>Lovie Smith and Tony Dungy being the first black head coaches in the Super Bowl is a nice angle. I hope it doesn't get overdone. (It will, of course). What I like and respect about both of them is not the color of their skin but the way they comport themselves on the field. Neither of them is the typical football coach type with a neck vein about to burst at any moment. You can see the loyalty their players feel toward them.

Just read a good column about this in the paper. The key point is that for many years, the NFL old boys network prevented blacks for getting head coaching jobs. Two black head coaches in the SuperBowl (and, of course, therefore, one of them winning) is a kick in the face to that past.

It's also about role models. It's a heckuva lot easier for kids to imagine themselves doing things when they see other people who look like themselves doing it. This opens doors, both real and in kids' imaginations.

Tamar