Super Bowl 51 tommorrow

SuperBowl.com

I rarely talk football on this blog, it doesn't help that for roughly the past decade the Bears have been lousy, aside from one Super Bowl appearance back in 2007. During that period I posted a Bears championship history and then a history of the Super Bowl itself.

This year the Atlanta Falcons take on the New England Patriots tomorrow. The Falcons are making only their second appearance in a Super Bowl and of course we already know the success of the Patriots in the NFL Super Bowl.

Since I generally don't follow the NFL I'm a long way from making any predictions. On that other hand let's see how hungry the Falcons are to bringing the first Vince Lombardi Trophy to A-Town! We already know how many New England has brought up to Boston.

Bill Walsh dies at 75!!!

He was the coach of the San Francisco 49ers. He had a long battle with leukemia. He won three Super Bowls during his coaching career. News is from FOXNews.com.

Bears lose Super Bowl XLI

Yeah there was about 30 seconds left in the game and I just stopped watching. It wasn't going to happen. In the last quarter of the game the Bears couldn't help but get their passes intercepted. The only reason this wasn't a very good game to me was that the Bears were losing, but it was an interesting game. Congrats to the Colts though.

And hopefully the Bears can try it again next year. It was great to see them in Miami for the Super Bowl. It was great to see them in a Super Bowl period.

Final Score 29-17 Colts.

Super Bowl Shuffle on YouTube???

Every time I look up for some reason the Super Bowl Shuffle video featuring the 1985 Chicago Bears, the Super Bowl champions is taken down. Last night there was this message...

This video has been removed at the request of copyright owner Julia Meyer because its content was used without permission

How incredibly anal!!! Is this individual making Bears fans pay for the privilege of watching this video especially now that the Bears are actually in the Super Bowl again after just over two decades. I would really like it if this individual start a YouTube account and post this video herself. Especially if this isn't about the money.

C'mon I'm sure she can make Chicago Bears fans very happy. I mean there are at least three links to the actual Super Bowl Shuffle and each of them has this message. What is wrong?

How the Super Bowl was created...

Again I want to call attention to BearsPOD.com and for you to offer feedback on a Super Bowl podcast by football fans for football fans. Please let them know!!! Now back to my regularly scheduled post.

Just a random post. This has become a random blog, but sometime I like looking at sports history. I've been doing some sports here for a while. Whether it's Baseball or Australian Rules Football.

This blog post is about football's biggest game, The Super Bowl. The Sunday this game (this year it's February 4th) is to be played has become a de-facto holiday in America. Guys and their women wives entertain on this day and consume foods and snacks. They yell at the TVs or if you are unfortunate enough to work that day, you may have to listen on the radio or bring your own TV. Or if you have a computer you can still follow the game, listen to a streamed broadcast of it.

Either way this great event in sports history only began in 1967. When the NFL champion Green Bay Packers faced the AFL champion Kansas City Chiefs. Now this was when there were actually two football leagues and in an agreement in 1966 the NFL & AFL agree to merge to become the new National Football League. This is why there is a NFC (National Football Conference) and an AFC (American blah-blah-blah).

It's unfortunate that the very first super bowl (originally called the AFL-NFL World Championship Game) cannot be found in it's entirety on tape. People didn't see the preservation of this game as important, nor did the economics of the time permit because video tapes were expensive. Either way we don't have much footage of the first two super bowls. And the NFL has put a $1 Million reward for this footage in hopes that someone out there might have the first two super bowls in their video library.

The name Super Bowl didn't stick until the third super bowl in January 1969. The name even had a story. Notice that in College Football near the end of the season they play all these bowl games for bragging rights. Championships of the various College Football conferences as well as for the national championship (which was upon a time was only determined by the winner of the Rose Bowl, yeah thanks to this new concept called the Bowl Championship System).

Well the men behind the world championship game NFL commissioner Pete Rozell and AFL founder Lamar Hunt (who also owned the Kansas City Chiefs) were trying to come up with a good name for the championship between the AFL-NFL. Well Rozelle was thinking about calling this game "The Big One". While watching his daughter playing with this toy called the super ball Hunt jokingly referred to this championship game as the Super Bowl. This particular toy, thanks to its role in football history, is enshrined at the Pro Football Hall of Fame in Canton, OH. It was intended to be a stop gap until a better name could be created. There wasn't and that's history.

Oh yeah I should mention this trophy. The picture in the upper left hand corner is the Vince Lombardi Trophy. Named for the late great Green Bay Packers coach this is awarded to every winner of the Super Bowl. Just think the NHL has the Stanley Cup, Olympic champions have the gold medal, and the NFL has this great piece of art. Professionally made by the famous jewelers Tiffany & Company.

Damn I didn't know they expanded into that. I didn't know they made the Baseball world series trophy awarded to the winner of the world series and the NBA's Larry O'Brien Trophy awarded to the winner of the NBA world championship finals. Just think all those guys who've spent money for those expensive diamond rings for their wives (at least those with some money) would actually be helping to support the making of these trophies. Very cool.

I hope you enjoyed this brief lesson. I may not always be in the present day when it comes to sport, but I really love sports history. And who knows in a few years all the moments from today that I've missed, are something that I can look at in the future.

Thank you ESPN Classic!!!

Chicago Bears championship history

I still plan to post the history of the Super Bowl soon. Also on the Bears beat I would like for you to visit BearsPOD.com and look for this post asking about doing a Super Bowl podcast and let them know you want to hear one. I'm not a regular reader there but I'm intrigued by a possible Super Bowl podcast by some football fans for football fans. Anyway enjoy this post. Sports history is my niche!

How appropriate since the Bears are going to the Super Bowl again. Why not rehash the championship history since the beginning of the NFL. And plus I like history it doesn't matter if it's black history, American history, world history, or sports history.

So where do I begin the Bears were founded in 1919 as the Decatur Staleys. Eventually they moved to Chicago in 1921 and became the Chicago Bears in 1922. The team was founded by the A.E. Staley Company and George Halas and Edward "Dutch" Sternahan were hired to run the team in 1920, but by 1921 they had gained full control of the team.

The Bears were a charter member of the National Football League (the league was known as the American Professional Football American association until 1922 when it adopted NFL as its name). They almost won their first football championship against a team called the Akron Pros but the Bears lost. But in 1921 the Staley were champions. Oh yeah did I forget to mention that in the early days of the NFL, a championship was determined by a teams won-loss percentage.

In 1932 the Bears won a playoff game against the Portsmouth Spartans when they were tied for first in the standings. The Bears won 9-0.

In 1933 they played in the NFL Championship game against the New York Giants and they won this game 23-21. This game is historic in that this was the first ever championship game scheduled in the NFL since it was founded in 1920. The Bears would capture the NFL championship in 1940, 1941, 1943, 1946 and 1963.

Then of course there is the 1985 Super Bowl (Super Bowl XX or 20 if you prefer) where there Bears played the New England Patriots and beat them 46-10. We still talk about that Bears team and that game was played 20 years ago. Of course the Bears haven't been near the Super Bowl in years. The last NFC Championship the Bears played in was in 1988. Of course there were 3 playoff appearances in the last decade.

Now the Bears are going to the Super Bowl in 2007!!!!

Two black coaches in the Super Bowl...

A big deal was made of this especially when I saw the conclusion of the AFC championship game last night. I just must say that was a game that was worth watching unlike many of the Super Bowls I have watched over time. And I have no doubt that Dungy deserves to be in this year's Super Bowl.

And Lovie Smith. When the Bears fired Dick Jauron I just assumed that they can get a proven winner then they settled on Smith. I imagine he was the Bears' first black coach, but it doesn't matter much to me. It matters more that he was a good coach.

Hasn't it been a long time since the Bears managed to get two consecutive playoff appearances. I can count that many before the 2005 season. One in the Dave Wanstaedt era and the other during the Jauron era (and many called that season a fluke, the season they played in Champaign-Urbana because of the work at Soldier Field). Looking at Lovie Smith's record he has certainly made it to the top this time.

And Tom Dungy. Well the Colts wasn't his first head coaching assignment. It was actually the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. He was fired from them in 2001 because the Bucs' management had determined that in conservative offense was to inconsisten against NFL teams. But as coach of the Bucs' they made more playoff appearances and even made it to the NFC championship game in 1999.

So I just want to say one thing. Two black coaches in the Super Bowl to me are minor accomplishments. I'm not going to look at Smith and Dungy as black coaches but as coaches who led their teams to the Super Bowl. Of course only one will be carry home the Vince Lombardi Trophy. And I can always look at it this way, black coaches have come a long way since being led the way by Art Shell of the Oakland (Los Angeles) Raiders.

Right now it matters less to me that both coaches are black. It matters that one of these teams are going to win and that I sincerely hope that this will be a great contest along the lines of, for instance, Colts & Patriots. I wish Dungy and Smith will and I hope Chicago goes all the way.

BTW, I was going to do a post about the Bears championship history and eventually I intend to post a history of the Super Bowl. I'm still working on the Bears championship history but the Super Bowl post is for the most part ready to go, but I'm going to wait a little while. It could be close to Super Bowl weekend or maybe tomorrow or perhaps a week before the Super Bowl. Either way it will be posted.

And check out my Bears post over at My Mind's Eye. Enjoy the Bears fight song, the lyrics, audio, and the Super Bowl Shuffle.

AFC Championship Game
NFC Championship Game

Oh yeah...

The Bears are in the Super Bowl. For the second time in what over 20 years. The last time they were in it they won. This is something I was looking forward to for a while but I was cautious. When it comes to Chicago sports teams you ought to be.

Anyway this is great news. I'm less amazed though than when the White Sox made it into the World Series. Still the Bears are going into the Super Bowl and I'm going to eagerly anticipate watching the Super Bowl in a few weeks.

Super Bowl bound from Chicago Tribune

UPDATE: The Bears will take on the Colts. I saw a very good game tonight between the Colts and the Patriots on CBS in Nap-Town (Indianapolis). Final score 38-34, Colts.

I should note the final score from the earlier Bears game against the Saints in Chicago. 39-14, Bears.