Yoda made Sexy Rexy throw horrible passes

Thought provoking article here on whether or not Tony Dungy should stick to coaching. Football, that is.

I'll offer the same disclaimers as Telander does. Dungy is a good man. A good coach, that didn't get a fair shake in Tampa Bay. His players love him. You won't find him at a drive through with his pants down in the middle of the night. A man of integrity and morals. Great winning percentage, and consistently puts a quality product on the field. Suffered a horrible tragedy with dignity and class.

And "celebrity" is a double-edged sword. Yes, there is the upside of being in the public eye: money, lifestyle, security, power. And the downside: invasion of privacy, public scrutiny, increased pressure. Along with "celebrity" also comes a public platform, and do some people "cross the line" with how they use a public platform? I guess it really depends on what message, unrelated to the performance of the job you're getting paid for, is comprised of.

If you denounce psychiatry, jump on a couch and give your money to a "religion" that believes we're all spirits left over from the detonation of a hydrogen bomb by an evil galactic ruler named Xenu, then you're a certifiable nutjob and your box office suffers accordingly.

If you say that an all knowing, all seeing higher power who magically created everything in the universe, raised the dead, talked through flaming shrubbery and performed unbelievable and supernatural acts on every street corner (but only when there were no cameras yet invented, nor any other means of substantiation) actually "affected" the outcome of a freaking football game -- while there are wars going on, natural disasters occurring -- then you're praised as a great man and a role model.

And no one ever critically or logically analyzes the underlying similarity and implausibility between both sets of ridiculously impossible and unproven "beliefs."

Not that I'm giving up part of my income to become a high level Thetan, mind you. It just strikes me as odd when one nutjob whose life revolves around an obviously fantastical and unproven mythology gets shunned and scorned, and another gets lauded.

It's disconcerting that my beloved alma mater has the same issue with its coach. By all accounts, Mark Richt is a wonderful, warm and giving human being. A successful coach responsible for resurrecting (in the provable, believable sense of the word) a program that had fallen from "grace." But he, too, wears his beliefs on his sleeve and incorporates his spirituality into his recruiting and coaching.

At some point, this is going to become an issue either in the pros or in the college ranks. How does one of these narrow minded zealots handle it when a player believes as firmly in their gobbledegook, and prosthelytizes it as much, as their coach does? When will a recruit get away, or when will there be a fracture in a professional locker room when a player sings the praises of the Koran, the Torah or Battlefield Earth?

Would Dungy still be "going to Disneyworld" if at the post game trophy presentation he had said:

"I'd like to thank Zeus and Hera for helping us stay calm after Devin Hester ran that kick back."

"Yoda was obviously with us as we picked off Grossman in the second half. Peyton showed a lot of midichlorians and was able to put the game away. May the Force be with you."

"Lovie and I both believe the Flying Spaghetti Monster orchestrated the outcome of this game and are happy that both sides gave their all. He's a good man and I have no doubt the Bears will get another chance again soon."

"Clearly, Xenu was displeased with Grossman's preparation for the game, and he didn't come into that second half 'clear.' But with enough auditing, I'm sure he'll bounce back."

He would have been pelted with fruit, heckled off the stage and laughed out of the league.

So why is one set of circumstances, and inclusion in one cult, more acceptable than another?