Da Bums?

A little over a year ago, I found myself bemoaning the Bears future after an abysmal loss to the insufferable Green Bay Packers. (see Da Bums.) As this season drew ever closer, I had desired to attempt a similar ‘Bottom Ten’ list concerning my outlook for the two-aught-ten season. I mulled over the few ideas I had, but each successive week I found something more interesting to rave about. With time, the pre-season had come and gone and my list remained unpublished, even unwritten. It was but a half-thought in my mind, something to the effect of:

Top Ten Reasons to be Excited about the Bears this year

1) Aaaaaaahhhhhhhh . . . . . Ummmmm . . . . . . . . there’s . . . no . . . . well, there’s always . . . . not that either . . . . . . uuuuummaaaahhhhhhhhhh . . . . .

2 -10) See number 1.

Three weeks later, three games have come and gone. None of them have quite silenced the little man inside my head, you know the one, the guy wearing the black shirt with white letters across the chest reading ‘doubter.’ But despite my still unanswered questions about my favorite team, all three games have been eternally etched in the record book as wins.

Now I’m not one to rashly paint my face orange, jump on the next passing wagon and scream loudly about my team’s destiny, indestructibility and inevitable Super Bowl win, I’m a Southside Bears fan after all. And if there’s anything we Bears/Sox fans know, it’s how to temper our excitement amid unexplained success. Even during the 2010 White Sox spectacular 25 and 5 midseason run, I wasn’t anticipating our World Series berth, I was quietly enjoying the ride while wondering if we’d even make the playoffs.

While I’m on the baseball tangent, I’d like to congratulate a certain National League Central team whose logo is a red ‘C’ on their first pennant in fifteen years. You all know the team I’m talking about . . . and if you don’t, you probably know who I’m not talking about!

Three and 0. The only undefeated team in the NFC. There isn’t much more an early season football fan can ask for. History shows that most teams who start the season with three wins will make the playoffs. Call me jaded, but I’m not spending my waking hours anticipating our deep playoff run. I’m enjoying each game’s success. I’m looking forward to next week’s game, anxiously wondering if or when the ball will drop. Will Martz’s high power offense be spectacular once more, or did I catch a glimpse of the ‘Old Cutler’ in the last game (and how many picks did he throw last year)? Will the defense again bend but not break, or will they simply break? Uncertainty amidst success is an anticipation I can revel in.

It was the final game of the 2005 baseball playoffs. With three wins under their belt, the White Sox were winning game 5 of the World Series 1-0 and there were two out in the ninth inning. Even in that euphoric state, Mr. Doubter still held sway. My mind was swarmed with a thousand ways it could all fall apart. One bad pitch, one bad throw. Doubt and fear mingled uneasily with tempered joy until the very - last - moment.

So it is, though with a rationed zeal, that I will watch this week’s game. I will revel in the uncertainty of a team I’m not quite sure about. My muscles will tense with each snap. I will hold my breath as every lofted pass follows its perilous path back towards the Earth. Every play could be spectacular. Every play could spell our doom! There can be no greater way to watch a game!