Happy days

On Sunday, in between ads for this weeks episodes of ‘24’ and ‘Prison Break’, a heavyweight fight between a Rock ‘Em Sock ‘Em robot and a truck and a subtle reminder that this is ooouuuurrrrr country, I witnessed one of the happiest moments of my life. In fact, I’d say that it ranks number one.

I obviously don’t remember my birth, I didn’t enjoy my Bar Mitzvah too much and my high school graduation was quite anti-climactic. So throw those out the window. That Illinois-Arizona basketball game I wrote about last week was amazing, but I felt more relief then pure joy when that game concluded. The only moment I can think of (And I’m obviously forgetting some stuff) that made me as happy as I was on Sunday afternoon was on September 27, 2003, the day that I will always call the Rosh Hashanah Miracle. For those of you who have no clue what that is, that was when the Cubs swept a double-header versus Pittsburgh to win the NL Central division on the Jewish New Year as well as the second to last day of the ’03 season.

That was a great moment because it was something that I had never expected to see live. I was actually at Wrigley that day, pedaling hot chocolate, and witnessing the Cubs making the playoffs was a combination of all sorts of amazing feelings. But that was only the league playoffs. For many reasons, and a completely separate 1,500-word column, the Cubs didn’t make the World Series that season. So that day comes up just a bit short (Kind of like the Cubbies did) on the all-time happy list.

But the Bears aren’t stopping in the conference playoffs. They are continuing their march to Miami and going to the Super Bowl. Wow, that felt really good. I’m going to type that again. The Bears are going to the Super Bowl. On the most beautiful twenty-seven degree snow filled afternoon in the Windy City’s history, the Monsters of the Midway absolutely destroyed the New Orleans Saints 39-14, sending the fleur-de-lis back to their comfortable dome and sending the orange and blue to Super Bowl XLI in beautiful Miami.

But how did they do it? How was Lovie Smith’s crew able to contain what was supposed to be an un-stoppable offense? Wasn’t the play-calling of Saints coach Sean Payton going to tear the Bears defense to shreds? I thought I read that without Mike Brown and Tommie Harris, the Bears couldn’t rush the passer anymore.

Turns out most of those NFL know-it-alls were wrong. Very wrong. All eight of ESPN’s ‘experts’ picked the Bears to lose (These ‘experts’ include people like career backup QB Sean Salisbury and former Bears running back Merril Hoge, who during his career suffered about five concussions) and so did five of Sports Illustrated’s seven NFL writers. Shows what they know. These guys must not have taken into account that Rex Grossman has been a big-game quarterback his entire career or that the Bears D fed off of all the people who said they were going to get beat up by Bush and McAllister. Maybe they didn’t realize that home teams in the NFC Championship game had won five of the last seven games. Or maybe they just weren’t confident in a team that had won 14 of the 17 games they had played during the year. Whatever it was, I’m sure it made sense to the ‘experts’.

I on the other hand did think about the game and therefore expected the Bears to come through with the victory. I didn’t expect the 25 point beat-down, but that’s OK. I’ll take it. As I said earlier, this game was the happiest moment of my life. I say that because of all the emotions that come out during not only a football game, but through an entire season. We started the year with a controversy of a potential Thomas Jones holdout, Rex struggling throughout the pre-season and questions on why management didn’t address the offense in the draft. Then during the regular season Bears fans lived through the Monday Night Miracle, Devin Hester’s record-setting rookie year, the good Rex versus bad Rex controversy and the entire Tank Johnson situation. The playoffs gave us Rashied Davis’ big third down and ten overtime catch, Robbie good as Gould’s game-winner, the safety versus the Saints and then finally, the NFC title. All sorts of ups and downs, and as a fan, I was there for every one.

Now its on to South Beach for Super Bowl 41 versus the Indianapolis Colts. A grea0t matchup featuring two best friends coaching against each other, the leagues two most clutch kickers and a hall of fame QB squaring off versus a hall of fame linebacker. Should be a great game. Yet once again, people are saying that the Bears are clearly the inferior team and have as much of the chance of a cheeseburger versus Shaq. The Las Vegas spread is seven points, but some people, including SI’s own Albert Einstein clone Dr. Z, think the game will be decided by the end of the first half. Now I’m not ready to make my own pick, but I’ll guarantee you that the game will be decided by less then a touchdown and that it will come down to the final few minutes. And if the Bears do end up winning, it will supplant last Sunday as the happiest moment of my life.




I’ll be back later this week with some random thoughts on sports other then football, followed by my complete Super Bowl preview next week