da Bears

I just finished reading Randy Hammer's article about the Bears and it inspired me to write this post. If you're curious about Randy Hammer (he's a very good sports columnist) click on KM over to the right of the screen and look for his most recent column.

Anyway I am so excited I can hardly stand it. This is what I have wanted for two years...the Bears and the Colts are in the Superbowl. When the Bears won this past Sunday I couldn't be excited because I was participating at an ordination service. But later when the Colts won, I was running around the house yelling to my wife that the Colts were going to the Superbowl. Finally, I was going to see the matchup I wanted.

Randy Hammer was talking about how he didn't worry about the Bears in 85 like he has worried this year and consequently he has missed out on a lot of fun. I know what he's saying but I remember things a little differently back with the '85 Bears.

There was plenty to worry about. I remember McMahon always getting in trouble with Bears management and the commissioner of football and the whole soap opera about him maybe getting fined or getting kicked off the team. There was the time someone asked him about stitches on his behind so he mooned the reporters, it seems like there was an episode with acupuncture. I remember him being injured and so he didn't play all the games. I also remember him underthrowing a lot of passes and even though he was really good at reading defenses he wasn't a perfect quarterback. So get off of Grossman's back!!! To top it all off he had an eye that was "light sensitive" because he stuck a fork in it when he was a kid. There was always the possibility that he would stick a fork in his other eye.

Ditka was known to have a lot of questionable behavior. He did things like throw gum at fans, show up rather under the influence at post game interviews, yelling and screaming at people. There was the famous war of personalities between him and Buddy Ryan the defensive coordinator.

The players were volatile too. I mean, come on, the Super Bowl Shuffle? I loved it at the time but can you imagine the guts it would take to do that kind of showboating today? That would make Reggie Bush's arrogant stunt look like nothing.

I always wondered with that team if Marshall would be content with just tackling someone or if he would have to spear somebody, again. You wondered if the Frig would be able to get his pants on. You were always wondering, they always kept you guessing, worried, but still having fun.

I don't know as much about the Bears this year because I live near Indy and all I hear about is the Colts. I'm probably speaking out of ignorance but the gun laws are a lot more lenient in Indiana so maybe what Tank did wouldn't even be illegal in Indiana. In Indiana you don't have to have an FOID card. You can even drive around with a gun in your car and it doesn't have to be in a case.

So, go Bears, go Rex Grossman, go Tank, go Lovie, go all of you and beat the Colts. Maybe this will be the year that the NFC becomes dominant again. Maybe this will be the year when the rookie quarterback beats the veteran quarterback. Maybe the Bears can do the Super Bowl Stomp. Just maybe. It will be fun. And worry, that's part of the fun. If there was no risk of losing it wouldn't be as exciting.

vitamins

I was sorting through some papers and I came across this from years ago...

"Vitamins are a big thing at our house and what the kids seem to like better than anything else are Flintstone Vitamins. Tyler likes "Bam Bam" or "Barney;" Jonathan likes "Fred," "the car" and "Dino" and Adam will eat anything. He usually ends up with "Wilma" because nobody wants" Wilma."

I had forgotten all about that little glimpse into some happy times from many years ago. What a joy it is to write and then years later to discover what you've written.

I wonder if a person could analyze personalities based on Flintstone Vitamin preferences.

I wonder if Flintstone Vitamins do a body any good.

I wonder if you can still buy Flintstone Vitamins at the store or if the kid's vitamins today are all Japanese cartoon characters or video game characters.

I wonder how many family moments are recorded in old sermons.

I wonder if that could preach.