Coach Tony Dungy: NPR Interview

In case you missed it, there is a worthwhile interview of former Indianapolis Colts football team head coach Tony Dungy that first aired yesterday, Monday, on National Public Radio's "Morning Edition." (Click here to reach the NPR page containing the the podcast.)

There is a lot to like about Tony Dungy: He seems to "walk the talk," and was more than willing to give up the spotlight of sport -- while at the pinnacle of his career, no less -- for a less conspicuous, but a more enduring pursuit.

Part of the story, as noted in the radio interview with Steve Inskeep, is the effect of the suicide death of Dungy's son on the coach's view of life.

NFL Sheds War Metaphors

Good on the National Football League for officially abandoning terms borrowed from combat to describe what is happening on the field of play. (For the full Washington Post story, please click here, or on the title above.)

Sportswriters, coaches, players and fans have all been guilty of dressing the game of football in fatigues and war paint, oblivious or unconcerned that doing so made them look ridiculous, while glorifying the horrific nature of war. Over time, a game became "war," and war became "a game."

As one observer, who was both a former Army officer and a former NFL player, said in the Post story, "A football game is a battle between two teams, but you don't die."

So, on this Super Bowl Sunday, I salute -- er, cheer -- the NFL for taking a needed, and long overdue, step toward civility and common sense. Now, if we can just get the folks in the business and financial worlds to do the same.

Coach Kay Yow's Winning Advice

Legendary North Carolina State University women's basketball coach Kay Yow died Saturday of breast cancer. According to an obituary disseminated by the Associated Press and published in The Washington Post, it was a battle that began in 1987, but it proved the coach to be as fierce a competitor off of the court as she was while on the court.

Regarding her cancer and coaching, she said: "If you start to dwell on the wrong things, it'll take you down fast. Every morning, I wake up, and the first thing I think of is I'm thankful. I'm thankful for another day."

Winning advice, to be sure, for all of life's challenges!