The Daily Babble

I know it's killing you to know. Not the exact date of heat death for the planet, or the formula for minimum humiliation in Iraq. No, not even the likeliest Harry Potter characters to give up the ghost.

No, what you're really dying to ask is, who does Captain Future like in the Super Bowl?

First of all, I must point out that at this moment the PITTSBURGH STEELERS ARE THE SUPER BOWL WORLD CHAMPIONS. The year isn't over yet, jagoff.

Okay, you've got your Indianapolis Colts, which team the Steelers creamed on the way to the Bowl last year, and their cute QB, Payme Manning. And the Chicago Bears, another of the classic teams of the NFL, along with of course the Pittsburgh Steelers. And their working class quarterback, whatshisname, who by the way I would not count out. Maybe not a glamor boy, but canny and maybe even capable.

The Bowl is unique this year because for the first time there is a black head coach on the sidelines. In fact, there are two. Racism in pro sports is an old story, and a continuing one. It might have taken until 2147 for there to even be a black head coach in the NFL if it had not been for the Rooney Rule, instituted by Dan Rooney, head honco of the Pittsburgh Steelers, (the Rooney family has always owned the Steelers, through three generations) which mandates that every team with a head coaching vacancy must interview at least one qualified non-white candidate for the position.

This rule, coming out of a city with its own history of sports racism, was important to the hiring of those coaches in this year's Bowl, as indeed it was to the recent hiring of the first black head coach of the Pittsburgh Steelers, Mike Tomlin.

But back to the Bowl. I've got my own strong pull to da Bears, having gone to college in downstate Illinois. So I wouldn't be crushed if they won. But my sentimental favoritism has to go with the head coach of the Colts, Tony Dudgy, who was an assistant coach and defensive coordinator as a very young man, with the Pittsburgh Steelers of Chuck Noll. I don't recall meeting him on those few occasions when I interacted with that team for a story, but I do remember his post-game interviews on TV. The thing about Dungy is that he's not only a great football guy, he's a good person. And that's very much the Steelers Way. Even today, management emphasized that they hired Mike Tomlin first of all because he was a good person. Tomlin said the same about assistant coaches he has since hired. It may sound strange, very un-football and un-Steelers, but it is has been a characteristic of the Rooney Steelers since the beginning (sometimes a notable difference from other teams in town.)

So I'm saying win it for Tony. I'm rooting for him. Because he's a Steeler, and even if they play to a draw, I don't think the Steelers get to keep the championship. Which is maybe a rule they should look at.