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| Expect Chicago's vaunted 'D' to turn it up a notch against the Colts, much like it did against the Saints. |
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SHUT UP & DANCE
By Bob Chochola
Helium, 01 February 2007
Indy Bandwagon Jumpers Beware!!!
The Bears have been the "underdog" all year...
WE DON'T CARE!!!
Super Bowl XLI is just another day at the office for the Monsters of the Midway. Grrr!
Every morning on my way to work I stop at a popular coffee shop (I won't mention the chain, because I'm gonna probably stir some bad feelings for Seattle Seahawks' fans here anyway - that was a hint, by the way). Anyway, in this house of caffeine there works a young lady behind the counter who is by all standards just as cute as cute can be, except for one thing - she doesn't like the Chicago Bears.
Now that's all fine and dandy, because I don't expect everyone to support the team I have loved and watched through dismal year-in and year-out defeat, through voodoo curses and decade-long slumps and winning "streaks" of two games in a row, through Super Bowl XX and the "Punky QB's" antics on and off the field, through the rushing record setting of "Sweetness" Walter Payton and the donut munching record setting of William "the Fridge" Perry, ever since I was a kid. No, really, I don't care at all that this young lady supports the Colts. What does bug me is that two weeks ago she rubbed it in for days about how the Saints were gonna beat my Bears. We all know how that turned out. The week before that it was the Seahawks. Wrong again.
I can understand why she's probably still sore about the NFC Championship game. After all, the "team of destiny" from Katrina ravaged New Orleans met a sudden and surprising demise against an old sinister winter storm called the "Monsters of the Midway" in the Windy City - home of nine NFL titles (eight NFL Championships and Super Bowl XX). It was surprising if you listened to the sports experts too, but not if you were a Bears' player though. None of those guys seemed very surprised at all that they had won. What gets me is how easily this young lady jumps from one odds-on favorite's bandwagon to the next without hesitation. Whereas I have been loyal for decades to one team and now have to be subject to ribbing from someone who may not be able to find Indianapolis on a map.
So now it's on to the Colts and their minions, yet another team of destiny "going to beat the Bears" this Sunday. Servile bandwagon fans greet this team - this week - with enthusiasm and certainty that they will prevail, even if said servile bandwagon fans have never been to Indiana. Even if they don't know that Indianapolis is a stone's throw from Chicago and we Bears' fans may have cheered for them too, had our team lost. They're the media darlings of the NFL though - this week - against those rugged old nasty Bears from Chicago in an epic battle that should be, if all goes accordingly, a pretty entertaining game as far as Super Bowl games go. The (Indy) Colts have never been and Da Bears, well, we don't deserve it anyway. Bears' fans have not suffered a great natural disaster (uh, except for maybe Bobby Douglas - remember him?) and we did win the Super Bowl twenty-one years ago and have nine NFL titles in all. What more do we want? It's time to step aside and let another dog have its day, right?
What the young lady in the coffee shop and about a hundred sports writers around the country do not realize is that if this season has been one thing for the NFC Champion Chicago Bears (God I love saying that), it has been consistently all upstream against a strong current of doubt to a 15-3 record. I've said it before and I'll say it again, $1.75 plus an expert's opinion will get you a ride on the bus. Never has it been more accurate than the steady flow of critic-speak in 2006-2007.
In training camp the Bears were doomed to dominate in a "weak" division. Someone forgot to tell the Packers though - they were one of only three defeats all year for Chicago. Then by week four it was the Bears' "soft" schedule that would do them in come playoff time. But after the Bears won on the road in the New Jersey Meadowlands on two consecutive weeks against the New York "Football" Giants and then the New York Jets, critics had to find another reason - on to New England where the Bears would suffer their second loss of the season and Rex Grossman would become the weak (and in some cases, missing) link.
Poor Rex had his problems. One week he'd throw three touchdowns and the next cough-up five turnovers. The "Good Rex" vs. "Bad Rex" controversy was born and the buzz on the sports talk circuit was ablaze with rumors of Lovie Smith pulling a sometimes shaky Rex in the final weeks of a very successful season in favor of backup Brian Griese who, by all accounts, had not seen any action all year long. Never mind Bears' players all supporting Rex. Never mind fifty-two team mates who believed he was the guy who would get them to the Big Dance. Rex had to go now if Chicago wanted to make a run in the playoffs.
Well, Rex didn't go anywhere. Lovie didn't flinch - he did pull "Bad Rex" in the second half of one game, but I think that may have just been to rattle his starting quarterback's cage a little bit and nothing more. Rex went on - to the dismay of the young lady in the coffee shop and the hundred sports pundits - to win two playoff games and make it into Super Bowl XLI in Miami on Sunday.
The Big Dance, as it were, is typically the mother of all boring over-hyped sporting events. To put it simply - a real snooze. After hours, days, and weeks of buzz, I'm usually so tired of hearing predictions and opinions that I almost don't want to watch the game. Were it not for the hope of a possible repeat "wardrobe malfunction" on some gorgeous babe during the half time show, I would opt for a chick flick alternate program over on TBS some years. Of course, you may be tired of it too by now and thinking this article is just one more opinion to add to the mix. You got me there. I sure hope you're not waiting for my wardrobe to malfunction, because this is a family show.
Hypefest 2007 is almost over and it's just about time to get it on. It's been almost two weeks since Championship Sunday. The Bears are still NFC Champions (and I still love to say it) and the Colts will represent the AFC. Even a few of those pundits are back-sliding on their original "blow-out" predictions and give the Bears an even chance. Not many, but a few.
As for the young lady in the coffee shop, she is certain the "Colts will beat the Bears." She told me so again today. She may be right on. But maybe she's not? We'll find out once and for all Sunday evening and believe me, come Monday morning, if the Bears win, I will be the first in line for a latte. If the Colts win (God forbid) on Sunday, I may have to pack a thermos for a while.
This year I will be glued - for obvious reasons - intensely hoping the Bears do it one more time and (maybe more importantly) that Prince will remain clothed during the half time festivities. I predicted the Bears to win Super Bowl XLI by 17 points and I am going to stick to my guns. Peyton Manning is great, but he'll have a hard time throwing while lying on his back. That's what I said in reply this morning at the coffee shop anyway.
I'll say it one more time...
Indy bandwagon jumpers beware!!! The Chicago Bears have been the "underdog" all year - WE DON'T CARE!!! Super Bowl XLI is just another day at the office for the Monsters of the Midway. Now, let's shut up and dance, shall we? Grrr!
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