Every now and then, a star in the National Football League gets into trouble and, during his ritual of repentance, decides to play the God card. In some cases this even involves Jesus language, which is always risky in today’s media marketplace.
In a previous GetReligion post on this issue I have stressed that it’s important for reporters to remain skeptical and, above all, to actually try to find out if the athlete in question has any serious, ongoing ties to a faith community. I asked: How does he spend his time? How does he spend his money? How does he make his decisions?
Actually, these are good questions to ask while writing about any major public figure who likes to talk about faith issues all the time.
Take former NFL coach Tony Dungy, for example. The New York Times ran a strange little story the other day about how Dungy is doing, now that he has left coaching and gone into a combination of “ministry” in a variety of settings and television commentary for NBC’s “Football Night in America” operation.
I put the word “ministry” in quotation marks because the newspaper keeps talking about Dungy’s work in this area, while devoting no ink whatsoever to his faith or how he lives that faith out in connection to an actual, well, church. It’s amazing. This is a story about ministry that ignores religion.
Meanwhile, check out the tone of this headline: “Dungy Takes to New Role as Football’s Conscience and Scold.” Here’s a typical chunk of the story, early on:
“He’s ministering all the time,” said Dick Ebersol, the chairman of NBC Universal Sports and Olympics, who hired Dungy as an analyst for “Football Night in America.” “I think he has a mission to minister to people in need.”
But if Dungy is becoming a life coach for the pads and cleat set, it raises the question of whether at least some of the people who have sought him out have done so precisely because latching on to his reputation offers some kind of unofficial benediction.
“I guess I’m flattered that people think I can help get things done,” Dungy said. “I’ve always talked to players about perception and reality. I don’t worry about perception. There may be some of that, that people want to attach to a good name, but the reality is that some good things can happen. Were Mike Vick’s attorneys trying to attach a good name to him? Maybe so, but I thought I could help him and add some insight. So that is more my concern than what the perception is.”
In other words, it seems that some people are convinced that Vick and other troubled athletes are managing to play the “God card,” and make it stick with top NFL leaders, by playing the Dungy card.
Now, there is news that Dungy will even serve as a special adviser to Commissioner Roger Goodell — another prominent role for a high-profile African American who is clearly (a) respected by his peers and (b) a moral and cultural conservative. Goodell even says that Dungy quietly played that role for the league while he was still coach of the Indianapolis Colts.
In other words, it appears that Dungy has an unusual amount of credibility. If you read between the lines it seems that some people, perhaps in the Times newsroom, are not convinced that this a good thing. Remember that word scold in the headline?
Meanwhile, Dungy has raised eyebrows with his television work — offering a low-key, but ultra-candid approach while dissecting everything from video highlights to the strategic mistakes of the coaches on the sidelines. In other words, he is not a softie.
When Ebersol approached Dungy after a production meeting before the Colts’ playoff game against San Diego last season to tell him he would have a place for him if he retired, he asked Dungy if he could be critical and honest. He has been, analyzing for the television audience much the way he did for his team, in measured, but sometimes brutally candid, tones. He openly disagreed with Bill Belichick’s decision to go for the first down on fourth-and-2 against Indianapolis. He has criticized officiating.
The coaching fraternity is not always happy. Dungy heard through a friend, the Vikings’ defensive coordinator, Leslie Frazier, that Vikings Coach Brad Childress was not thrilled when Dungy said he would not have called a play that had Adrian Peterson running on third-and-long. Dungy rues that he might come across as glib because television rarely offers enough time to explain his opinions.
All in all, it’s a strange piece.
Dungy is getting more family time now and it appears that he is carrying through on his plans to walk the talk, when it comes to prison ministry and other causes.
But the story has this strange tone that something strange is going on here. Read the story for yourself and see what you think. There’s kind of a hole in the story where the man’s soul should be.
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Comments (8) |
December 14, 2009, at 11:36 am
It seems to me that this is evidence of the secular religion that we have in America. It can take whatever name you like, Christian, Buddhist, Spirituality, Common Sense, but as long as it’s a general feeling of good-will, good deeds for your neighbor, not condemning anyone or anything, and/or absolutely no creeds or irrational beliefs in the divine, then it’s ok.
December 14, 2009, at 11:50 am
As far as his analysis goes, TV analysts aren’t paid to look at games the same way a coach would analyze game tape. For example with Belichick’s fourth down call there’s analysis that at the very least it wasn’t a terrible call: http://www.advancednflstats.com/2009/11/belichicks-4th-down-decision-vs-colts.html
But measured, even-toned analysis doesn’t keep eyeballs glued to the screen. I’d even guess that whenever a coaching call is close and could legitimately go either way, analysts are likely to rant against it rather than praise it. The same probably holds true for religion reporting, controversy tends to make more popular news than reports that all is well.
December 14, 2009, at 11:58 am
It seems you left out the crucial paragraph, where the writer details all the other people who have sought Dungy out when they got in trouble hoping for the “Vick effect,” as well as his role criticizing the lack of opportunity for coaches. That seems to support both the conscience and scold headline and theme.
It’s not as though Dungy criticism is a secret.
December 14, 2009, at 1:05 pm
That was a strange story. I’ve only seen Dungy’s TV commentary a few times (I watch football every Sunday, but my team is rarely on at night). Maybe he’s a bit blunt, but I haven’t heard him say anything that a dozen other commentators haven’t said. Those examples in the NY Times’ story are pretty weak, if we’re to believe that Dungy is somehow alienating his fellow coaches. Dungy disagreed with a call made by the Vikings, and the Vikings disagreed with his disagreement? Not exactly “Hatfield-McCoy, Part 2.”
Here’s what I want to know about Dungy’s influence, but this would be much harder to find out. We know that he has put in the good word for Michael Vick and Larry Johnson. Are there any players that he has warned teams away from? I’d be willing to bet there have been (after all, what credibility would he have if he was just a cheerleader?), but good luck getting anyone to name names. For another angle, what about Marvin Harrison? He played for Dungy for 6 years and has had some pretty serious off-field issues this past year. Dungy has publicly recommended that teams sign Harrison, but no one has followed his advice. If Dungy is supposed to be a “stamp of approval,” in the words of Judy Battista, why hasn’t it worked for Harrison?
December 14, 2009, at 1:46 pm
Ken Whitten, pastor of Idlewild Baptist Church, where the Dungy family remains connected though they now attend Central Tampa Baptist Church, which started as the downtown campus of Idlewild — said the Dungys have championed foster care and adoption despite great personal tragedy themselves.
This is from an article from February 2009; nowadays it looks like Dungy works Sundays.
Does all of this need to be repeated and dissected every time Dungy’s current activities are mentioned?
December 14, 2009, at 1:54 pm
Tony Dungy seems to have a bit of a messiah complex. Who writes books about themselves titled Uncommon?
As a coach, he’s overrated. He was fired from the Tampa Bay Bucs because he wouldn’t address obvious shortcomings, and he did the same with the Colts. As soon as he retired, the new coach replaced ineffective defense and special teams coaches, improving the team (now 13-0). Even the offense, already in place when Dungy came to the Colts, is getting back on track after years of subtle but consistent decline in production under Dungy’s overly-conservative approach.
Dungy likes to present himself as something of a saint. He’s not. He’s a man. An imperfect man. He’s not superior. He should be more humble.
December 14, 2009, at 2:39 pm
The article is poorly written and full of holes. Example:
Right. Dungy ministers all the time, but only to football players. But wait. Two paragraphs later, the article states that “Dungy works with youth-offender facilities near his home in Tampa, Fla., and has become involved with offender re-entry programs.”
The article is all over the place, primarily because it tries to paint a multi-faceted man in simplistic terms and completely misses the theme that underlies everything: Dungy’s faith.
December 15, 2009, at 8:11 am
Mike,
I don’t think it’s character issues that have prevented teams from picking up Harrison, in spite of Dungy’s recommendation. From what I’ve heard, the real reason is that Harrison wants to make No. 1 receiver money and play a No. 1 receiver role, even though he spent almost all of last season sporting old man legs and alligator arms.