A show of strength

Many of you may be aware of the recent tragedy suffered by the Colts head coach, Tony Dungy. I am. Not only am I aware, but I have found myself immersed in the articles recently written about him, his family, and his family in the Colts organization.

I have been a big Colts fan for about 2 years now and you may find my reason for choosing them as a rather silly one. After being around many NFL fans of different teams, I decided that I wanted to choose a team that I could root for, follow, and hope to win the big one. I just decided that I was going to be a Colts fan because of some players, and just because. I just liked them.

So being a Colts fan, and being a human, I felt awful for Tony Dungy and the rest of his family to have suffered such a tragedy. No matter how you look at it, it's a major loss in someone's life. I have found myself loving the Colts even more for the respect and for the love they have showed Tony and the rest of his family throughout the whole ordeal. I have read many articles pertaining to this about how everyone has risen above and showed a huge amount of support for their coach.

In a particular article I read today on ESPN.com, I fell more in love with these guys because they show how they are a close knit family in ever way. Here is a section of the article that draws me....

"The tragedy has increased our sense of urgency," Brackett told me. "It has brought us closer. Communication is what brings teams together, and this really had guys talking -- about real things and real issues. You just wouldn't know how guys feel about things unless something like this forces you to reach out to each other. Teams that don't talk, everyone has their own opinion, their own agendas, and everyone is so far removed from each other. No one knows where anybody stands on anything. But this death really showed us how much everybody loves Coach and just how much we're all in this together. Everyone is coming from the same place now with the same motivation -- let's finish what we started."

David Fleming is a senior writer at ESPN The Magazine

It makes me feel a certain way inside to know that these big organizations in pro sports are not just all about the money and the fame. They are a small community and in the face of tragedy, all must stick together to support each other through it all. They must stick together through the glory, as well as the tragedy.