I said I would never go back to Soldier Field
Tuesday, January 25, 2011 at 12:01AM
I took my son Kevin to the Packers-Bears game a couple of years back (the ultra cold one on MNF the Monday before Xmas in 2008) and we lost a close one in OT. But the big thing for the two of us was the nasty way we had been treated by the fans (cursed up and down, all sorts of sick name-calling, pushing, snowballs at the head, spitting, challenges to fight, etc). It was a very drunk crowd and the security was weak, to say the least, but the big thing was the walking into and from the game--that's where we had the most trouble. I naturally got pretty mad afterwords and blogged it up (what you do in your middle years versus fight drunk gangs of twentysomethings with your 13-year-old-son at your side), swearing I'd never go back.
Of course, after the fun Vonne and I had in Atlanta, we were online buying NFC Championship tix about 30 mins after the Bears defeated the Seahawks. The prices were sky high on Ticketmaster, but we found two weirdly underpriced ones on Stub Hub and put in a bid (goal line, lower right corner from TV angle, in second deck--which is nice at Soldier Field because that is one tight, well-designed stadium where everyone is pretty close). Well, that deal fell through, and I figured the seller checked the prices and realize he was vastly underselling (seats in the same row were going for a lot more, for example). But Stub Hub, nice company that they are, says they guarantee our deal and will find us similar tickets at the same price. They actually move us ten rows closer in the same section for the same price! So we snatch them up immediately and they come FEDEX on Wed.
Work through my week, despite a bad cold that segues into a nasty sinus infection come Friday (my first in 15 months and I am totally taken by surprise), so Friday night I'm in bed and Saturday morning my wife is saying it must be one and she demands I call my ENT surgeon (great guy). So I get the usual WMD-level antibiotic I like for this (Levaquin, and yes, I am familiar with the complaints but it works well for me, so long as I don't take it for months on end like I did before the big surgery in 09), and I'm in decent shape by the time we leave the house around 4pm. Get to Chicago around 7:30 local, check into the Dearborn Ave hotel, and walk over to Sullivan's for a fantastic steak dinner.
Crash and sleep late, get the free breakfast, enduring a bit of good-natured taunting for my jersey. We leave the car at the hotel, gear up for the cold and catch a cab. Get to Soldier Field and it's a beautiful but cold day (15-20 degrees, feeling like 5-10 whenever the slightest breeze blows off the lake) and we hang outside chatting with Packer and Bears fans. We go in via the old entrance and walk around the stadium for a long stretch (and it really is a cool place, albeit with way too few bathroom holes). Buy some gear (commemorative tee shirts, pins, limited edition coin, pennant, program). You can tell the Bears fans are super-psyched and yet so ready to turn on Cutler ("better do this and that or else!").
We're in the second row in the media deck section (TV side, obviously) and face the spaceship-like other side. Second row in the second section is amazing--like you're on the porch looking right into the field. Pack warms up on our side and you can see faces clearly, even hear things--really special.
Pack goes length on first drive and scores far end, but Starks' TD in our corner. The amazing Rodgers trip-up of Urlacher was down our side (heart-pounding, to say the least). And then Raji's pick six was in our corner. So no complaints.
IMO, play of the game
Tense and everything, but a good game. One worth staying for throughout.
Then the big disappointment: the Bears had worked out deal with Packers pre-game, whereby if the Bears won, there would be big trophy ceremony at midfield on temp stage, but if Packers won, there'd be nothing and they'd do it in the locker room like it was 1963 or something.
Felt a bit cheated there, but it adds to the lore. I thought it was stunningly low-class of the Bears organization and the ownership McCasky family. Really uncool. When the Giants beat us in Lambeau, they raised the Halas Trophy on our fifty and we had no problem with that, because they won. But the Bears couldn't stand having the Packers hoist the Halas on their big C, and that was really poor sportsmanship. I was stunned that the NFL allowed this, because it disgraces the game and the trophy and sets a bad example--in effect saying that the owners can do what they want they get mad.
It's also bad because it disrespects the general comity between the two franchises, going back to Papa Bear himself and Lambeau. Halas was always on the Packers' side during the many league changes and evolutions, and if he hadn't been, it's quite possible that the Packers wouldn't have a franchise today. So yeah, enjoy the rivalry and all, but respect the game and the history behind it.
But this is part of the rivalry, I suppose, and it makes a better, crabby-old-man story for me when I'm 125 and attending Super Bowl CXX ("I was there when those f--king Bears wouldn't let us hoist . . .").
I was peripherally involved in two fights. Wasn't gaudy in my dress, with just my packer gloves and hat showing and my jersey poking out when I felt warm enough. I actually kept my hood on to lighten my tinting glasses.
First fight was some Bears fan slamming a Packer fan in Raji jersey at halftime. That guy, in turn, bangs into me when I'm in line for head. That one goes nowhere as everybody clinches and its over when the security guys rush up. I have no desire to get involved because I can just see myself sitting in a tank in the bowels of the stadium with s--t-faced imbeciles for whom this is the highlight of their lives, and I did not pay for that experience.
Later, in the head, some very drunk Packer fan (unfortunately, as I learn later, the guy sitting behind my wife) is standing in the middle of the room, saying he's just warming his feet. But he's got this snarky grin on and it's 14-0 and the Bears fans are pissed and he's head-to-toe in gear and that's just asking for it. So somebody starts ranting him up and on my way out, trying to zip up, I once again find myself getting moved around oh so delicately and I'm just, "let me outta here," because--again--security is on top of the bunch real fast and this dumb ass Packer fan misses most of the 3Q and then insists on spending much of the fourth recounting his vast bravery (that's when I put the hood up to cut off his soundtrack and improve my vision in the darkening stadium).
We walked all the way back to the hotel (2 miles, but nice time on Michigan) after the game, got in the car, and were home by 11pm. Did a long conference call on the way, then reviewed the DVR before crashing.
Great day, and worth the effort and money. Something very special for me and Vonne.
But no, we resist the temptation on the SB. Already tapped all our babysitters and frankly, we went to three playoff games this year (Wild Care Jets-Colts, Divisional Falcons-Packers, Championship Packers-Bears) for one-half the cost of one nose-bleed seat in Dallas--sad to say.
Plus, I am just beat after three weeks in a row. We'll have a big party here and watch it on the HD home theater.
McCathy, Thompson, Murphy (L-R)
The Packers have no ownership, thanks to my grandfather, Jerry Clifford, who dreamed up and drew up the articles of incorporation about 80 years ago, so we live on good people at the top. Mark Murphy, formerly of the Washington Redskins, is our excellent president, and Ted Thompson is the genius who pulled the trigger on Favre and elevated Rodgers (whom he drafted, alone with a host of other greats like Raji, Matthews, Finley, Starks, Shields, Jones, Nelson, and so on). Packers lost a ton of starting games by starters this year, and still made it to the SB, which is nothing less than amazing, and all the personnel credit goes to Thompson. Here we are three years after we dump Farve, doing it the Patriot way and in the SB.
As for McCarthy, I will admit he drives me nutty sometimes, but the players love him because he respects their bodies, and that makes for a happy clubhouse that plays very hard, and you have to respect his accomplishments on the field as well, juggling as he has with so many players. He has also attracted a host of great coaches (Dom Capers, Joe Whitt, Kevin Greene and Winston Moss) on the D side, giving us a great balance this year.
So these guys get all my gratitude for this achievement, along with the players and the obvious stars.
Reader Comments (3)
Tom, admit it . . You're in Hog Heaven right now . .
Go Packers . .
Reaction on Cutler's just amazing. But media is kinda hypocritical fueling it while pretending to denounce it, especially Yahoo! Sports. I mean really, who writes these headlines?
http://sports.yahoo.com/nfl/news;_ylt=Ahs0.h5jJALam4y.xIErrlSLCpJ4?slug=dw-cutlersocialmedia012411
I think Blogging the Boys had it right that Cowboys fans expect Super Bowl every year but take it more calmly when they don't get there. But Landry/Jimmy all seem like light years ago and the contrast between going to a Super Bowl with mostly players drafted and a few other teams castoffs (Woodson, Tramon Williams) and Dallas underachieving 1st rounders is telling. Of course, Parcells couldn't draft any o-lineman worth a lick either hence the age up front that got Romo collarboned.
What happens when the Steelers win?