Only the ball was orange

Another entry to keep the "sports" tag and blog heading accurate.

A big part of the pre-Super Bowl XLI (being born in 1965 means always knowing which Super Bowl it is) coverage is the discussion about two African-American coaches, Tony Dungy and Lovey Smith, will be coaching against each other for the first time ever.

That happened 32 years ago in the NBA. Our local paper had an article yesterday about the 1975 NBA Finals, when Al Attles led the Golden State Warriors to a four game sweep over K.C. Jones' Washington Bullets. There wasn't much media fuss then about two black coaches facing off for a championship. This was the year I became a Warriors fan (winning titles does that to kids), and I don't remember anyone mentioning anything about Al Attles being black.

I mostly remember that the Warriors only had two white players that year, but one of them was their biggest star. I still shoot free throws underhanded because Rick Barry did. And because I really suck shooting them overhanded.