The game itself was decided late
into the third quarter as the Indianapolis Colts slowly, inexorably pulled away
in victory over the Chicago Bears in Super Bowl XLI.
But the bigger storyline played
itself out during the course of the game and as the final seconds ticked off the
clock, as Tony Dungy became the first black head coach to lead his team to a
Super Bowl victory.
Much had been made in the weeks
leading up to the game that both Dungy and Chicago Bears coach Lovie Smith
already had made history, becoming the first black head coaches to reach their
sport's ultimate stage. Dungy took a moment to recognize the historic
significance of the moment. As he accepted the Vince
Lombardi trophy, Dungy thanked the black assistant head coaches before him that
paved the way such as Jimmy Ray, Sherman Lewis and
Lionel Taylor.
"Great coaches," Dungy said later,
"that I know could have done this if they'd been given the opportunity. I feel
good I was the first one to do it and represent the guys who came before me. I
dedicate the game to them," Dungy told ESPN.
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"There's a lot of African-American
men that can do the job," Dungy added after the game.
The victory was a particularly
significant moment of redemption for Dungy, who was fired by the Tampa Bay
Buccaneers in 2002 after leading that team to the playoffs in successive years,
only to see his replacement lead the team to a Super Bowl victory with the team
he created just a year later.
"I'm proud
to be the first African-American coach to win this," Dungy said during the
trophy ceremony. "But again, more than anything, Lovie Smith and I are not only
African-American but also Christian coaches, showing you can do it the Lord's
way. We're more proud of that."
Super Bowl
Hit a Diverse Note
As most
Super Bowl fans know, the game itself is only part of the night's festivities.
The other main event of the evening is commerical gawking, as companies spend
huge amounts of their advertising budget to capture the attention of the
millions of fans gathered around the tube.
But did the
ads reflect the diversity of the audience watching the game? Yes ... and
no.
Of the 48
ads that ran at a cost of $2.6 million for a 30-second slot, a smattering
included people of color in ensemble spots (for the sake of this discussion,
we're not including the Oprah Winfrey-David Letterman "Super Bowl of Love"
cuddle spot). But easily, there were two standouts among the evening's
commercials.
The first
was The Coca-Cola Co.'s simple yet effective tribute to accomplishments of black
trailblazers throughout history in recognition of Black History Month. Against a
simple white backdrop adorned only with an evolving Coca-Cola bottle, the text
read:
North Pole,
1909 - A black man is on top of the world
Brooklyn,
1947 - Baseball shows us courage, it's #42
D.C., 1963
- A man inspires a nation to dream together
Coca Cola
celebrates Black History.
For more on
Coca-Cola, No. 3 on The
DiversityInc Top 50 Companies for Diversity® list, see Coca-Cola: From
Discrimination Suit to Diversity Leader in the Jan./Feb. 2007 issue of
DiversityInc magazine.
The other
spot of note was Frito-Lay's, as the company, part of PepsiCo, No. 18 on the Top
50, took special note of the cultural significance of Dungy and Smith becoming
the first two black head coaches to reach the Super Bowl. The spot featured
black football fans, young and old, huddled up to the television across the
country as the game played out. The closing line is spoken by an unseen football
announcer while a grandfather looks down with hope at his grandson. "We've got
more than a game here. We've got history. Not just getting here. But what
getting here represents."
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