85 Chicago Bears Are Still DaBears, Assorted Characters Included.....
RICK TELANDER: ’85 Bears facing fallout from hits, but they’re still cult of personailites
By Rick Telander rtelander@suntimes.com October 29, 2011 12:16AM
Updated: October 29, 2011 4:25PM
When the 1985 Bears visited the White House recently to get their long-delayed presidential welcome for winning Super Bowl XX, they reminded us again of their unique makeup.
You know how most NFL teams are bland and vanilla and virtually unidentifiable outside their jerseys?
Well, here you had Ditka, McMahon, Mongo, Otis and Willie Gault in the garden. Plus Gary Fencik, Buddy Ryan, Jimbo Covert and Kevin ‘‘Butthead’’ Butler. The legendary Chicago names were everywhere, and that’s not including William ‘‘The Refrigerator’’ Perry or Wilber Marshall, who were too unhealthy to make it. Or Leslie Frazier, who was coaching the Minnesota Vikings. Or Hall of Famers Mike ‘‘Samurai’’ Singletary (also coaching) or Dan ‘‘Danimal’’ Hampton (political reasons) or the sadly departed Walter ‘‘Sweetness’’ Payton. But ‘‘L.A.’’ Mike Richardson was there, and the party was on.
“We didn’t give a crap about [anything],’’ Jim ‘‘The Punky QB’’ McMahon said, thinking back. ‘‘We knew we were good. We just won games. We just had fun. That’s what people remember — how much fun we had.’’ McMahon was wearing a gaudy sport coat, a gaudier tie, white gym shoes, sunglasses and a headband around his shaved noggin. He spoke fondly of the bond most teams only hope to achieve.
‘‘It’s like us being on the plane coming here today; it was like we were going to play someone this weekend,’’ he said. ‘‘That’s just how this team has always been and will always be. Even though we don’t see each other for 10 years, its like we’re in the locker room yesterday.’’ Back before all these rules.
The olden Bears would have faded into obscurity were it not for their singular success (only Super Bowl champ in Chicago history) and, yes, their personalities. A lot of what they did in that less-p.c. era might get them arrested today. How well would Walter’s M-80s go over in this terrorism era, for instance?
Sucking down a government-funded beer, McMahon shrugged. ‘‘Yeah, there’s a lot more scrutiny now,’’ he agreed. ‘‘But it wouldn’t have mattered. If this team was playing right now, in this day and age, we’d be ALL OVER the news.’’
Former defensive tackle Steve McMichael agreed. ‘‘You know what they’d call this?’’ he said in his booming Texas drawl, gesturing at the White House grounds, his teammates and the smiling politicians mingling at the post-conference buffet. ‘‘ ‘Mongo Goes to Washington.’ ’’He thought about that. ‘‘Sounds kind of like a bad Ronald Reagan movie, don’t it? With me as the monkey, Bonzo.’’
Later, McMichael offered reasons why fellow defensive lineman Hampton had refused to come. First, he said it was dementia. ‘‘Here’s the truth,’’ he restated. ‘‘Hamp’s from Arkansas. When those hillbillies start shootin’, there ain’t no gray area. He gets serious about his politics, baby. On the golf course with him, he’s got a transistor radio, and it’s blasting Rush Limbaugh — and he’s listening to him. I mean, that’s severely over-right. ‘Let’s fix the national debt! Let’s kill all the [bleep]ing liberals!’ ’’ So no Hampton for Obama. A personal choice.
But there was a more serious matter that came up, too. How are the old Bears’ brains holding up? For real. Head trauma from football is no longer a joke. Teammate Dave Duerson’s suicide certainly wasn’t.
And McMahon was serious about the issue, in his way, admitting that he knows he is brain-injured from the game. ‘‘No doubt about it,’’ he said. ‘‘When I first retired, I was on this board with these military guys, and I was talking to them about brain injuries, and they were just explaining to me how it doesn’t take a big blow to your head to really screw you up. (But you're gonna have a hell of a time proving it. Most people would swear you were brain injured before you even started playing, LOL)
‘‘That’s when I started doing public-service announcements for kids, telling them to make sure your shoe’s tied, wear helmets when you bike, because it doesn’t take a knockout punch to screw your brain up. One bad fall a certain way, and you’re screwed up for life. ‘‘But in the NFL, there’s nothing you can do, other than take the helmets off guys and go back to the old leather helmets. Then if somebody wants to use their heads, they’re gonna end up looking like [McMichael].’’
:lol-032:
The price of fun. The helmets aren’t coming off, so how, then, do young men play this game? Why do they? ‘‘It’s violent, and injuries are going to happen,’’ McMahon said. ‘‘If you polled all the guys who ever played this game, they’d do it again. I’d do it again. I can’t remember half the [bleep] we did.But I’d do it again. It was fun!’’
Does McMahon literally mean he has brain damage? He nods. ‘‘We were on the plane today, and guys were talking about stuff, and they said, ‘Mac, you remember when you did such and such?’ I said, ‘No.’ I’m over 50 now, so I think that’s part of it. But I saw a specialist, and he said, ‘You have some brain issues.’ A lot of memory [bleep].’’
Mad Mac shrugged again. ‘‘Not a whole lot you can do. Have fun, have another beer, press on.’’ (Some things never change)
Here’s a recent statement by U.S. News & World Report’s HealthDay:
‘‘Children can face a lifetime of problems after suffering head injuries. . . . The findings emphasize the need for prevention,’’ said study author Dr. Frederick Rivara, professor of pediatrics at the University of Washington School of Public Health in Seattle. ‘‘Many of these injuries can be prevented by using bicycle helmets, and kids being buckled up in seatbelts, making sure there are gates on stairways.’’ Schools also should consider different rules for football, he added.
Hear that, White House?
