Adrian Peterson and the quest for immortality

Adrian Peterson and the quest for immortality

by Jack M Silverstein, @readjack

Originally published on ChicagoSide, September 13, 2013

One of the coolest pieces of sports memorabilia I ever saw was at Bookman’s Alley, the great old used bookstore in Evanston. It was a poster made of cloth displaying the schedule for the 1927 Chicago Cardinals season, like the 1920’s version of a team schedule refrigerator magnet.

The schedule read:

September 25          Chicago Bears

October 2                 Pottsville Maroons

October 9                 Dayton Triangles

October 16               at Green Bay Packers

October 30               Red Grange

November 6             Green Bay Packers

November 13           at Red Grange

November 19           at Frankford Yellow Jackets

November 20           at New York Giants

November 24           at Chicago Bears

November 27           Cleveland Bulldogs

Home field.

Time to Settle Accounts

October 23, 2012: Home field.

The Bears mean different things to different people.

Late in the Bears’ 13-7 win over Detroit, before the defense had relinquished the shutout, I was marveling at the improvement shown by Brian Urlacher.

“Hot damn!” I exclaimed to my three friends at our buddy Marvin’s apartment. “He looks like the Urlacher of old!” And he did, flying around the field, jumping into piles, and driving ball carriers back several yards on his powerful tackles.

From August 11, 2008: Signing your life away

On the John

Signing your life away

Originally completed on August 11, 2008

After four years in Chicago, Chris Duhon was off to New York.

I am going to miss Chris Duhon.

Not that I’ve ever met the man, but that’s how it feels with the home team. It is indeed root-root!-ROOT!, and then Duhon signs with the Knicks, and they trade Chris Harris to Carolina and ship Rowand to the Phillies, and, well, you miss ‘em.

Part of this is strategic; you think the Bulls would be best served with Duhon running the second unit, and you prefer Harris’ smarts and hits to Danieal Manning’s speed, and you feel it’s bad karma to trade away your World Series-winning center fielder less than a month after winning the World Series.

On the John: With apologies to Tony

On the John
With apologies to Tony
Originally completed October 6, 2009

Minnesota Vikings quarterback Brett Favre, seen here piercing the souls of Packers fans everywhere.

When I arrived at the bar, a tall, big-shouldered, dark-goateed man was standing outside in a green Aaron Rodgers jersey. It was Tony the Packers fan: he was smoking a cigarette and taking a phone call.

The readjack.com All-Bears Post-Ditka Team: WIDE RECEIVER

READJACK.com presents…
The readjack.com All-Bears Post-Ditka Team
September 30, 2009: WIDE RECEIVER

Is Curtis Conway the best receiver in the Post-Ditka Era? The Committee says yes.

FLANKER-Curtis Conway
SPLIT END-Marty Booker

In contention: Bernard Berrian, Marty Booker, Curtis Conway, Bobby Engram, Jeff Graham, Muhsin Muhammad, Marcus Robinson

On the John: The Man With the (Green and) Golden Arm

On the John
The man with the (green and) golden arm
Originally completed August 24, 2009

When Favre is on the field, fun ain't far behind.

Of course, we dodged the cream pie when he went to the Jets rather than Minnesota; can you imagine having to play both Favre and Green Bay twice a year?

So Favre has a new shade of green, and the Packers fans are spared the horror of seeing their man Brett come to town as either a Bear or a Viking.
—Jack M Silverstein, August 11, 2008

******

So much for that.

From November 10, 2005: Jerkoffs finish last (but only if they’re losing)

On the John

Jerkoffs Finish Last (but only if they’re losing)

Completed on November 10, 2005

The only time teams really get bothered with T.O. is when they're losing.

As we float around the halfway mark of the NFL season, the general sentiment of fans and analysts is that this is a pretty boring year. On the field, the Colts are the only sure-fire Super Bowl contender, as injuries have taken the bite out of New England, Pittsburgh, and Philadelphia. Meanwhile, off the field stories have dominated, the most damaging of which involved the Minnesota Vikings and their “Love Boat” orgy party during their bye week.

The current story that has everybody talking?

Terrell Owens’ suspension from the Eagles due to repeated instances of conduct detrimental to the team along with his general dick-headedness, and Philly’s subsequent announcement that T.O. will not play for the rest of the year.

On the John: Appreciating Clark Kent

On the John
Appreciating Clark Kent
Originally completed March 15, 2009

In the third game of the 1989 Bears season, a rookie running back for the Detroit Lions named Barry Sanders ran for 126 yards on 18 carries, scoring once in a 47-27 Bears win.

This was the fall of ’89, and even with the Cubs wrangling a division title, our emotion was locked square on our beloved Bulls. Only three months earlier, the young guns in red and black had dropped their second straight series to the hated Bad Boys. For Chicago fans in the late 80’s, nothing mattered like the Pistons.

Bear Down and Get Some Runs, best-of: Man’s Great Equalizer

 

The troughs at Soldier Field were never this dirty…but you get the idea.

Man’s Great Equalizer

Revised for an IDS column, Sept. 5, 2003

The joy of watching good playoff football usually comes with the pain of knowing that your team isn’t good enough to get there. And when you watch the Chicago Bears, the pain of knowing that your team isn’t good enough to get there is augmented by the pain of knowing that maybe your team would be good enough to get there if only management knew what they were doing. Most of the Bears teams of the past fifteen years have been teams that suffered from the same problems: an inability to win close games (coaching and quarterbacks), and an inability to run a team and evaluate talent.

Bear Down and Get Some Runs, best-of: January 9, 2005

The FedEx Orange Bowl played earlier this week, and it was a laugher. USC, possibly still bitter about their exclusion from last season’s title game, came out firing and put on a good old fashioned mollywhomping on the Sooners of Oklahoma. I didn’t really care either way, so long as it was exciting. It wasn’t. But the second best thing to a good game is an impressive blowout, and in that category USC delivered.