New Parcells book details flirtation with Atlanta, concerns about black fan base
Bill Parcells has just published his autobiography, “Parcells,” written with Nunyo Demasio. It’s enormous, hundreds of pages of anecdotes and behind-the-scenes stories (from Parcells’ perspective, of course) that will surely keep fans of Parcells’ many teams intrigued … if only to find out what he really thinks of them.
One of the book’s more intriguing sections comes toward the end, in late 2007, when Parcells was weighing offers to return to the NFL in an executive capacity. Both Miami and Atlanta were wooing him, and although Parcells had a longstanding relationship with then-Dolphins owner Wayne Huizenga, Falcons owner Arthur Blank was persistent.
The book describes, in wacky sitcom-like detail, how Blank doggedly pursued Parcells, to the point of flying to Parcells’ home in New York to meet with him face-to-face. But Parcells, as if holding out for a better prom date offer, strung Blank along, first by leaving his house while Blank was en route, and later by taking calls from Huizenga while Blank was in another room.
Huizenga was a known commodity, but Blank was offering a longer contract, albeit with some sticking points such as game tickets and the use of a car. So Parcells was keeping Blank at arm’s length while waiting for Huizenga to sell, or not sell, the Dolphins.
One paragraph in particular, from this section of the book, has already drawn the attention of Atlanta’s Journal-Constitution:
Parcells said he felt the contractual isue at the start of negotiations with Blank was ominous. He also disagreed with the owner’s philosophy of making Atlanta’s black fan base a factor in football decisions. African-Americans constituted more than half the metropolitan area’s population of five million, leading to the NFL’s largest such base. However, the main reason for Parcells’s inclnation to join Miami was his relationship with Huizenga.
Parcells would end up signing with Miami, infuriating Blank. The Atlanta owner would then sign Thomas Dimitroff and Mike Smith as GM and head coach, respectively, and it worked well enough … for a few years.
Now, it’s easy to read that line about “Atlanta’s black fan base” and flash to the Atlanta Hawks, whose owner announced in September that he would sell the team following a race-based email that looked to exploit the team’s African-American fan base for marketing purposes. However, there’s no other illumination of this racial line in the Parcells book, save for a reference to new Dolphins owner Stephen Ross looking to make appeals to Miami’s Hispanic community several pages later.
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Excerpted, the line looks damning. In context, it appears that Parcells was concerned about how demographics would impact on-field, not marketing, decisions. Regardless, it’s a line Parcells may need to explain in greater detail in this new environment.
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Jay Busbee is a writer for Yahoo Sports. Contact him at [email protected] or find him on Twitter.
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