. They wanted someone they could retain long term. They wanted someone enthusiastic. They wanted someone who would win. And they let the candidate reveal himself to them. And that guy was Mike Tomlin, who just happens to be Black.

And that makes me feel good. Mike Tomlin's hiring was distinctive from Tony's and Lovie's because those men were given lemons that they made into lemonade. Tomlin is being given lemonade. The Steelers are a proud franchise with something to lose by putting the Rooney in the Rooney rule. Some guy at the Miami Herald thinks that the playing field is level now and it may be time to discard the Rooney rule. Not so fast. Not until the Mike Singletary, Ron Rivera and Norm Chows of the world get jobs as quickly as Jim Mora. Whatever your feelings on affirmative action, set-asides or quotas, nepotism is the greatest entitlement program that has ever existed.

For sure, I'm envious of all of the Black coaches. Dungy and Smith succeeded, in part, because they were given an opportunity in prove themselves within a meritocracy. Every profession is not a meritocracy. My profession is not. Dungy, Smith and Tomlin are a little bit luckier than the rest of us.

A sincere belief in some one's talent regardless of ancillary or miscellaneous factors demonstrates that you value that person. That's the type of validation I want as a Black person. Indeed, that's the validation all people crave. And, to me, Pittsburgh validated Mike Tomlin's abilities as a coach. So that's why, while I'm well aware that Superbowl XLI features the Colts and the Bears, I'm rooting for the Steelers.