Bears
- A shout out to Bear Goggles for the Packer jokes found in this post.
- Kudos to Packer running back James Starks for being classy, at least publicly, about being passed over by the Bears in the draft in embarrassing fashion (via Mark Potash at the Chicago Sun-Times):
“Starks said he had no hard feelings over being snubbed by the Bears, who told him they were going to draft him in the sixth round, then had to tell him they had changed their mind. The Packers selected him 12 picks later.
‘‘’I was thankful, actually, that they thought of me,’ Starks said. ‘Most teams wouldn’t have thought of me in situations like that. I prayed on it. I knew things would fall my way. Now I’m a Green Bay Packer, and I’m lovin’ it.'”
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A first grade teacher explains to her class that she is a Cheesehead.
She asks her students to raise their hands if they are
Cheeseheads too.No one really knowing what a Cheesehead was, but wanting
to be like their teacher, their hands explode into the air like flashy
fireworks.There is, however, one exception. A girl named Kristen
who has not gone along with the crowd. The teacher asks her why she has
decided to be different.
“Because I’m not a Cheesehead.”
“Then”, asks the teacher, “what are you?”
“Why, I’m a proud bear Fan,” boasts the little girl.
The teacher is a little perturbed now, her face slightly red. She asks
Kristen why she is a rebel.“Well, my mom and dad are Bear Fans, so I’m a Bear Fan too.”
The teacher is now angry. “That’s no reason,” she says loudly. “What if
your mom was a moron, and your dad was a moron. What would you be then?”A pause, and a smile. “Then,” says Kristen, “I’d be a Cheesehead”
- Bears coach Lovie Smith via the Chicago Tribune on what impact safety Chris Harris not being 100 percent would have on the defense
“We won’t play a player unless we feel like he can be effective and won’t hurt the team – that he can help the team. I don’t think any of our players would put themselves out there knowing that they can’t do their job and that would definitely be the case with Chris. He’s making progress. There’s no reason really to think that he can’t and won’t be able to perform the same way he normally does.”
- The obligatory intermission:
- More Smith fro the Tribune on not changing much about their defense when playing the Packers:
“That’s who we are. We believe in our basic philosophy of eventually it’s going to come down me beating the guy across, a one-on-one battle no matter how you get in it. There is only so much you can do. The teams who have a philosophy just blitzing every snap, eventually, though, as you blitz you are going to have to beat someone to get there most of the time. You are not going to have a free guy. If you have a free guy, it’s someone on the outside. So it still comes down to a one-on-one football game. For us it’s the same situation. We just do it a little bit differently, but in the end, as our players said, we’re not going to change a whole lot. For the most part, you are going to know what we are going to do and we are going to try to out-execute you.”
We’ll see.
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Q: Did you here about the Packer fan that died at a pie eating contest?
A: The cow kicked him in the head!
- Rod Marinelli, also via the Tribune, on Tim Jennings:
“The one thing we did see when we looked at Tim was he was a tough, competitive guy, but he’s taken that to another step. Both our corners are so physical. I’m so proud of what these guys do and how tough they are and how well they tackle and how well they compete. They have good ball skills, man coverage, but in our system you have to tackle. You have to be physical, there’s no ifs, ands or buts about it and both of them have done a great job with tackling. To answer your question, he’s a heck of a ballplayer.”
I would agree. But I’ve been waiting all year for someone to take advantage of Jennings short stature. Hopefully I’ll still be waiting next week.
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Q: What’s the difference between a porcupine and Lambeau Field?
A: The pricks are on the outside of a porcupine.
- Marinelli, again via the Tribune, on Brian Urlacher, who the Bears were missing all last year:
“The biggest thing he does is he brings a calming effect to the entire defense because he they know if something comes up that is a surprise or whatever, he’s going to handle it. It’s a tremendous calming effect for the defense. His verbiage, his communication, is always right. He’s able to put the players in the good situation all the time. So it’s a comforting feeling for a coach, but also for the defensive team.”
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Q: What do you call a Packer fan with a sheep under his arm?
A: A pimp.
- Finally, Marinelli again, from the Tribune, on what a defense does to combat the Packers changing the launch point:
“It’s part of what we are, built in. You have to adjust all four guys that are rushing, unless we’re blitzing, they’ve got to work together. I always tell them four equals one. We have to know where each other is. Each guy has got to do his job and be accountable. You can’t let it take the aggressiveness out of our pass rush.”
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Q: Why is it a good idea to bring a Packer fan along to a Vikings game?
A: You can park in the handicap zone.
- Fred Mitchell at the Tribune points out that beginning Friday, the bronze lions guarding the Art Institute will sport a Bears helmet (south Lion) and earmuffs and scarf (north Lion) throughout the weekend.
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Q: What do you call a sober Packer fan?
A: A liar.
- For those who aren’t tired of hearing about the Soldier Field turf I present to you Charles Tillman via Brad Biggs at the Tribune.
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Q: How do you save a drowning Packer fan?
A: Take your foot off his head.
- Mark Schlereth at ESPN makes his pick. Jerk:
Elsewhere
- Eric Mangini discusses how the Jets might go about beating the Steelers Sunday with profootballtalk.com‘s Mike Florio:
Breaking sports news video. MLB, NFL, NBA, NHL highlights and more.
- Pittsburgh safety Troy Polamalu missed practice again yesterday. I’m guessing he’ll play but if he’s less than 100% it could be a huge blow to the Steelers. Via Florio.
- We’ve heard repeatedly about how good Bears long snapper Patrick Mannelly is but Pro Bowl coach Mike Smith chose to go in another direction (via Michael David Smith at profootballtalk.com).
- Todd McShay at ESPN has released his first mock draft:
- Brett Favre asks the question, we know the answer: “What should I do?”
One Final Thought
Jon Stewart has a message just for Patriot fans (via The Sports Pickle):