Michael Irvin (of all people) dropped knowledge:

“”What a historical moment that was last night. … From an African-American standpoint, I watched my people — watched my people — celebrate the not guilty verdict of O.J. Simpson. They were so hungry for a victory of some kind that they celebrated — we celebrated — the verdict of O.J. And I was thinking to myself, ‘Two people are dead. Two people are dead’ Now, I’m not talking about my people, I’m explaining them here. They were just so hungry to say ‘We have a victory.’ And I cringe when I even think about that.

“But last night I watched a celebration. A real celebration. A real celebration, and it was a celebration for everybody, and everybody celebrated, and they kept showing this shot, and I was watching, of this little black girl and this little white girl, just sitting there crying together, and I thought, wow. I thought about Martin Luther King and his ‘I Have a Dream’ speech, and I thought about him saying, black kids and white kids playing together. …

“Last night we removed all differences and became just one, and I thought that was a beautiful thing. It was just a beautiful thing. I stood here with my kids, we watched it and we cried and we prayed.”

And in the video below, you’ll see reactions from Tony Dungy, LeBron James, George Karl, Donovan McNabb, Lovie Smith, and Doug Williams.

Magic Johnson had this to say:

“Johnson smiled when asked the first thing he did when it was announced Tuesday night just after 8 p.m. in California that Obama had won the presidency.

“Jumped up for joy, we were hollering and screaming,” he said. “And then we started crying. As African-Americans we’ve made great strides. I think what this says is you can really become anything in life you want to become. It’s really a wonderful thing that we can be able to witness this.”

Johnson said he believes Obama is prepared to do the best possible job.

“He’s a motivator. He has a plan,” Johnson said. “One thing Barack can do, he can come in a room, command a room. Everyone will listen to every word.”

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There are plenty of things surrounding the game of football that annoy the common fans like you and I. We dream about the things we’d do differently if we were in a position of power, and I’ve written a list of things I’d work on fixing. I realize not everything contained below is under the direct influence of the NFL commish, but a man can dream can’t he?

1. Stadiums wouldn’t be allowed to sell off their naming rights
Football is supposed to be tough, so why are we playing games on “Lincoln Financial Field” or “Lucas Oil Field” or everyones favorite… “University of Phoenix Stadium” in Arizona. Not only do these sound lame, I bet all the corporate stiffs at these companies get great tickets that could be going to real fans.

Would this result in a loss of revenue? Absolutely, but if you truly want to be a fan friendly operation, everything can’t be about the money. Google loses over $100 million dollars a year from their “I’m Feeling Lucky” button, but they haven’t removed it. Sometimes you have to bite the bullet for your customers.

2. Excessive touchdown celebrations would be legal
And when I say “excessive”, I mean referees wouldn’t throw a flag for anything other than spiking the ball like they do now. I don’t believe there should be an “anything goes” atmosphere, because some celebrations are over the line (like Terrell Owens’ infamous Dallas Star run), but in general players aren’t given very much freedom.

Go ahead and let the guys have some fun.

3. John Mellencamp’s “This Is Our Country” Chevrolet commercial NEVER airs during football again
“From the east coast, to the west coast, down the dixie highway…..”

If you’re watching football on Sunday, you’ll see this commercial no fewer than 15 times, it gets annoying….and I haven’t had an urge to buy a Chevy yet.
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