Super Bowl Referee

[JRutledge]

Originally Posted by RichMSN

To you, it mattered. To me, it was two outstanding coaches who deserved to be recognized more for their coaching abilities. I didn't care if their skin was green. The NFL is better having Dungy and Smith among its coaches.

I'll give you the last word if you want to take it.

You are missing the point. It is not an issue if it really matters to you or not. I honestly do not care if it matters to any white person at all. You are not of the same race that Mike or I are. One of the struggles of being African-American is you would like to tell your kids that they can do anything. How can you tell them that honestly when the sport you dominate at most positions, you cannot coach or officiate that sport. I have a friend that works college basketball that is also African-American. He was working a nationally televised game in a conference (I will not mention the conference) on a Saturday and all 3 of the officials were Black. I mentioned to him shortly after the game, “Is that that first time this happen in_______?” And I told him how shocked I was to see three Black officials working such a big time game on national TV. He replied back to me, “We were shocked too.” And there might have been only one white player on both teams and under the right circumstances; there would not have been a white coach if a certain coach did not leave the visiting program.

It sends the wrong message to our kids that they can play the sport at a high level, reach the pinnacle of that sport, but they cannot do every other job in that same sport. And yes, Dungy and Smith are going to help motivate other NFL players and other kids that when they achieve a certain level in that sport, they can also coach and the NY General Manager can also help run a team despite their race. I know as a kid of the 80s I did not think it was realistic to try to coach because I did not see any working any level. And when I would see one, they would be an assistant coach for a few years and soon find something else to do because their opportunities were limited.

If the race of a person holding a position does not matter, when the NY Giants General Manager was hired, the man would not have received multiple phone calls and letters from other prominent African-Americans that he did not know (He talked about this in a round table discussion with Dungy, Smith and Mike Tomlin on NFL Films Presents earlier this year). And as an official that have worked games where African-Americans were not present before, people have made comments to me (of different races) when they notice the reality of the situation. You have the privilege to not worry about that kind of thing, I do not. And since this is America's biggest game, I think it should be noted to all watching that finally a barrier has been broken even if this has nothing to do with the actual job he will do.

Peace