Friday Nite Lights

It's Friday. It's August. It's 92 degrees. Sounds like the perfect time for football. Not the real football, of course. That will come later when it cools down to 80 degrees. For now, we all have to settle for the pre-season variety; the inferior product for which those poor season ticket holders have to pay full price.Those of us without that kind of expendable cash, the ones forced to observe the mayhem on our 52 inch flat-screens, know we're the lucky ones. We watch the first quarter, check out the play of our first-string heroes and get on with our lives. We know pre-season is a joke; a tease designed to whet our appetite for the real thing. We know those four games are nothing more than the last stand for third-string players trying make the team. We can't get too excited about a win and we shouldn't get too unhappy about a loss. If our team's star players make it through the four games without injury, it's time to break out the champagne.

But then, there's the third game. That's the one, the only one, that means something. The starters play at least through the first half, often through the third quarter. You start to see a glimmer (coaches, especially our lovable Bears coach, don't like to tip their hand too much) of what your team is going to look like come opening day. It's exciting, it's fascinating, it's worth watching, and if your team is playing the defending Super Bowl Champions, it's a little bit scary.

Tonight, is that night.

Sorry, Say Yes to the Dress. You will just have to wait. Tonight, Randy and the girls are heading straight to the DVR. For this one and only Friday, Lovie and the boys need my complete attention. As far as I'm concerned, there's only one good thing about the end of summer - the start of football. So, I'm going to pick up a pizza, slip on my Bears t-shirt and try not to get too excited about this very intriguing season. 

Optimism is great but it won't take down Mr. Rodgers and the Packers.

Football Blues

I know this blog is supposed to be about the transition out of full time motherhood but today I'm mourning another transition - the end of the football season. Every year is difficult but this one ended with a spirit crushing, hard to swallow Super Bowl triumph by our arch rivals so it's even tougher than usual. The fact that we wasted the opportunity to knock them out of the playoffs not once but twice makes the upcoming off-season even worse. Not that I held out much hope that we could have won it all. I'll cop to being a crazed Bears fan but I'm actually sane enough to know that the better team moved forward. But you can't blame me for hoping our luck would hold out for a little while longer.

I was surprised how much it all bothered me. It's just a game. I know that. But seeing Aaron Rodgers and his cohorts hoisting that trophy when we were unable to do it when we had the chance a few years ago; not gonna lie, it made me a little sick to my stomach. I also had to deal with a couple of zealous Packer fans the next day at work. Didn't make Monday morning any easier.

So, now what? What the heck am I going to do with my Sunday afternoons? Baseball's months away and I'm not that big of a fan anyway. Golf? Except for the pleasure of seeing Tiger lose another one, there's not much fun in that snoozefest. Basketball? I might get interested in the last two minutes and the NCAA can be addictive with all that bracket nonsense but nothing holds my interests in the same way those helmeted Monsters of the Midway do. I guess I'll just have to find another outlet to get through this never ending winter. Since I'm still procrastinating editing my book, anybody up for a scintillating game of Trivial Pursuit?

I've Got a New Team

About a month ago I wrote a blog about my genuine desire to pledge allegiance to a new football team. It was written after a particularly brutal loss to the Redskins but the frustration I was expressing in the piece had been a long time coming. Obviously, others shared my feelings at the time because the blog was picked up by the Trib and published on the first page of their online edition. So, I thought I would update anyone who had an emotional investment in that editorial on how my search for a new team was going. As of yesterday, I have one.

The team has a complete package. Their defense is stellar; they may give up more yardage than I would like but play with heart and conviction. They force turnovers and keep big plays against them to a minimum. The quarterback, despite being protected by an offensive line that could use a little work, has a laser throwing arm and enough intelligence to run away from trouble or throw the ball away. The rest of their offense, while not that impressive on paper, gets the job done. The coaching staff has settled on a nice mixture of passing and running the ball and the young players are doing their jobs better than anyone predicted they would when the season started.

This team has made watching football fun again. I've been checking them out for the last few weeks when they were beating teams with a losing record, just waiting to see if they really had what it takes to win me over for the long haul. After yesterday, I've decided they're for real. The game they played against a division leading team convinced me that they have enough talent and desire to make me proud on a regular basis to be their fan. It's great to feel that way again about a football team.

So I'll be there next week rooting them on. If they stumble, I'll try to remember how hard they've tried; how much progress they've made and I'll remain a loyal fan until the day I die. Oh, I haven't mentioned their name? What else could it be? The Chicago Bears.

Ready for a New Team

I've decided that being a Bears fan is a lot like that Disney ride, Tower of Terror. You ride up slowly, trying not to think about what's going to happen next. You can lull yourself into thinking that you're on a fun, little ride when, all of a sudden, the bottom falls out and you want to barf your brains out. Since I do my best to avoid those stomach churning rides whenever possible, I think it's time for me to pledge allegiance to a football team that won't simulate the feeling every freaking week.

I don't think it's going to be easy. I've been a die-hard Bears fan for forty years. But enough's enough. I've wasted too many Sundays hanging on the hope that this team would get better. And, just my luck, the only time they actually did win the Super Bowl, I was living on another continent. Oh, sure, they got back to the big dance a few years ago. Cruelly, they returned the opening kickoff for a touchdown before stomping on our hearts yet again.

Still, I remained loyal. Like most of us in Chicago, I drank the Kool-Aid when Jay Cutler was signed as the franchise quarterback who would lead us to the promised land. But now that his favorite receivers are wearing the other team's jerseys, I find myself thinking about the Rex Grossman era as the good old days.

I do have something to look forward to. There is no Bears game next Sunday. It's their bye week. That should give me plenty of time to survey the other 31 teams before picking a worthy successor. I find it ironic, however, that the Bears aren't playing. After all, it is Halloween.