football

Chicago Bears moving to Indiana? Hike!

The 1985 Chicago Bears dominated. Simply put, nobody (except the Dolphins during the regular season) could beat them, and they crushed the New England Patriots in the Super Bowl. They had the funky QB Jim McMahon, defensive giants like Mike Singletary, and perhaps one of the greatest running backs ever–the late, great Walter Payton. And who can forget the Super Bowl Shuffle?

There’ve been many, MANY lean years since that great season, and the Bears, like many franchises, are considering moving because they want a new stadium. Apparently, Indiana has cast its lure to land the Bears and bring them one state over.

Now, the Indiana Bears, honestly, sounds sacriligious. I’m certain that should the Bears skip town, Chicago would go up in flames, and there’d be hell on the streets, which wouldn’t be much different than the way Chicago currently operates, so I’m not sure anyone would notice.

Chicago officials don’t want to pay for a new stadium, and that could be the big sticking point. And here’s where I think Chicago has it right. Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker has said the state is “not going to build a stadium for the team. … We want to make sure we’re protecting the consumers and taxpayers in the state.”

And guess what? Pritzker is right! Illinois is poorly run, crime-ridden, and faces a $3.2 billion shortfall. It needs to get its fiscal house in order, and spending hundreds of millions, if not more than a billion, dollars doesn’t seem financially prudent. And these stadiums can be boondoggles. Case in point: the Miami Marlins stadium fiasco.

Perhaps Illinois can give the Bears a tax break to stay in Chicago, but if the Bears want a new stadium, then pony up the dough to build one. (They don’t want to, which explains why they’re warm to Indiana helping to pay for it.)

I don’t care if the Bears stay or go. I just enjoy watching from the sidelines while Indiana tries to bag one of the most famous football franchises ever. If I had to guess, I think the Bears stay in Chi-town. Go, team! But don’t go, team! Get it? Get it?! All right, I’ll go to bed now.

Lingerie Football League Responds to NFL: ‘We Stand!’

This is not an Onion story.

(Courtesy: The Internet.)

It seems the ladies of the Lingerie Football League, which I knew existed in my dreams if not in reality, has literally taken a stand.

Whenever and wherever it is they play football, they’re standing for the National Anthem. I say God bless America and them and not just because I’m a 42-year-old single dad.

I was raised to stand during the National Anthem, remove my hat, put my hand over my heart, and to pay my respects to the American Flag. This was taught as far back as the 1980s and I cannot say with any degree of certainty whether that is still the case today. I’m pretty sure the San Francisco Public School System teaches its kindergartners to burn the flag while wearing Che Guevara T-shirts, but I could be off on that, too. I mean, if Alex Jones says it, it’s true, right?

(Courtesy: The Internet, and I pray this isn’t actually a child wearing a Che shirt and that the image is doctored.)

Back to the LFL. Let’s put the sophomoric jokes aside. This decision is to be respected and instills hope in me that America hasn’t completely lost its mind—a conclusion almost anyone could jump to given the current occupant of the White House and because the show Survivor is somehow still popular.

There are athletes of several ethnic backgrounds (don’t believe me? Follow this link) in the LFL and it’s reasonably assumed that some of them share concerns over police brutality against minorities, and want to call attention to it. But somewhere, somehow the League must’ve been educated in the 1980s and not in San Francisco:

“The LFL recognizes everyone’s First Amendment right to protest, but our nation’s flag and anthem are far too sacred,” the league said. “Too many fellow Americans have made the ultimate sacrifice, so that our flag and anthem continue in all its majesty.”

Leave it to the ladies to show the men how it’s done. There’s a time and a place for everything, and perhaps the LFL realized that performing an act that is clearly offensive to a majority of Americans might not be the best way to draw people to your cause, no matter how noble.

Go team.