Monday, January 21, 2008

The biggest non-story...

I have to tell you folks, I knew it all along. I don't claim to know what was really going on with Tony's son and the Tampa high school. I don't know Tony nor any of his family or confidants. I just didn't seem like he was done. All year, he's seemed energized and enthused. It seemed like if he walked away after this year, he'd just be coming back later on in his life, and I don't think that's what he wants. I'm sure Tony really did take time to evaluate his life like he said, and I'm not questioning the very real process of prayer that he and his family engaged in. I'm just saying, it wasn't time yet. Had the story of his son not broken in the Tampa papers, I have a feeling this press conference would have had about the same footnote feel that last year's did. Sometimes, a little information is worse than none at all, ask yahoo sports or whatever internet jackhole it was who tried and put 2 and 2 together and read Caldwell's decision to not pursue other jobs as an indication that Tony was done.

I believe that Tony Dungy is one of the top three coaches in football. I've seen him beat some of the best coaches around, and only put Belichick and Fisher on his level. I believe he's a sure fire Hall of Famer some day. I believe that he is the single best coach to coach this particular team.

I'm glad he's coming back.

Now let's get about the business of winning another ring. That's how you go out.

Lenny P weighs in saying that Tony is good for the NFL.

John Clayton expects a similar kind of effort from Tony as he gave this year.

In other news, Peyton gives some advice to Eli.

And...hope springs eternal...

6 comments:

Joel said...

It was Pro Football Talk that "broke" the story that he was out. They've gone on record today to say that "their source misinformed them." A la Herbstreit and Les Miles. Journalistic integrity is becoming more and more of an oxymoron these days.

Deshawn Zombie said...

It's partially because 'journalism' has been stretched thin. It used to be about a few trained professionals. Now it's any idiot with a key board or a playing career. There's too much dead air to fill, and that makes people need to say things to fill it, even it's garbage

HeatherRadish said...

Dunno about THAT. I'll take an "idiot with a keyboard" who actually cares about verifying and conveying the facts over any "trained professional journalist" with a facts-be-damned agenda to sell (Google "Rathergate").

But enough with the unpleasantries. This is excellent news.

I wonder if Eric wanted to play HS football in FL with an eye to getting recruited into a better NCAA scholarship. There's a reason the Big 10 schools recruit from FL and the ACC/SEC don't recruit from the Midwest, although damned if I can figure it out.

Anonymous said...

What I find interesting is how many good unpaid bloggers are doing a better journalistic job then a lot of the so called paid "professional journalists". I don't know if it's the pressures on them from above or just laziness.

I generally like Phil B Wilson but he butchered that story on my family and our season ticket situation. I don't know if that happened because he didn't want to spend the time to right the real story or he just was too contrained by his editors.

The press as a whole hole (sports and news) has just fallen on such hard times.

Thank God for the decent bloggers out there that are helping to offset the worsening level of journalism.

Deshawn Zombie said...

The specifics of your story aside, I give to thumbs up to Phil B. He's incredibly accesible and cares about his readers. I'll take him any day...

Anonymous said...

Dungy is a great coach and I'm glad he's back. But frankly, he needs to light a fire under the Colts' asses. Yeah we had injuries all year and played great through them but there is no excuse for the Chargers loss. Make some adjustments on D and fire them up.

And for heaven's sake, can we please play the corners a little closer to their receivers? The bump and run can be combined with the Cover 2.