There have been many theories regarding the negotiations or lack of regarding ex-Steelers AAA cornerback Joey Porter Jr. being promoted to the parent club, the Dallas Cowboys, in the middle of the night, when many folks including yours truly, were clearly under the influence of Hydrocodone so some other conscious altering medication.
For almost two full decades, many Pittsburgh haters, skaters, imitators and instigators mistreated ex-Pittsburgh Steelers head coach Mike Tomlin as if he were a burglar discovered drunken and asleep on the sofa of a victim’s home with a partially eaten sandwich placed in a dirty saucer on the living room coffee after the perpetrator has raided the fridge and the bar in the mancave.
Mike Tomlin’s former head coach in Tampa Bay was Tony Dungy and Jon Gruden.
Dungy took over as head coach of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers in 1996. He held that role for about six seasons, from 1996-2001. Under his leadership, the Buccaneers really turned a corner, becoming a consistent playoff contender, which was a huge turnaround for the long-suffering Tampa Bay Buccaneers franchise.
Many people scolded the Steelers management for hiring a young and inexperienced head coach such as Michael Pettaway Tomlin when Steelers HOF Head Coach Bill Cowher departed the team on January 5, 2007. The Pittsburgh fan base began to gripe and whine incessantly because in their uninformed opinion, the young EEOC-supported head coach poached future Super Bowl-type players from ex-Steelers head coach Bill Cowher. Tomlin was no more than an unwelcome usurper, a non-qualified outsider with skin that was overloaded with melanin, incapable of identifying a pierogi or knowing where to grab an Iron City beer during an extreme “Yinzer 911 call.”
After Dungy was dismissed, he was hired as the new head coach of the Indianapolis Colts on January 22, 2002. It was an important moment for the Colts. Back in Tampa, Tomlin was the defensive backs coach for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers beginning in 2001. He held that position through the 2005 season. There is a glaring negative regarding the reason that the tenure of Mike Tomlin was extended until the end of the 2005 season because Jon Gruden hadn’t gotten full use out of his young defensive guru. See folks, when Tony Dungy was retained as the new headmaster of the Colts, I believe he wanted to take Mike Tomlin with him, but the new head coach of the Buccaneers, Jon Gruden, kept Tomlin on his staff in Tampa.
However, Tampa Bay Buccaneers headmaster Jon Gruden permitted Mike Tomlin to be interviewed and eventually hired as the defensive coordinator of the Minnesota Vikings when Brad Childress became the head coach of the Minnesota Vikings back in 2006. Gruden wouldn’t allow Tony Dungy to interview Tomlin after Dungy was forced out as the head coach of the Buccaneers. Many people believe as I do that “politics is the hidden definition of your heart.” An article was recently posted by Sayed on msn.com. The title of the piece was: “Trump called Jon Gruden out of the crowd at an Ohio rally. The Super Bowl winning coach made a direct appeal to voters: Let’s be there.” The following contains a few excerpts from the article. One passage says that: “Jon Gruden did not stay in the crowd for long on Saturday in Vandalia. President Donald Trump spotted the Super Bowl-winning coach at a rally for Ohio Senator Jon Husted, called him out from the stage, and later handed him the microphone.” Trump responded saying that: “We even have one of my favorite coaches in the whole world here, Jon Gruden. He’s a great coach, and he’s a very good golfer, too. We had a good time. Great winner. He’s a winner.”
It seems that many coaches hailing from the college and professional ranks keep their politics in the back alley and undercover until after they have robbed our culture of vast amounts of capital and have stolen children with athletic ability from Black and brown communities of color, without reservation or remorse. Former colleges like Auburn University employed head coaches like ex-Auburn head coach Tommy (maggot) Tuberville, not only taught our children, supposedly, the game of football but Tuberville also promoted the notion of the fantasy that being a soldier in the present army of the gray skunks is an honor and will help prove beyond the shadow of a doubt that “the Confederacy is far from dead,” and this band of 21st-century deviants is just a bit low on money and blood.
Tuberville expresses his displeasure with “furries.” What’s wrong, Toe-mass? Are you jealous because you can’t get in on the action? Please don’t continue to be naïve or maybe even downright stupid. Don’t expect or even suspect that Black or some athletes of color will ever step on a level playing field. Why? Well, because my late wife Jennifer once told me that “some folks are of the opinion that many Blacks are undervalued because a select group of the population from Latin America have the distinct advantage of being bi-lingual and having “good hair.” As far as I am concerned, what my wife said makes pretty good sense to me.