“He proved that yes, hallelujah yes, good guys can still finish first, even in a sport as tough and brutal as professional football.” This is what Indianapolis Star sports columnist Bob Kravitz wrote in this morning’s paper (February 5) about Indianapolis Colts’ Head Coach Tony Dungy. The coach has been doing it this way for years, usually keeping his team in the running, but never quite grabbing the big prize. Some said he was too nice to win the big one.          

He was fired by the Tampa Bay Buccaneers after several seasons of playoff near-misses. He wasn’t “tough enough,” they said (By the way, that would be the Tampa Bay team that finished last in the NFC South this year with a 4-12 record).          

As Baltimore Sun columnist David Steele wrote, “Hollering, cursing, berating and belittling is not and never will be Dungy’s style; for him calm works better.” Dungee—this great, calm center of the storm—kept the Colts steady when they could have lost it. They could have lost it two weeks ago, for example, when they were behind 21-3 to the 2005 Super Bowl champion New England Patriots. They could have lost it in the first few seconds of this Super Bowl game when the Chicago Bears returned the opening kickoff for a touchdown. It was the first time that has happened in the 41-year history of the Super Bowl. Despite it all, Dungee’s Colts stayed “unshakably, unnervingly cool,” wrote Steele.          

Other NFL coaches have won by shouting and cursing, and probably others will again, but it’s great to see Tony Dungy do it with class and calm.          

According to some analysts, the Colts may have been a better team on paper a year ago. They dominated their division, but didn’t go all the way. As Dungy suggested in the post-game press conference, though, sometimes you have to go through more tests before you’re ready to handle the big one. “The Lord doesn’t always bring you directly there,” he said. “Sometimes you have to work for it.”

B.W.