Smith, Dungy disappointed in Desperate Housewives skit
By BILL WOLVERTON, Rockford Register Star
LAKE FOREST -- Are you ready for some controversy?
The NFL and two of its four black head coaches scolded ABC and the producers of
Monday Night Football on Wednesday for this week's opening, which Chicago Bears
coach Lovie Smith said was "pretty close to pornographic" and Indianapolis
Colts coach Tony Dungy called "racial."
The opening featured Philadelphia Eagles receiver Terrell Owens being talked out of
playing against the Dallas Cowboys after actress Nicollette Sheridan of the ABC show
Desperate Housewives dropped her towel and jumped naked into his arms, her legs straddling his hips.
"I thought it was in bad taste," Smith said. "You could say that it was
pretty close to pornographic. Any time that happens on primetime TV, something is wrong."
Dungy took time at the end of his weekly conference call with the opposing team's media
to address the opening.
"I have a 12-year-old that does his homework early on Monday to watch that, and
I was very, very disappointed," Dungy said. "If that's the way they're going to
promote things, I hope they never have us on Monday Night Football again.
"Something needs to be done about it. Hopefully the commissioner will."
Dungy said he turned down ABC's request for his players to do some "silly"
things for the Nov. 8 Monday Night Football opener, when the Colts played the Green Bay Packers.
"Nothing in that regard," Dungy said, referring to Owens' steamy opening,
"but just trying to get our players involved in a lot of things that are non-football questions
and non-football settings that we just didn't think were appropriate."
Dungy also called the opening racial because it paired a black man, Owens, with a white women,
Sheridan. He also said he didn't know if that was part of the backlash against the opening.
"But that's the first thing I thought about as an African-American man," Dungy said.
"We're going to put Terrell Owens in this situation -- and, sure, they're looking for big
stars, I understand that -- but it's struck me the wrong way.
"It's stereotypical of looking at the players, and on the heels of the Kobe Bryant incident,
I think it's very insensitive."
Bryant is a black NBA player who was on trial this summer for allegedly raping a white women.
Several Bears asked about the opening had no problem with it.
"It's fine with me," safety Mike Brown said. "If you look at the NFL, it's about
playing football and then you see beer commercials and women. That's the audience that they're
trying to go after, right.
"Hopefully, we don't turn off too many fans. We want everyone to grab a taste of this game."
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