ESPN"s Michael Smith Is a Cool Guy...We Met at Super Bowl XL

One of the pleasures of attending Super Bowls are the people you meet who are essentially comprise the nerve center of the sports industry. One of those people is a man I criticized not long ago - ESPN's columnist Michael Smith.

I met Smith as he was exiting the NFL Media Center's main entry way, and talked to him abou the inflamous column on minority hiring.

Smith explains that he believed the idea of just pointing out racism was not working anymore. It was time for a new message. Thus, his column.

Smith's not naive at all, but very well reasoned. But what's more is that we were able to quickly establish common ground. Both of us want to see an end to the problem of the lack of minority head coaches.

But the best gift of all was to be able to talk about our points of view.