BengalszoneBilly Posted September 1, 2007 Report Share Posted September 1, 2007 I thought this was kind of ironic. From the Santa Barabra News-Press, via the Dallas morning News.Mike Tomlin a Cowboys fan at heart Rick Gosselin - August 31, 2007 2:59 PMThe Dallas Morning NewsDALLAS - Mike Tomlin has become a big fan of the Pittsburgh Steelers. That's logical.''I've been a fan of whoever feeds my family for a long time now,'' said Tomlin, the new coach of the Steelers.But in the 1970s, when the Cowboys and Steelers were battling it out for the NFL's team of the decade honor, Tomlin was squarely in the Dallas corner. That in itself was ironic, because Tomlin grew up in Hampton, Va., deep in the heart of Redskins' country.''You either supported the Redskins or you didn't,'' recalled Tomlin of his youth. ''I was one who did not. I always went against the grain. I loved the personalities on the Cowboys - Drew Pearson, Butch Johnson, Hollywood, Too Tall, Harvey Martin, Randy White, Tony D, Robert Newhouse. . . . I bought into the whole America's Team thing.''Tomlin played wide receiver in high school in the late 1980s and in college at William & Mary in the early 1990s, setting a record there with 20 career touchdown catches. So his favorite Cowboy was obvious: Pearson.''I had his jersey,'' Tomlin said. ''I got a different one every year. I had Tony D, Pearson, Too Tall . . . The last jersey I remember having was Danny White.''Tomlin broke into coaching at VMI in 1995, working with the wide receivers. He moved on to Memphis in 1996, then to Arkansas State and Cincinnati before hiring into the NFL in 2001 as the defensive backfield coach of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.''The very first regular-season game I coached in this league was at Texas Stadium,'' Tomlin said. ''I'd never been there, never seen it in person. Then the first time I get there I'm there on business, I'm working.''Now I'm not one to smell the roses. That's not me. I take everything as it comes. But that was one of the moments that I've had in coaching where I walked out in pregame warmups, looked up at that open roof and thought, 'Wow . . .' That was a hair-stand-up-on-your-arm moment for me.''So I took 20 seconds or so to enjoy it. There's a mystique about that place. It has nothing to do with the quality of the place. It's the memories of the place, the aura of the place.''The Buccaneers won that day, 10-6. Tomlin's Bucs played the Cowboys again in 2003 in Tampa, winning 16-0. His NFL teams have not played Dallas since then, and the Steelers aren't scheduled to play the Cowboys in 2007 unless both wind up in Phoenix the opening weekend of February for the Super Bowl.But the Steelers will play the Baltimore Ravens twice each season in the AFC North. That means Tomlin will see a coaching pal, Ravens defensive backfield coach Dennis Thurman. He was playing safety for the Cowboys when the first Dallas dynasty crashed in the 1981 NFC Championship Game with ''The Catch'' by Dwight Clark.''I kill Dennis Thurman every time I see him,'' Tomlin said. ''I tell him, 'You broke my heart.''' Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SteelerFan87 Posted September 4, 2007 Report Share Posted September 4, 2007 Ok, this will have to be fixed IMMEDIATELY. We must break him of this disturbing bad taste in teams. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BengalszoneBilly Posted September 5, 2007 Author Report Share Posted September 5, 2007 Ok, this will have to be fixed IMMEDIATELY. We must break him of this disturbing bad taste in teams.Anybody but the Cowgirls, or Gay Bay 'Niners. The two biggest bandwagon jumping teams for alleged fans that I have ever seen in my LIFE! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cincy9275 Posted September 6, 2007 Report Share Posted September 6, 2007 for him to have a favorite team when he was a kid is no big deal, i bet that 90%percent of the head coaches now favorite team is differnt from the one they coach now. some people read to much in to stuff like this and it really is not a big deal at all. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jjakq27 Posted September 6, 2007 Report Share Posted September 6, 2007 for him to have a favorite team when he was a kid is no big deal, i bet that 90%percent of the head coaches now favorite team is differnt from the one they coach now. some people read to much in to stuff like this and it really is not a big deal at all.Agreed. Marvin was a Steelers fan as a kid. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
duus Posted September 6, 2007 Report Share Posted September 6, 2007 for him to have a favorite team when he was a kid is no big deal, i bet that 90%percent of the head coaches now favorite team is differnt from the one they coach now. some people read to much in to stuff like this and it really is not a big deal at all.Agreed. Marvin was a Steelers fan as a kid.Yep, but no longer. And that's the point. Who cares who they used to like before now? Heck, I've seen Coach Lewis' parents at the local mall ... and they proudly sport their Bengals attire. Gotta love it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jjakq27 Posted September 6, 2007 Report Share Posted September 6, 2007 for him to have a favorite team when he was a kid is no big deal, i bet that 90%percent of the head coaches now favorite team is differnt from the one they coach now. some people read to much in to stuff like this and it really is not a big deal at all.Agreed. Marvin was a Steelers fan as a kid.Yep, but no longer. And that's the point. Who cares who they used to like before now? Heck, I've seen Coach Lewis' parents at the local mall ... and they proudly sport their Bengals attire. Gotta love it.God Bless the Lewis family in Pittsburgh! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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