In search of the real Mike Tomlin

[hawaiiansteeler]

In search of the real Mike Tomlin

The Steelers head coach has been celebrated and derided but rarely understood

BY TOM JUNOD
May 9, 2018

He has one of the most famous faces in football, despite the care he takes to keep it shadowed. It’s a fearsome face, both fatherly and somewhat fanatical, the face of a tender executioner. It shows everything and nothing, and hides everything and nothing. It is stoical, its primary expression a manifestation of will and its secondary expression an acceptance of fate. It distrusts elation as much as it distrusts despair and is particularly good at exhibiting, and then instantly recovering from, disappointment. Its primary features are those of a man going incognito—a beard, the hat pulled permanently down low over his eyes, which tell all his secrets. His eyes never stop moving until they settle, like spotlights, on the object of their outrage or affection. It is not the face of a relaxed man but of one who can’t wait and can’t bear to see what comes next. Sometimes he darts his tongue, or punctuates his sentences by tightening his lips, yet his face is as unlined as a baby’s, as though the act of self-preservation required of every professional football coach—even one who has become a fixture of American Sundays—extends, in his case, all the way to the skin.

Mike Tomlin’s face is the face of the Pittsburgh Steelers, and therefore of tradition; his face is also the face of African-American coaches in the NFL, and therefore of the most provisional and hard-won progress. He is an emblematic figure whose image is minted on both sides of a coin that never stops flipping, at least in part because he has never had to call heads or tails. Winning has not only been a Lombardi-esque everything during Tomlin’s 11 years as the Steelers’ head coach. It has also been enough to make questions of personal and racial identity seem at once beside the point and self-evident, which is how he likes them. He has had the luxury of being always himself and never himself; the caretaker of tradition is also the agent of change. But what happens when he loses games he should have won and people start looking for someone—a face—to blame?

to read rest of article:

http://theundefeated.com/features/mike-tomlin-pittsburgh-steelers-in-search-of-the-real-coach/

[Mojouw]

That is either brilliant and perceptive or it is total non-sense. Not sure which one yet. Thanks for posting it!

[pczach]

That is either brilliant and perceptive or it is total non-sense. Not sure which one yet. Thanks for posting it!


I wasn't sure if I was reading The Onion for a minute there. :huh: It sounds satirical.

If you read that out loud, it sounds like a Saturday Night Live skit.

[GBMelBlount]

Noooooo!!!!!!


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r2-Yy2BtXzE

[steelreserve]

I generally stay away from The Undefeated aka ESPNRace, whose motto is apparently "Let's do a really interesting in-depth story like in 'Outside the Lines' or '30 for 30,' and then ruin it by making it about political activism." As if there isn't enough of that filling up my day. I can't support that.

[BlackAndGold]

The title of this post always makes me think of Eminem's "The Real Slim Shady" record.

"Will the real Slim Shady please stand up?
I repeat, will the real Slim Shady please stand up?"


Nobody else? okay. *walks out awkwardly*

[teegre]

The title of this post always makes me think of Eminem's "The Real Slim Shady" record.

"Will the real Slim Shady please stand up?
I repeat, will the real Slim Shady please stand up?"


Nobody else? okay. *walks out awkwardly*

That song has one of my all-time favorite lyrics:
“Dr. Dre’s dead; he’s locked in my basement.”


(Yes, I have the accompanying “Dr. Dre on a milk carton” t-shirt.)

[BlackAndGold]

That song has one of my all-time favorite lyrics:
“Dr. Dre’s dead; he’s locked in my basement.”


(Yes, I have the accompanying “Dr. Dre on a milk carton” t-shirt.)

Pure Classic.

[Cyphon25]

That is either brilliant and perceptive or it is total non-sense. Not sure which one yet. Thanks for posting it!

It felt like total nonsense to me almost from the first paragraph. Overly flowery and philosophical when trying to write about a guy who is so "black and white".

I'm not sure I even got anything new out of it.

[El-Gonzo Jackson]

I generally stay away from The Undefeated aka ESPNRace, whose motto is apparently "Let's do a really interesting in-depth story like in 'Outside the Lines' or '30 for 30,' and then ruin it by making it about political activism." As if there isn't enough of that filling up my day. I can't support that.

I actually like reading some of the Undefeated articles, because they give me some perspective about the subjects from a perspective that isn't from the mainstream Caucasian media. Any time that Dominique Foxworth is on ESPN radio, he is always interesting to listen to.

This piece on Tomlin is tough. Hard to do an interview about somebody that doesn't want to be interviewed.

[steelreserve]

I actually like reading some of the Undefeated articles, because they give me some perspective about the subjects from a perspective that isn't from the mainstream Caucasian media. Any time that Dominique Foxworth is on ESPN radio, he is always interesting to listen to.

This piece on Tomlin is tough. Hard to do an interview about somebody that doesn't want to be interviewed.


Well, there's a difference between a perspective and an agenda. It always seems to me like The Undefeated is trying too hard to attach a moral message to everything -- and it's always the same message, but they'll make it fit, goddamit.

More than a few of those gets tired real quick. Sometimes an interesting story is just an interesting story; they don't have to tell me how I should think.

[El-Gonzo Jackson]

Well, there's a difference between a perspective and an agenda. It always seems to me like The Undefeated is trying too hard to attach a moral message to everything -- and it's always the same message, but they'll make it fit, goddamit.

More than a few of those gets tired real quick. Sometimes an interesting story is just an interesting story; they don't have to tell me how I should think.

Maybe you are just reading too much into the articles?

I generally just read articles in print or online for information, interest and entertainment. I rarely find a case where media influences how I think (even Fox news or CNN :)). I find it interesting and informative to know about things like how Joe Gilliam was so revered by players for paving the way for QB's who were otherwise told they were not going to be playing QB because they were black. I find that the Undefeated presents topics like that from a more authentic perspective than somebody like Peter King or Ed Bouchette would.

[Mojouw]

Maybe you are just reading too much into the articles?

I generally just read articles in print or online for information, interest and entertainment. I rarely find a case where media influences how I think (even Fox news or CNN :)). I find it interesting and informative to know about things like how Joe Gilliam was so revered by players for paving the way for QB's who were otherwise told they were not going to be playing QB because they were black. I find that the Undefeated presents topics like that from a more authentic perspective than somebody like Peter King or Ed Bouchette would.

I read it twice now, and I have to agree with your take. It brought up some points I had never thought about before and I find really interesting to consider.

I also don't think the author attempted to tell me how I should feel about Tomlin, race, players, or anything else. He provided a series of perspectives and points I hadn't been aware of before that made me think, but I don't feel there was really an effort to guide my thinking to a pre-determined point.

Maybe people just don't like to think about things that make us a bit uncomfortable? Personally, I thought it was really interesting to here the perspective of black players on what they felt the importance of a black head coach was.

[El-Gonzo Jackson]

Maybe people just don't like to think about things that make us a bit uncomfortable? Personally, I thought it was really interesting to here the perspective of black players on what they felt the importance of a black head coach was.

True, like the Joe Gilliam article I read talked about not only his talent, beating out Bradshaw fairly in competition and how he was cited by black QB's like Doug Williams, Steve McNair, etc as a pioneer, but it also mentioned his spiral into drug abuse when he lost the job.

I think that some mainstream white reporters may not have wanted to touch the gritty topic of his drug use as they would not want to be tarnishing the image of Gilliam. Its like how Sara Silverman can tell jewish jokes, but when she told a Chinese joke she was vilified as a racist.

[Mojouw]

True, like the Joe Gilliam article I read talked about not only his talent, beating out Bradshaw fairly in competition and how he was cited by black QB's like Doug Williams, Steve McNair, etc as a pioneer, but it also mentioned his spiral into drug abuse when he lost the job.

I think that some mainstream white reporters may not have wanted to touch the gritty topic of his drug use as they would not want to be tarnishing the image of Gilliam. Its like how Sara Silverman can tell jewish jokes, but when she told a Chinese joke she was vilified as a racist.

I should check that out, same website? I really don't know anything about Gilliam.

[steelreserve]

I read it twice now, and I have to agree with your take. It brought up some points I had never thought about before and I find really interesting to consider.

I also don't think the author attempted to tell me how I should feel about Tomlin, race, players, or anything else. He provided a series of perspectives and points I hadn't been aware of before that made me think, but I don't feel there was really an effort to guide my thinking to a pre-determined point.

Maybe people just don't like to think about things that make us a bit uncomfortable? Personally, I thought it was really interesting to here the perspective of black players on what they felt the importance of a black head coach was.

I mean, I didn't read this article and I stopped reading The Undefeated as a whole because I am just so sick of everything being about race, race, race.

Maybe there was an actual relevant reason to point it out in this case. Maybe there wasn't. In general the whole shtick of The Undefeated is to go out of their way to point out race.

There's also a huge difference between "uncomfortable with" and "extremely tired of," and I don't think I really need to explain which one it is here. With nothing but politics politics politics, race race race being spewed by every media outlet and celebrity to anyone who they think will listen (and to the point where it's poisoning entertainment and the ability to find things that are relaxing and enjoyable diversions in general) ... well, guess what, even if you do have a good point, you're going to have a damn hard time making me interested, because I'm so tired of hearing about race.

Sorry, Undefeated, I guess you're a victim of the oversaturation by your peers in the media and entertainment, better take it up with them.

[El-Gonzo Jackson]

I should check that out, same website? I really don't know anything about Gilliam.

Yeah, here is the link. https://theundefeated.com/features/joe-gilliam-pittsburgh-black-quarterback/

Here is another link, but not from Undefeated, of Toledo Rockets QB Chuck Ealey. He was told by the NFL that he wasn't going to be drafted as a QB, despite being undefeated in college, so he went to the CFL to play QB.


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xmL1EvtQy3E

[tube517]

Yeah, here is the link. https://theundefeated.com/features/joe-gilliam-pittsburgh-black-quarterback/

Here is another link, but not from Undefeated, of Toledo Rockets QB Chuck Ealey. He was told by the NFL that he wasn't going to be drafted as a QB, despite being undefeated in college, so he went to the CFL to play QB.


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xmL1EvtQy3E

The Gillam article was a good read. THanks for posting. I was too young to see him play or even remember. My first memory is of Super Bowl IX.