Page 5 - Florida Sentinel 1-12-16 Edition

Editorials
Talk To Yourself
Those Damn Bucs
No More Love For Lovie
S o, what the heck! Nothing lasts forever. That’s proba- bly what family and fans are telling an obviously dis- mayed former head coach of the Tampa Bay Bucs, a man with the unlikely name of Lovie Smith. But right now, there’s probably little love in Lovie’s camp. Why? The other day, he was ceremoniously canned, becoming the latest addition to a mile long list of Buccaneer coaches
who bit the dust because their jalopy wouldn’t run. Amassing an embarrassing record of 2 wins-14 losses for 2014 and 6 wins to 10 losses during season 2015, was there anyone between Earth, Mars, and the Moon who
hadn’t expected Lovie being put into a box?
Obviously one: His name was Lovie Smith.
Why else would he console reporters with the com-
ment, “We’re headed in the right direction?” That wasn’t what Bucs Co-Chairman Joel Glazer thought when he said to the media, “After careful consideration, we have informed Lovie that we have decided to make a change.”
In the meantime, Bucs’ newest superman quarterback Jameis Winston is now an orphan without a football dad, and it would seem that the hapless Bucs are right back where they started from.
Indeed, we begin to ask ourselves, “Is there really such a thing as a football curse,” and if so, how long might it intend to room with the hard-luck Bucs?
But be that as it might; we will miss the head coach with the Our Gang name who seldom smiled, but week- after-week, like actor Ossie Davis’ character Rev. Purlie in the play Purlie Victorious, “never told us a lie he didn’t mean to make come true someday.”
Every action and feel- ing is preceded by a thought. ~ James Allen
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It took me a couple of days to finally sit down and write this column. That is mainly because, had I written it the day following the news was released that the Tampa Bay Buccaneers fired head Coach Lovie Smith, it probably would have been peppered with enough 4-let- ter bombs to make a sailor blush.
Now that a little time has passed I believe I can say what needs to be said with- out being vulgar.... at least I’ll try.
It is still hard for me to wrap my head around how Smith was deemed expend- able after only two years? Here is a guy, who was brought in to fix a sinking ship, who was relieved of his duty before he even finished plugging all of the holes.
It wasn’t like he pulled a Greg Schiano (the coach Smith replaced) and made the team the laughing stock of the league by implement- ing some bizarre coaching tactics that caused him to lose the respect of his locker room. To the contrary, Smith was responsible for drafting one of the best rookie classes of 2015, giving a young squad some much needed confidence, groom- ing a potential all-pro at quarterback and, most im- portantly, giving long-suffer- ing fans some hope of a
themselves using affirma- tions.
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bright future. For that he was sent packing?
It simply doesn’t make any sense. Granted the season didn’t end particularly well with four straight losses. But shouldn’t some merit be given due to the fact that the team was on an upward tra- jectory and improved tremendously from the pre- vious season?
The decision to part ways with Smith is so baffling that it makes me seriously ques- tion the mental capacity of whichever one of Malcolm Glazer’s sons is responsible for calling the shots? I mean do they even realize how bad this makes them look?
It isn’t like there’s a deep well of good coaches sitting around waiting for the phone to ring. And if you have one who has shown you he knows what he’s doing, who is also loved by his players, it normally isn’t wise to discard him like yesterday’s trash. Once you go that route what unproven commodity do you bring in to replace him?
I hate to bring up the fact that maybe this move was motivated by the issue of race, especially since the Glazers have a better his- tory of hiring Black coaches than 80% of the league. But it’s hard not to wonder if the Black coach, Black quarter- back dynamic was too much to bear in a city where, under
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the surface, the “if it ain’t white it ain’t right” mindset continues to percolate.
The entire ordeal really has me pondering whether or not I want to continue to throw my support behind this team. I just don’t know how much more of this kind of horrible mismanagement I can take.
When the season ended, it was the first time in years that I actually had a positive outlook for the next year. Leave it to the Buccaneer hi- erarchy to douse that excite- ment in less than a week.
To be honest, I haven’t been this disappointed with this organization since the day I watched Tony Dungy clear his office out in the rain. Though a Super Bowl victory followed, until this day, it is a scene that remains deeply singed into my mem- ory.
After what happened to Doug Williams and Dungy this may have been the proverbial straw that broke the camel’s back when it comes to Black fans. Some may continue to stick around for the sake of Jameis Win- ston. But even his star power may not be enough to mend those hearts broken by the same old story.
I don’t think it’s a stretch to assume that, going for- ward, when it comes to see- ing dark faces in the stands of Raymond James stadium, Bucified Bert may be on his own.
Reality On Ice is © by the Florida Sentinel Bulletin Publishing Company. Any- one wishing to contact Clarence Barr can email him at: realityonice@yahoo.com.
TUESDAY, JANUARY 12, 2016 FLORIDA SENTINEL BULLETIN PUBLISHED EVERY TUESDAY AND FRIDAY PAGE 5
Elect The State WEducation Commissioner
e hate to say, “We told you so,” but when consider-
ing the clamor to make Florida’s Education Commis- sioner an elected position, we reflected upon our opposition to changing the position to an appointed-po- sition in 1998.
In the first place, we cannot continue to jerk the Edu- cation Commissioners’ position around simply because a group of politicians are unable to influence the Com- missioner to their way of thinking.
After all, electing a competent Commissioner always has ended with the Commissioner running afoul of politi- cians who had absolutely no clue as to what educational principles were about or should be about.
Sadly, there is no way to eliminate politics entirely from the Education Commissioner’s job. However, when the Commissioner has to answer to millions of parents instead of a potful of a meddling governor and seven politicos, chances are that the best interests of children will take priority.
Therefore, we’re convinced two bills being considered by the State Legislature will return the Education Com- missioner’s job to an elected member of the governor’s cabinet with equal power.
Bay Area parents and voters should voice their sup- port to our local legislative delegates for an elected Edu- cation Commissioner. Once approved by the House and Senate, the measure should be placed on the November ballot for voters to approve.