The Sad Story of William “The Refrigerator” Perry and Other Points of View

Bears

• In what has to be the saddest story I’ve read all year, Tom Friend at ESPN details the struggles of William Perry against his both his physical and mental disabilities.  Here is the accompanying video:

• Brad Biggs at the Chicago Tribune thinks the Bears are a good bet to open the season on Thursday night at Lambeau.  It certainly makes sense and it would get block buster ratings.
• Becky Schlikerman, also at the Tribune, points out that Chicago played a prominent role in many of the Super Bowl ads.

Elsewhere

• Congratulations to the Packers fans on their team’s Super Bowl win.  But as usual some fans went too far in the course of their celebration as shown in these shocking scenes of excess. (Thanks to Eric Olsen for pointing me to this video at The Chicago Bears Fan Forum).
• My only comment on the Super Bowl is simple.  Turnovers and penalties will kill you every time.
• If you are looking for any piece of good news to brighten a pretty dark day for most Bear fans consider this:  The Packers continued to drop footballs all over the field last night.  It sounds minor but it sure makes a difference when you are playing an opponent that isn’t giving the game away.   The Packers will get everyone’s best next year.
• Dan Pompei at the Chicago Tribune makes the case that the difference was the quarterback play.
• According to FOX’s Howie Long (via Biggs) the Packers are the second youngest team in the league.
• Here’s an embarrassing turn.  The fire marshall didn’t have time to inspect some temporary seats that were installed at Cowboys Stadium.  Many of the fans who had tickets for those seats were not happy.
• And, oh, yeah.  What was the problem with the Black Eyed Peas?  Possibly the worst Super Bowl halftime show since “Up with People”.
• It was not a good evening for singers as Christina Aguilera also flubbed a line from the national anthem.
• The over/under for the length of the anthem was 1:54.  It was timed at exactly 1:54 by SB Nation and was a push.  Unbelievable.
• I’m not surprised that Tom Brady won the league’s MVP award.  But like almost everyone else I am surprised it was unanimous.  Its the first time that’s ever happened.
• Like most of the fans around the league who are asking the same queston of their respective teams, Omar Kelly at the Sun-Sentinel asks how far the Dolphins are from the two Super Bowl teams.  The Dolphins beat the Packers and almost beat the Steelers this year.
• In a video which is no less funny for being posted a bit late, Kenny Mayne at ESPN goes back to Mike McCarthy’s hometown of Greenfield, Pa., to find out who the locals will be cheering for.

• The Super Bowl ads can be found here at the Chicago Tribune.  Here’s what was probably my favorite one:

• Former Baltimore head coach Brian Billick talks to Joe Reedy at the Cincinnati Enquirer about new offensive coordinator Jay Gruden and the “West Coast offense”:

“’There’s no such thing as a West Coast offense anymore. It doesn’t exist,’ Billick said. ‘Everyone has taken different bits and pieces of it and its morphed into a number of different things. He may use some of the West Coast verbage but even the most ardent of west coast guys who came directly from the [Bill] Walsh lineage whether its be via [Mike] Holmgren to Andy Reid to Jon Gruden, they’ve all evolved it and it’s morphed into different forms almost like the Dungy 2 or Tampa 2, everyone uses a form of it. To identify a team like that, it’s kind of a misnomer because everyone is doing it.”

• The Arizona Cardinals have solicited wide receiver Larry Fitzgerald‘s opinion about their quarterback situation.  According to Adam Schefter at ESPN he’s recommending that they pursue Kevin Kolb.
• Tom Kowalski at mlive.com astutely points to two incidents during Super Bowl week that reveal aspects of Ndamukong Suh’s character.

One Final Thought

Like Mayne’s vidoe above, “Vince Lombadi’s” final speech to players in both locker rooms is also no less moving for being posted late.  This was a nice series of video’s put together by the league.  I hope they do it again next year.