Congratulations to the Indianapolis Colts, Super Bowl XLI champions!

I’ve followed the Colts pretty much since they came to Indy. Endured through a 1-15 season, several 3-13 seasons, had a glimpse of hope with the Harbaugh era (a hail Mary pass from the Super Bowl) and 8 seasons of being on the verge of greatness.
They are a different team now, a championship team, a team tested by fire.

Yesterday, they had a parade from the airport to the RCA Dome in below zero weather. That’s about 10 miles or so and people lined the streets. The Dome was filled to capacity, the parade ended there with a big party staring the owner, coach and players.
Rally Video
Man! I wish I would have gone there. I’ll make sure to do it next year.

“We’re going to win one. But we’re going to win one the right way. We’re going to win it with great guys. We’re going to win it with class and dignity. And we’re going to win it in a way that will make Indianapolis proud.” -Tony Dungy

Mission accomplished. Couldn’t have happened to a greater coach, quarterback, team and organization.

Can’t wait until next year!

Drum roll please…

My Super Bowl XLI pick is… The Colts.
Yeah, I know, big surprise. Here’s why I pick them:
1) They are the better team overall.
The Colts
Offense: They have struggled some in the post season and yet are still number 2 in the post season rankings. Plus, they played two of the toughest defenses in the NFL, and came out the other side.
Defense: In the regular season, they flat out sucked. Since week 14 and the post season, they are ranked 10th. In the post season alone, ranked 1st. Has any defense ever turned around that dramatically and that quickly? That’d be an interesting stat to see.

The Bears
Offense: They’ve been up and down and yet still had the 3rd highest scoring offense in the regular season, 1st in the post season. But they also have not met that tough of a defense yet.
Defense: Their regular season strenght has become their post season liability. Since week 14, they are ranked 28th. This is the reason I think its going to be a long day for the Bears.

Special Teams:
This is the one chink in the Colts armor. They can’t afford to give up field position like they did against the Pats. And the Bears have a strong return game.

2) They slayed the dragon.
I don’t care what any Colt player or coach says, beating the Patriots was more than what they’ve made it out to be. Something in the Colts died two weeks ago. Doubt. They killed it and they are stronger for it. In the world of intangibles, what happened in the AFC Championship game is invaluable.

I’ll be a a friend’s house watching the game on a 72″ HDTV. Its going to be awesome.

I had the opportunity to put on a lunch seminar on football at work on Friday.
As I’ve mentioned before, my place of employment is predominately Chinese and Indian. A few weeks ago I was talking to a couple of guys about football and they had no idea of how the game was played. They said it just looked like chaos with guys running around on the field. So, I attempted to explain the game to them and soon realized that I had my work cut out for me. They didn’t even understand the field itself, the endzones or really anything about the game.

The president of the company is always encouraging people to share different aspects of their culture with others. Holidays and celebrations usually. I emailed him and told him that I would put on a “Football 101″ class. He loved the idea and even ordered a giant Subway sandwich for the event.

They’ve done several of these types of lunchtime events before and I was told this was one of the biggest turnouts for it. It was standing room only. And they were seriously into it. People were taking notes, asking questions and paying very close attention to everything I said. Its like it was an actual college course or something.

I went through a power point presentation going over the basics of the game. The key was getting them to under stand a “set of downs.” I had a football with me and a couple of other Americans helped me demonstrate a few things. After that we actually watched some of the Colts v Pats game.
I had the NFL Replay of the game recorded. I brought in my DVR unit and walked them through the second half. Showed what a kickoff, field goal, pass, run play, etc looked like. Then I got to show them one of the greatest interceptions to ever happen in a game

I never realized how much of the terminology and basic aspects of the game are taken for granted when we talk about football. It was a pretty difficult task but a success from the feedback and questions I got afterwards.

If anyone wants a copy of the presentations you can download it here:
http://www.therileyfamily.org/misc/football101.ppt
Be warned, all the pictures are of Colts players.

I’ve been meaning to write a blog about the coaches in the Super Bowl this week. Tony Dungy and Lovie Smith, who, if you haven’t heard already (maybe you live in a cave) are both bla… I mean African-American.

First, let me say that I think its great that our society is progressing and that stereotypes are breaking and that race is becoming less and less of an issue. The NFL has made great leaps in the past 20 years in the area of race.
However, I think those barriers are mostly gone in the NFL and the hubbub over the past two weeks as been nothing more than politically correct self back-patting. There have been black head coaches in the league for some time now so it was only a matter of time before one of them made it to the Super Bowl.
The P.C. stuff is out of control if you ask me. Its to the point where a black commentator (Shannon Sharpe) has to stop himself mid-sentence on national TV to keep from saying “black coach” in order to defer to the politically correct and more ambiguous “African-American.” (Side note, I went to college with a white girl from South Africa. She got her citizenship, making her an African-American.)

OK, on to coach Dungy. He’s had some great comments on the whole thing over the past two weeks. He’s said that he is glad to be a role model for black kids to look up to and to know that they have the potential to reach such heights. But he has also done something else, he’s been sure to say how his Christian faith has shaped him as a coach and a person.

He told of how he experienced discrimination as he interviewed for coaching jobs, not because of his skin color but because of his demeanor and his attitude. One interviewer asked if he became coach would the team be the most important thing to him. He said no, that his family would come before the team. He didn’t get the job.

That has long been the critisim of Dungy. He’s too soft. That’s what they said when Tampa won the Super Bowl the year after he left. Dungy built the team but he couldn’t get them there. They’ve done the same thing since he’s been in Indianapolis. He even had some of his onw players saying it (remember the ‘idiot kicker’ comments?) The same sports media that is putting him on a pedestal because of his skin color were the same people cutting him down for his personality and, indirectly, his faith.
His style is atypical of an NFL coach. They are usually red faced on the sideline, cursing, belittling players on and off the field. Those are the tough guys, those are the guys that win championships. Not Dungy, he lets his faith inform his coaching. He has a quite but firm sideline demeanor. He treats his players with respect, treats them as men. And, here’s a shocker, they respond as such. And now he’s collecting the dividends, playing in the game that’s the ultimate goal of every player and coach in the NFL.

Lovie Smith was originally hired into the NFL by Dungy. Lovie has followed much the same pattern as Dungy in form and style. And he leads with his faith.
Both coaches are good men, and good friends. Whoever wins, the best man wins.
Tony and Lovie are good for the game not because of their skin color, but because of who they are as people and because of their faith.