I have a confession to make: I'm a Bears fan. i realize this is nothing short of blasphemy in Wisconsin but I tell you, I really can't help it. It's in my bloooood. But seriously, as much as I love Milwaukee I'm a Chicago girl at heart. Well, technically I grew up in Rockford, Illinois but we'll forget about that little technicality. It's much cooler to say you are from Chi-cah-go right? And I did go to college there so…where was I?
Ah, yes. Da Bears. It takes a special kind of person to keep cheering for a team that seems perennially doomed. (See also: Chicago Cubs) For me though, I learned all about football in the year 1985. You know, the year of infamous '85 Bears, Walter Payton, Jim McMahon, the Super Bowl Shuffle. I still remember that fall when I was 7-years old-and I asked my dad to start explaining all the rules to me. I loved getting to sit on the couch with him, eating Doritos and yelling at the tv when there was a bad play (whether or not I even understood what was going on.)
It was the first sport I ever cared about and the first team I ever cheered for and they made it all the way to the Super Bowl and WON! How exciting! My parents had a Super Bowl party with all their friends and I made decorations. At school, my second grade class made posters to hang in the hallway. You couldn't go anywhere without hearing that song, "We are the Bears Shufflin' Crew…" Remember how awfully awesome that was?
These days it's a little different. Painful, you might say. 1985 is a mere memory and here I am living in Packer Land. My beloved team has not been on top of the mountain since and they had a disastrous appearance in the Super Bowl just couple of years ago. And let's not even mention last Sunday's game, shall we?
But still I soldier on. I wear my blue and orange to the grocery store on Sundays to pick up beer and snacks despite all the dirty looks. I watch every game and even when they are down and out I still believe! I could live in Wisconsin the rest of my life but I'll still cheer for my scrappy, infuriating, Chicago Bears. I keep on cheering in the name of da SNL Super Fans, for Clark W. Griswold in his Bears hat, for Ditka and for The Fridge. And I cheer because I know my dad is at home cheering as well, mostly likely tearing off his cap in frustration and hurling it at the tv shouting "STUPID D@$# BEARS!"
Hey, at least we didn't sign Favre.
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