The REAL reason the brothers are SO proud of Tony Dungy today! “Reachin’ Back”

“I got you bruh!

The REAL reason the brothers are SO proud of Tony Dungy today! “Reachin’ Back”

C.S. Lewis, the British novelist and poet, once said, “Integrity is doing the right thing, even when no one is watching.” Dennis Prager, the talk show host, gave it to us like this, “Goodness is about character – integrity, honesty, kindness, generosity, moral courage, and the like. More than anything else, it is about how we treat other people.” Then Bob Marley broke it down like a playa at a pimp convention when he spit, “The greatness of a man is not in how much wealth he acquires, but in his integrity and his ability to affect those around him positively.”

Well playas…as we sit in the cut today to watch the big homie, Tony Dungy, get inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame, the biggest thing sittin’ on his shoulders will be his integrity. Most cats will only see him as the first black coach to ever win a Super Bowl. Boyz will talk about how he went into a no win situation in Tampa and took those duns to the playoffs 4 times in 6 years. They’ll make mention of how he came to Indy after gettin’ fired in Tampa and buildin’ a powerhouse with Peyton Manning and Marvin Harrison. But most of you cats won’t understand the impact he’s had on other black men searchin’ for success in America and how he did it with integrity.

Let’s keep it real or all the way 100, whichever comes 1st! Tony Dungy is more than just a Hall of Fame football coach bruh!! He’s a pioneer and a role model for young black men all over this country. He was Barack before Barack bruh! He was the cat that boyz looked up to because he’d broken through all of the foolishness that stands in the way of many of us gettin’ to where we aspire to be and that’s to be at the top of our professions.

Gregg Doyel of the Indy Star wrote a crazy Hot Joint entitled “Tony Dungy was a one-man crusade against NFL’s latent racism” on Friday about how Tony endured racism to get to where he is today. Now the only articles that I call “Hot Joints” are mine, so you know that Gregg’s piece had to be on fire for me to mention it in those terms. However, that was written for all of the duns out here that don’t look like Tony or I. Because everybody that lives in this skin understands the struggle that Tony had to endure just to become a head coach in the NFL not to mention to become a Hall of Fame coach.

That’s why I’m so excited to see him be inducted into the Hall tonight! Gregg did a great job of tellin’ the niave and the “I don’t care” folks that white position coaches are two times more likely, accordin’ to college research, to be hired as a head coach in the NFL than black coaches. He did an excellent job of tellin’ you that 94 percent of the time a white cat is goin’ to be hired as the head coach even though darn near 70 percent of the league is black and that black coaches historically have better winnin’ percentages than white coaches datin’ back to 1921. That’s not my research playboy! That’s all Gregg Doyel and he doesn’t have a dog in the fight. Go pop the link on his piece if you think I’m talkin’ crazy.

Here’s the deal. EVERYBODY that looks like Tony knows that and that’s why all of the homies sittin’ in the barber shop are like kids in a candy store waitin’ to see the dun that looks like them unveil his bust in Canton. We just want to be invited to the party bruh! Especially, if we’ve done all of the work to get there. We know what we can accomplish but many times the opportunity just isn’t given.

It’s no different than bein’ in Corporate America when we show up at a national meeting and there are 10,000 employees but there are only 30 of us in the buildin’. It isn’t that we don’t qualify for the jobs. Many times we don’t even get to interview for them. Our degrees and work experience is the same as our white counterparts but our opportunity isn’t. That’s the problem.

So when Tony got the opportunity he reached back and he pulled some other cats into the ride with him we thanked him for his integrity and loyalty to those of us what wanted to do what he was doin’. When he was in Tampa he hollered at Lovie Smith, Jim Caldwell and Mike Tomlin all of which have coached in a Super Bowl! And Mike has actually won a championship!!! That’s why I’m so happy to see Tony be inducted into the Hall of Fame. He opened the doors of opportunity for cats that look like him and he never turned his back on those of us that made mistakes. He was the only cat to reach out to Michael Vick when he was released from prison. That was a straight up G move right there. All boyz want is a chance to be great and Tony motivated us to do that. Stop me when I start lyin’!

And again, big shout to Gregg Doyel for some excellent work on Friday on Tony.

Playas Thesaurus: 
1) Spit: verb – to say
2) Dun: noun – the person in question, dude, guy, etc. It’s whoever I’m talkin’ about and its non-gender specific.
3) Put it where the goats can get it: verb phrase – to make it as elementary as possible. To put it at ground level so everyone can understand it.
Holla At Ya Boy! 
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The caption under the photo isn’t real but its REAL talk! 

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