Free Republic

Super Bowl champion head coach Tony Dungy had some choice words for ESPN’s "SportsCenter" X account on Saturday night after Coco Gauff won her first U.S. Open title. After Gauff defeated Aryna Sabalenka 2-6, 6-3, 6-2, the "SportsCenter" account wrote that the tennis phenom "took a moment to soak it all in after winning her first Grand Slam title." Dungy took aim at the account and asserted that Gauff was praying. "I hate to break this to you SportsCenter but Coco Gauff was not ‘soaking it all in’ at this moment. She was praying. She has been very open about...

Dungy’s unapologetic devotion to Christ when faced with attacks on his faith is something Christians should seek to mimic. Former NFL head coach Tony Dungy made his first-ever appearance at the March for Life in Washington, D.C. on Friday, and predictably, Twitter’s leftist blue checkmark brigade is out in full force demanding he be canceled for it. After tweeting on Thursday morning that he and his wife would be attending the annual gathering of pro-lifers, Dungy, an outspoken Christian, soon found himself on the receiving end of a wave of attacks from left-wing activists masquerading as journalists. Within hours of...

Hall of Fame football coach Tony Dungy announced Wednesday on Twitter that he will be attending the March for Life in Washington, D.C., on Friday. The two-time Super Bowl champion (one as a player, one as a coach) said he will attend "to support those unborn babies who don’t have a voice." It will be his first time at the rally, and it has sparked criticism in the media.

Tony Dungy, the first black coach ever to win a Super Bowl, might have escaped notice this week had he merely supported Florida Governor Ron DeSantis’s “Responsible Fatherhood Initiative.” His real sin was to explain why. Said Dungy, “That hit me.” Predictably, Dungy’s truth-telling stirred the woke beehive. “Dungy standing there cackling,” tweeted former ESPN commentator Keith Olbermann, “a fascist political prop.” “Fathers are extremely important, but yeah,” tweeted Jemele Hill, also formerly with ESPN, “that ain’t how this works. If a father is in the home and can’t find a job, then what?” Deadspin, which comically positions itself as...

Left-wing Twitter went ballistic on Monday over coach Tony Dungy standing with Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis signing a pro-fatherhood bill into law. DeSantis signed HB 7065 into law on Monday, a $70 million initiative that reportedly aims to “will provide resources for educational and mentorship programs to help children, fathers and families in the state through the Department of Juvenile Justice (DJJ) and the Department of Children and Families (DCF),” according to the Hill.

A pastor of a Georgia megachurch who also is running for U.S. Senate said last week he believes legalized abortion is “consistent with” Christianity and he would “fight” to ensure it remains legal. Raphael Warnock, senior pastor at Ebenezer Baptist Church in Atlanta, and a Democratic candidate trying to unseat Republican U.S. Sen. Kelly Loeffler in November’s election, made the comments to WGAU’s Tim Bryant. Bryant asked Warnock how the pro-choice views of the Democrat Party “square with” his “role as a minister, a leader of a church, a man of God.” “I believe that healthcare is a human right,”...

A top Hollywood publicist says the excitement in Los Angeles over Texas Democratic Senate candidate Beto O'Rourke is at a level he hasn't seen for a national liberal politician in years. Danny Deraney, whose clientele has included A-listers like Justin Timberlake, Jay-Z, Beyonce and Madonna, told NBC News in another profile of O'Rourke that he has effectively swept the famously progressive town off its feet: Danny Deraney, a Hollywood publicist who has worked with celebrities like Justin Timberlake and Madonna, said he hasn't seen Los Angeles this excited about a national politician in years. "Barack Obama kind of swept everybody...

A pair of high-profile NFL rookies crossed paths Saturday night -- a meeting highlighted by Michael Sam mimicking Johnny Manziel. Sam, the first openly gay active player in NFL history, mocked Manziel's "money sign" after sacking the Heisman Trophy winner in the fourth quarter of the St. Louis Rams' preseason victory over the Cleveland Browns.

On his Friday program, Keith Olbermann called on ESPN to "officially" ban the use of "Redskins." Citing Greg Gumbel, Tom Jackson, Peter King, Phil Simms, Mike Caray, Tony Dungy and others who have expressed concerns about using the team's name, Olbermann said that ESPN is the "conduit of sports" in the country while also being "loathe to be the news." Olbermann said that list of the words he and his colleagues cannot say on the air is "justifiably long" and "way less offensive than the name of the Washington team." He said he personally felt that "it is time for...

Tony Dungy is being proven right, and his critics in the media are helping him do it. Dungy, a well-respected coach and revered figure in the NFL community, currently finds himself at the bottom of a media dogpile because he said he would not draft St. Louis Rams rookie linebacker Michael Sam, who became the first openly gay NFL player earlier this year. “I wouldn’t have taken him,” Dungy told the Tampa Tribune in an article published this week. (Reporter Ira Kaufman later revealed that the quotation is from a separate interview he conducted with Dungy in February.) “Not because...

This entire Tony Dungy episode is a microcosm of a new slippery slope emerging in America. For the record, I truly don’t care if someone is gay or if they support gay marriage. What does it matter in a nation predicated upon freedom? However, if someone utters even a hint of negativity that can somehow be construed as the most infinitesimal slight against homosexuality, they are immediately barraged with contempt and scorn. I’m sorry, my apologies, I thought this was America where people are allowed to have an opinion without be conditioned? Tolerance and freedom of speech are not mutually...

Michael Sam may not be a distraction this week at the St. Louis Rams training camp, but the same cannot be said about Tony Dungy. The former coach of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers and Indianapolis Colts found himself drawing criticism for telling the Tampa Tribune that, if he were still coaching today, he wouldn’t have drafted Sam “(n)ot because I don’t believe Michael Sam should have a chance to play, but I wouldn’t want to deal with all of it.

In Texas this week former Colts NFL coach Tony Dungy talked about faith and Michael Vick's return to the NFL. Dungy who visited Vick while he was in prison on the dog fighting conviction asked Vick: "I asked Michael, 'Where was the Lord in all of this?' because I wanted to know about his personal faith in Jesus."

President Barack Obama is filling out his advisory council on faith-based groups without appointing a well-known football coach, who was reportedly invited to the join the panel but drew fire from liberal groups for his opposition to gay marriage. On Monday, the White House said Obama named a diverse group of nine Americans to join the 16 designated when the board to advise his Faith-Based and Neighborhood Partnerships Initiative was announced two months ago. However, former Indianapolis Colts coach Tony Dungy is not on the list the White House distributed Monday. Dungy’s potential appointment drew flak from liberal groups such...

The White House has invited recently retired NFL Coach Tony Dungy, whose outspoken Christian faith fueled his 2007 support for a gay marriage ban and has won accolades from evangelical leaders, to join its Advisory Council on Faith-Based and Neighborhood Partnerships, U.S. News has learned. The invitation is likely to draw praise from conservative evangelical groups and criticism from liberals and gay rights activists. Dungy has long been active with evangelical Christian charities like the Fellowship of Christian Athletes and the Prison Crusade Ministry, along with other nonprofit groups, including Big Brothers Big Sisters and the United Way. Leading the...

President Bush Announces Intention to Appoint Dungy to Council TERRE HAUTE, Ind. - Tony Dungy took his own advice. When the President of the United States calls, the Colts' Head Coach once told Colts quarterback Peyton Manning, you pretty much have to answer. Now, Dungy has done just that. Dungy, who in February coached the Colts to their first Super Bowl title in 36 years and who this summer became a New York Times best-selling author, will serve in the Bush Administration, the White House announced Tuesday. President George W. Bush on Tuesday announced his intention to appoint Dungy to...

TERRE HAUTE, Ind. -- Already best on the field, Tony Dungy is now tops in the bookstore. Six months after becoming the first black coach to win a Super Bowl, he's about to grab the No. 1 spot on The New York Times' bestseller list. Frederick M. Brown/Getty Images Tony Dungy was on a whirlwind tour this summer. He was at the ESPYs, on "The Late Show" with David Letterman and stopped by "The Tonight Show" as well to promote his best-selling book. His memoir, "Quiet Strength: The Principles, Practices, and Priorities of a Winning Life," on Sunday will claim...

Nearly two-dozen University of Minnesota students demonstrated at an appearance by University of Minnesota alumnus and longtime NFL coach Tony Dungy at Mariucci Arena on Tuesday afternoon. Dungy played football for the Golden Gophers in the early 1970s and has coached for numerous NFL teams, most notably as head coach for the Indianapolis Colts, champions of Super Bowl XLI. He was honored by the University of Minnesota Alumni Association with an Outstanding Achievement Award presented as part of a celebration of the TCF stadium deal. Dungy sparked a minor controversy in March when he was honored at the Indiana Family...

Bears fans will remember him as the man who orchestrated their team’s Super Bowl demise. But a Carol Stream-based Christian publishing house hopes even disappointed Chicagoans can embrace a book detailing the story and life strategies of Indianapolis Colts head coach Tony Dungy. Tyndale House Publishers announced Wednesday it has reached a deal to publish “Quiet Strength: The Principles, Practices and Priorities of a Winning Life.” Co-written by Nathan Whitaker, the memoir is to debut July 10.

Those who remember how quickly the leftists drove conservative blogger Ben Domenech out of the Washington Post blogging corps after three days (with no conservative replacement) should know that the liberal cast of bloggers remain untouched (and perhaps, in some cases, unread). I've been tipped to one Emil Steiner today, taking off after Indianapolis Colts coach Tony Dungy for supporting a marriage-protection bill in Illinois. This, to Steiner, makes him akin to the religious folks who brought 9/11, not to mention foolish religious advocates of "racial purity, ethnic cleansing, and drinking the Kool Aid." Most importantly, Steiner thought Dungy's position...