This is Your #1 Fan (for a year), a blog where I'll be documenting my foray into temporary NFL fandom, after losing my beloved home team to a clear cash grab by greedy owners. That's right, it's a blog. You're reading a blog. Actually, more realistically, you are not reading a blog, because who reads blogs anymore? Consider this a retro move.
Anyway, if losing my team taught me anything, it's that loyalty isn't rewarded in the NFL, so why give any team more than a year of your fandom? Rooting for a team takes time, energy, and, often, money. Hey, now that I'm a free agent, I'm willing to do that for any team in the league!
For one year.
So I asked friends on Facebook to sell me on an NFL team, or, rather, the team they rooted for, ultimately (only 1 person suggested a team they didn't root for). Pitches were made, reasons were offered, all passionate, even if it was along the lines of "there will be no greater tragic disappointment [than my team]." The team that I ultimately decided on? The Chicago Bears.
There are reasons for this. I used to live in Chicago, and many of the friends I made out there are now on the West Coast and they packed their Bears fandom with them. Strangely, some of the friends I've made in L.A. are also Bears fans, which I can only attribute to the absolute overexposure of the '85 Bears. It wasn't just the infamous presence of the Super Bowl Shuffle, there was something incredibly marketable about that '85 team. I mean, the Fridge was a G.I. Joe figure!
Not sure how exactly the Fridge's physical prowess on the football field translated to America's daring, highly-trained, Special Mission Force, but it worked for Sgt. Slaughter, so who cares?
Then there was the ubiquitous cool of Jim McMahon, the NFL bad boy who made every white kid want to grow a mullet and wear sunglasses inside. Or poolside.
The dude has butlers AND can shoot his own paintball gun poolside, seemingly naked? What kid doesn't want to get in on that? (My Chargers did, in a sense, when they traded for his broken shoulder back in 1989. He went 4-8 before being benched the final 4 games.)
Admittedly, I had some reservation about rooting for the Bears. I thought the Bears might still be a year or two away from truly contending, but that was my before brain. Now that I am an unabashed Bears fan (for one year), THEY ARE GOING TO WIN IT ALL. Trubisky, Mack, and company are going to do the Superbowl Floss on WGN as the march the Lombardi Trophy into Soldier Field and I am here for it.
There was something comforting about picking a team I actually knew something about. It was tempting for me to pick a team I knew nothing about (next year), but, considering I lived in Chicago for years, the Bears represented a comforting familiarity, one that would rear it's head during their opening game of the season.
And what an opening game! The Packers! In Lambeau! The team's most hated rivals! All in game 1!
Rivalries are interesting. Growing up a Chargers fan, I hated the Chiefs, Raiders, Broncos, and, for history's sake, the Seahawks (I've softened on Seattle quite a bit at this point), believing that the fans in those other cities spied the Chargers with the same amount of vehemence. As I got older, I started to think that maybe those "rivalries" were rather one-sided. For one, the Chargers have NEVER won a Super Bowl, where as everyone else in the AFC West have.
In fact, the Chargers have only made it to the Super Bowl once and got KILLED. Destroyed. Like so many moments in Chargers history, it was embarrassing. And that one Super Bowl appearance does not a scary rival make. Basically, if the AFC West was the cast of Swingers, the Chargers are the guy who played Sue. I mean, he held his own, but he just isn't going to be as remembered as Vince Vaughn, Jon Favreau, Ron Livingston, or even Alex Desert. Instead, he'll be remembered as the dope who tried to prove how tough he is by pulling a gun in a Los Feliz parking lot, which is the NFL equivalent of intercepting Tom Brady, trying to run it downfield for a touchdown, fumbling the ball back to Patriots, and losing the game. Am I saying Marlon McCree is the Patrick Van Horn of the NFL? Basically, yes.
Regardless, this was my first taste of an actual, bonafide rivalry. I remember from my days living in Chicago how Bears fans would seethe on the weeks they would play the Packers, and I finally found out why.
The first half of the game was awesome. The Bears created a 20-point lead, Khalil Mack was an absolute monster, Trubisky looked poised and confident, and Rodgers got hurt. Everything was going the Bear's way. I even had Chicago friends congratulating me on social media. Usually, I would never post about my during the game. Coming from the Chargers, blowing a 20-point lead is the typical outcone of most season openers, but I was emboldened to think that those days were behind me. The Bears don't cave! When they have a 20-point lead, they keep it!
Then the 2nd half started.
I mean, what's to say? Aaron Rodgers returned, the PAckers defense adjusted, and, well, things started to feel familiar. So when this happened, I almost wasn't surprised.
It was almost too familiar. I mean, it's not exactly Ray Rice getting a 1st down on a 4th and 29, but, yeah, I've been there.
But that's the thing about rivalries. Packers fans have this one to brag about, but I have a feeling things are going to be different when the Packers head to Chicago later this year. At least, that's what any self-respecting fan has to tell themselves when they roof for a team.
Even if it's only for one year.
On to the Seahawks!!
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