The Chicago Bears and NFL at 100 Maybe

The NFL's "100th Season" logo was everywhere this week.  But is it really?

Last night amid all of the impressive hoopla that the National Football League (NFL) can muster the “One Hundredth Season” was launched with a Bears/Packer’s game at Soldier Field in Chicago.  It did not go well for the home team whose sky-high expectations fizzled with the touted offense.  Not that Green Bay did much better.  It was a defensive slug fest but Bears Quarterback Mitch Trubisky threw and end zone interception in the second Quarter.  The visitors maintained their humiliating dominance at the Lakefront stadium.

The new statues of George Halas and Walter Payton were unveiled outside Soldier Field.

The game was almost anticlimactic after a week of hype and hullabaloo by the League, the Bears, and NBC.  The Bears unveiled a pair of statues honoring founder/owner/coach George Halas in his fedora and overcoat like he prowled the sidelines  in during the ‘50’s and ‘60’s and running back Walter Payton, the most beloved Bear since Red Grange.  There were carnival-like events most of the week in near-by Grant Park, press conferences and photo ops galore.  There was even a Meagan Trainor concert for tailgaters before the game.

The League’s Jay-Z approved charm offensive to convince Black fans and liberal critics that it really does care about social justice after all was in full swing despite the fact that it continues to essential black ball Colin Kaepernick for taking a knee to protest police killings of Black folk and threatens sanctions against any players who might be tempted to do it this year.  It also has to do it without triggering a new Donald Trump Twitter storm or offending its White and jingoistic fan base.

Part of the NFL charm offensive to convince Black fans that they are good guys after all.

The Bears featured reunions of survivors of the 1985 Super Bowl champion team, renditions of the  Super Bowl Shuffle, and skits featuring mustachioed, meat loving fans of “Da Bears” that originated on Saturday Night Live.

Much of the rah-rah was focused on the NFL and Bears centennial.  But there is a minor problem with that.  While it is the 100th year of the team coached and led by George Halas, it was not playing in Chicago in 1919 and the NFL was not founded until 1920 playing its first season that fall.  Nor is the Bears-Packer rivalry the oldest in the league.  That rivalry was the one between the Chicago Cardinals and the team from Decatur.  Those two franchises are the only ones left from the original members of the league.  The Packers did not join the NFL until 1921.

Let me explain.

On October 17, 1920 there was a football game at Rock Island, Illinois.  The Decatur Staleys, under the leadership of former professional baseball player George Halas, beat the home town Rock Island Independents by a score of 7-0.  The only thing that made the game memorable was that it was the first game played by teams of the new American Professional Football Association; a fledgling professional league renamed two years later as the National Football League (NFL.)

The 1920 Decatur Staleys professional foot ball team with coach/player George Halas front row center.

The Staleys, who started out as a semi-pro team in 1919 sponsored by the food starch producer A. E. Staley Company, had a pretty good season finishing with 10 wins, 1 loss, and 2 ties.  They finished second to the Akron Pros.

The new league was the brainchild of legendary athlete Jim Thorpe, player-coach of the Canton Bulldogs.  He had been promoting the idea among other independent pro and semi-pro teams since 1917, but World War I and then the 1919 Spanish Influenza pandemic prevented anything from happening.  Thorpe and Leo Lyons, owner of the barnstorming Rochester Jeffersons got representatives from a number of teams to gather for a meeting in August 1920 in a Hupmobile Dealership in Canton, Ohio to launch the league.    Thorpe was elected President of the league in addition to his player/coach duties with Bulldogs.  

Legendary Native American athlete Jim Thorpe of the Canton Bulldogs was a founder of the new professional football league, its first president, and public face.

The teams competing that first year included Canton Bulldogs, Decatur Staleys, Chicago Cardinals, Akron Pros, Cleveland Indians, Dayton Triangles, Hammond Pros, Muncie Flyers, Rock Island Independents, Rochester Jeffersons, Buffalo All-Americans, Chicago Tigers, Columbus Panhandles, and Detroit Heralds.  Of these teams only 11 managed to finish the season.

In 1921 Halas got permission to take his team to Chicago.  The Staley Company gave him $5000 to keep the name for at least the first year.  The team played Cubs Park (now Wrigley Field.)  The team finished with a 9-1-1 record to win the League’s second Championship. 

Freed from his contractual obligation Halas renamed the team the Chicago Bears in 1922 as a nod to his stadium hosts, the Chicago Cubs.  The league was still struggling in 1925 when Hallas signed the biggest star in college football, Red Grange, the Galloping Ghost of the University of Illinois.  In honor of his prize player, Halas changed the team colors to the orange and navy blue of the Illini.  

College football hero Red Grange, immortalized in the purple prose of sportswriter Grantland Rice,  became the fledgling NFL's first superstar when he signed with the Bears.  Halas changed the team colors to navy blue and orange in honor of Granges's alma mater, the University of Illinoi.

Today only two of the original franchises remain active, neither of them in their original location.  The Cardinals have moved twice, from Chicago to St. Louis and then to Arizona.  The Staleys became the Bears after only two seasons and moved to Chicago after one.  But the team is the only one still owned by the same family.  

Virginia Halas McCaskey, George’s daughter who was born in 1923, the year the team became the Bears, is the principle owner.  After her son Michael McCaskey retired as team president in 2009 he was replaced by Ted Philips and for the first time day-to-day management of the team is not in family hands.  Michael’s brother George, however, is still the Chairman of the Board.  Members of the Halas/McCaskey family own 80% of the company stock and show no signs of selling.

In the team’s storied history it has made 29 post-season competitions, won nine NFL Championships and the 1985 Super Bowl.  In addition to Grange and Payton legendary players have included Bronco Nagursky, Sid Luckman, Mike Ditka, Dick Butkus,  Gayle Sayers, Brian Piccolo, Mike Singletary, Dan Hampton, Richard Dent, George Blanda, and Brian Urlacher.

Chicago fans pin their hopes on QB Mitch Trubisky and head coach Matt Nagy.

Early on the team was noted for grinding out a ground game—“three yards and cloud of dust” and the T formation celebrated in the anthem Bear Down Chicago Bears.  With Sayers, Payton and more recent running backs it has featured an explosive running game.  But the Bears have gone through more Quarterbacks than it is possible to count.  Super Bowl QB and cool icon Jim McMahon was injured in a famous body slam by a Packer and never again was a dominant factor.  Jay Cutler had the longest run at the position—7 seasons—but was frequently injured. The current hope is Mitch Trubisky who has steadily improved over the last two seasons under Head Coach Matt Nagy.  

The Chicago Park District plunked this modern bowl with plenty of lucrative sky boxes within the shell of its old Neo-classical Soldier Field, a lake front stadium dating to the 1920s.  The Bears lease the facility paid for by Chicago and state of Illinois tax dollar and bonds brokered by political insiders.  Untold millions of infrastructure work was born entirely by taxpayers.

The team plays in the renovated Soldier Field which famously resembles the crash site of a UFO thanks to a favorable lease from the Chicago Park District, fancy bond deals involving the City and State, and hundreds of millions of dollars’ worth of infrastructure work provided by the City at no cost to the team at all.

Another Big Game, Another Year of Super Bowl Ennui

Note—My annual Super Bowl post and rant updated for this year’s event.

Sometimes I feel like a secular Jew on Christmas when Super Bowl Sunday rolls around.  I don’t begrudge every one having a good time.  I know the songs and will sing along.  I might even put up a tree for the kids.  But my heart really isn’t in it.

Lest you think I am one of those effete snobs who disdain sports and mocks popular culture while pretending only to be interested obscure novels by lesbian hunch backs or festivals of avant-garde Montenegrin mid-century documentaries, I like baseball, hillbilly music, and the classic American sit-com.  And attractive women in all of their pulchritude.  I have hair on my chest, fire in the belly, and an occasional embarrassing stirring in my loins.

But I long ago lost what little interest I ever had in professional football.  Most years I can barely tell you who is playing in the Big Game unless the Chicago Bears are in it which seems to happen only ever couple of decades.  I can’t avoid the Bears.  They are the home team and on Sunday nights at the gas station where I work guys wander in various kinds of league approved apparel and expect me to engage in semi-knowledgeable conversation about the game.  I’ve learned to peek at the TV sports on my way out the door to check the score and maybe note one big play.

As cultural traditions go, the Super Bowl does not have an ancient pedigree, but in an astonishing few years it became a great American feast and festival day—the only one associated with neither a religious or secular holiday.  Only Thanksgiving is celebrated with more gatherings public and private followed at some distance by Christmas and further back yet by the summer cook-out occasions. 

In terms of economic impact it ranks well behind Christmas and hot on the tail of Thanksgiving and Halloween but greater than such gift giving occasions as Valentine’s Day, Mother’s Day, and pitiful bring-up-the-rear Father’s Day.  Among those cashing in on consumer spending are beer and spirits vendors, groceries and caterers, bars and restaurants, and providers of team apparel and licensed products. 

In recent years the sales of large flat screen High Definition (HD) television sets have spiked sharply right before game day, although now that they have become ubiquitous in most homes, that trend is expected to taper off.  In addition advertising and promotional income surges for broadcasters and even hard pressed print media.  The economies of the host city and state are boosted as tens of thousands of visitors flood local hotels and entertainment spots for events that stretch out more than a week.

We are talking about a big frigin’ deal.  The origins were more humble.  

Retroactively named Super Bowl 1 was not such a big deal.  The game was played to plenty of empty seats and modest TV ratings as the mighty Green Bay Packers rolled over an upstart AFL team.

After reaching an agreement to fully merge the long established National Football League (NFL) and the upstart American Football League (AFL) representative teams began to meet for an inter-league championship game in January of 1967.  The first two games were utterly dominated by the traditional NFL powerhouse Green Bay Packers let by the game’s most iconic coach, Vince Lombardi.  Held on neutral fields, both games had trouble attracting ticket buyers and the games were played in stadiums with lots of empty seats.  The early games failed to attract many TV viewers outside the markets of the contending teams largely because the older NFL was viewed as perpetually superior to the juvenile AFL.

At first simply called the NFL-AFL Championship Game, the owner of the Kansas City Chiefs, William Alexander is credited with coining the name Super Bowls by marring the established use of the word bowl for college post season games with super, inspired by his children’s latest fad toy, the Super Ball.  The name caught on with the press before the second game in 1968. Reluctant owners finally agreed to make it the official name for the game in an attempt to hype interest in their floundering event.

Super Bowl III was the first to officially use the name and the first to use Roman Numerals. I and II were retroactively applied to the first two championships.  It is doubtful that that looked more than forty years into the future when Super Bowl logos would sometimes feature long strings of letters unfathomable to most Americans since Roman Numerals are now hardly taught in schools.

Any way, it was not the numerals but the victory of the AFL New York Jets led by brash and flashy quarterback Broadway Joe Namath that really established the game in the public mind.  AFL teams were now competitive.

Not directly related to the game, the premier of Monday Night Football on ABC TV ushered in an era when football finally eclipsed baseball in popularity and became hailed as America’s Game with all of the macho and vaguely jingoistic swagger that the title inferred.

In the early years the Super Bowl was treated pretty much like any other game.  The half time entertainment was not much more elaborate than a major college game and featured acts like Up With People and performances were often not shown in their entirety to make room for chatter and game analyses by the announcers.  The National Anthem was likely to be performed by a college or military band or sung third tier performers like Anita Bryant.

I was personally unaware of all of these developments.  I don’t remember seeing that first championship game because I worked Sunday afternoons washing dishes at a Howard Johnson’s in Skokie.  I graduated high school that spring and for the next several years was either away at college or was making my way in Chicago as a cultural hippy and a radical activist.  I seldom had a TV set and my social circles were not much interested in pro football.

It wasn’t until 1974 that I attended my first Super Bowl party.  I was invited by a drinking buddy to come to an event in an apartment on the edge of Old Town attended mostly by off-duty bartenders and pub waitresses.  I was astonished to find the second floor flat jammed with scores of folks; a full size keg in a tub in the kitchen; a sideboard groaning under a huge collection of whisky, vodka, bandy, and wine bottles; pots of bubbling chili; and platters full of cold cuts, cheese, and bread.  Some folks jammed around the one color TV set in the living room to watch the Miami Dolphins stomp the Minnesota Vikings, but others milled around the other rooms drinking, eating, passing joints, and making passes at each other.  The Super Bowl Party was already an established tradition.

Over the next several years I occasionally tagged along with friends to other parties.  Hell I was always up for a good party, even if the game itself was mystery to me.

By the 1980’s when I had gotten married and moved to the boonies of McHenry County the playoff format had expanded and League officials began trying to lure younger audiences with big name acts both for the Anthem and the half time shows.  TV began adding hours of pre-game programing and advertisers began showing off special commercials made just for the big game, like IBM’s famous take-off on Charlie Chaplain’s Modern Times.

Whitney Houston's rendition of the Star Spangled Banner in 1991 during the Gulf War cemented the Super Bowl as a celebration of hyper-nationalism super-patriotism.

In 1991 with the Gulf War on the game became a pageant of patriotism with for the first time a flyover by military jets, an all-services Color Guard, and Whitney Houston’s famous rendition of the Anthem.  After that there was no turning back.  The military became a fixture as did the custom of inviting divas and pop superstars.  The U.S. Army even became one of the game’s regular sponsors.

After the September 11th attack and during the Iraq and Afghan Wars the confabulation of the game with the military and hyper patriotism intensified.  The singing of God Bless America was added to the pre-game pageantry alongside the Anthem.

I sometimes went to a Party—my brother in law used to host one.  But except for Super Bowl XX when the Chicago Bears won I had next to no interest in the games themselves.

Since 2002 I have worked nights at gas stations as a second job on Super Bowl Sundays, the first few years on second shift during the game, and now on third shift meaning I sleep through the contest.  Perhaps that has contributed to my alienation.

During those years Super Bowl Sunday really became an all-purpose spectacle.  In addition to the high voltage entertainment, watching and rating the parade of clever new advertising became a major attraction.  So did stunts like the Bud Bowl, Puppy Bowl, and Lingerie Bowl as well as counter programing on other networks provide entertainment even for those not interested in the game.

Tom Brady, the super succesful quarter back that everyone outside New England loves to hate.

This year in Super Bowl LII—that’s 51 to the Latin illiterate—the Philadelphia Eagles are playing perennial powerhouse the New England Patriots.  Outside the environs of the Hub of the Universe, New England is despised because Quarterback Tom Brady former Deflategate scandal and suspicion of arrogance.  Bill Belichick is in his record breaking 8th appearance as Head Coach with five wins is widely reviled as a cheater.  But Brady just won sympathy points for refusing to participate in a regular radio show appearance because the sports jock host had glibly insulted his small daughter. 

But the Eagles are especially loathed in this year’s host city, Minneapolis, four eliminating their beloved Vikings in the NFC Championship game.  And Philly fans are reviled nationally for their notorious crude and sometimes violent behavior.

Eagles fans are famous for being loud, unruly, abusive, and sometimes raceist.

The Justin Timberlake will be the much talked-about star return as the star of the half-time extravaganza some years after his wardrobe malfunction with Janet Jackson.  He is now seen by the League as a safe pop star who will not rock the boat or try to make any political statements. 

They are plenty nervous about that in the wake of Take-a-Knee during the Anthem protests of police violence and abuse of African Americans and minorities.  Of course the Cheeto-in-Charge in Washington stoked a Twitter storm to reap the benefits of another wedge issue and throw red meat at his increasingly openly White nationalist base.  Not only did he demand the firing of players, but he actually attacked team owners—some of whom are pals and heavy hitting GOP donors.  The ultra-right has even been promoting NFL boycotts which may, or may not, have eaten into TV ratings during the season.  While no players are expected to take a knee at the Big Game—the Commissioner’s office has probably has stationed snipers to take out any player who dared.  But that won’t stop plenty of broadcast chatter about the controversy.

Back in the pre-season San Fransisco QB Colin Koeperrick set of the Take-a-knee movement.  He was since cut by the team and has essentially been black-balled from the game.

That might turn out to be mildly interesting.  But ask me if I have a pick in the game itself, and I would frankly have to answer, “I don’t give a rat’s ass.”

Super Bowl Ennui Again

Super Bowl Hoopla, 2015.

Sometime I feel like a secular Jew on Christmas when Super Bowl Sunday rolls around.  I don’t begrudge every one having a good time.  I know the songs and will sing along.  I might even put up a tree for the kids.  But my heart really isn’t in it.

Lest you think I am one of those effete snobs who disdain sports and mocks popular culture while pretending only to be interested obscure novels by lesbian hunch backs or festivals of avant-garde Montenegrin mid-century documentaries, I like baseball, hillbilly music, and the classic American sit-com.  And attractive women in all of their pulchritude.  I have hair on my chest, fire in the belly, and an occasional embarrassing stirring in my loins.

But I long ago lost what little interest I ever had in professional football.  Most years I can barely tell you who is playing in the Big Game unless the Chicago Bears are in it which seems to happen only ever couple of decades.  I can’t avoid the Bears.  They are the home team and on Sunday nights at the gas station where I work guys wander in various kinds of league approved apparel and expect me to engage in semi-knowledgeable conversation about the game.  I’ve learned to peek at the TV sports on my way out the door to check the score and maybe note one big play.

As cultural traditions go, the Super Bowl does not have an ancient pedigree, but in an astonishing few years it became a great American feast and festival day—the only one associated with neither a religious or secular holiday.  Only Thanksgiving is celebrated with more gatherings public and private followed at some distance by Christmas and further back yet by the summer cook-out occasions. 

In terms of economic impact it ranks well behind Christmas and hot on the tail of Thanksgiving and Halloween but greater than such gift giving occasions as Valentine’s Day, Mother’s Day, and pitiful bring-up-the-rear Father’s Day.  Among those cashing in on consumer spending are beer and spirits vendors, groceries and caterers, bars and restaurants, and providers of team apparel and licensed products.  In recent years the sales of large flat screen High Definition (HD) television sets have spiked sharply right before game day, although now that they have become ubiquitous in most homes, that trend is expected to taper off.  In addition advertising and promotional income surges for broadcasters and even hard pressed print media.  The economies of the host city and state are boosted as tens of thousands of visitors flood local hotels and entertainment spots for events that stretch out more than a week.

We are talking about a big frigin’ deal.  The origins were more humble. 

After reaching an agreement to fully merge the long established National Football League (NFL) and the upstart American Football League (AFL) representative teams began to meet for an inter-league championship game in January of 1967.  The first two games were utterly dominated by the traditional NFL powerhouse Green Bay Packers let by the game’s most iconic coach, Vince Lombardi.  Held on neutral fields, both games had trouble attracting ticket buyers and the games were played in stadiums with lots of empty seats.  The early games failed to attract many TV viewers outside the markets of the contending teams largely because the older NFL was viewed as perpetually superior to the juvenile AFL.

Broadway Joe Namath leading his upstart New York Jets to victory in Super Bowl III established the game as a marquee event.

At first simply called the NFL-AFL Championship Game, the owner of the Kansas City Chiefs, William Alexander is credited with coining the name Super Bowls by marring the established use of the word bowl for college post season games with super, inspired by his children’s latest fad toy, the Super Ball.  The name caught on with the press before the second game in 1968. Reluctant owners finally agreed to make it the official name for the game in an attempt to hype interest in their floundering event.

Super Bowl III was the first to officially use the name and the first to use Roman Numerals. I and II were retroactively applied to the first two championships.  It is doubtful that that looked more than forty years into the future when Super Bowl logos would sometimes feature long strings of letters unfathomable to most Americans since Roman Numerals are now hardly taught in schools.

Any way, it was not the numerals but the victory of the AFL New York Jets led by brash and flashy quarterback Broadway Joe Namath that really established the game in the public mind.  AFL teams were now competitive.

Not directly related to the game, the premier of Monday Night Football on ABC TV ushered in an era when football finally eclipsed baseball in popularity and became hailed as America’s Game with all of the macho and vaguely jingoistic swagger that the title inferred.

In the early years the Super Bowl was treated pretty much like any other game.  The half time entertainment was not much more elaborate than a major college game and featured acts like Up With People and performances were often not shown in their entirety to make room for chatter and game analyses by the announcers.  The National Anthem was likely to be performed by a college or military band or sung third tier performers like Anita Bryant.

I was personally unaware of all of these developments.  I don’t remember seeing that first championship game because I worked Sunday afternoons washing dishes at a Howard Johnson’s in Skokie.  I graduated high school that spring and for the next several years was either away at college or was making my way in Chicago as a cultural hippy and a radical activist.  I seldom had a TV set and my social circles were not much interested in pro football.

Super Bowl parties have become major annual events boosting the bottom line of many economic interests.

It wasn’t until 1974 that I attended my first Super Bowl party.  I was invited by a drinking buddy to come to an event in an apartment on the edge of Old Town attended mostly by off-duty bartenders and pub waitresses.  I was astonished to find the second floor flat jammed with scores of folks; a full size keg in a tub in the kitchen; a sideboard groaning under a huge collection of whisky, vodka, bandy, and wine bottles; pots of bubbling chili; and platters full of cold cuts, cheese, and bread.  Some folks jammed around the one color TV set in the living room to watch the Miami Dolphins stomp the Minnesota Vikings, but others milled around the other rooms drinking, eating, passing joints, and making passes at each other.  The Super Bowl Party was already an established tradition.

Over the next several years I occasionally tagged along with friends to other parties.  Hell I was always up for a good party, even if the game itself was mystery to me.

By the 1980’s when I had gotten married and moved to the boonies of McHenry County the playoff format had expanded and League officials began trying to lure younger audiences with big name acts both for the Anthem and the half time shows.  TV began adding hours of pre-game programing and advertisers began showing off special commercials made just for the big game, like IBM’s famous take-off on Charlie Chaplain’s Modern Times.

In 1991 with the Gulf War on the game became a pageant of patriotism with for the first time a flyover by military jets, an all-services Color Guard, and Whitney Houston’s famous rendition of the anthem.  After that there was no turning back.  The military became a fixture as did the custom of inviting divas and pop superstars.  The U.S. Army even became one of the game’s regular sponsors.

Hyper patriotism and militarism have become post 9/11 hallmarks of the Super Bowl.

After the September 11th attack and during the Iraq and Afghan Wars the confabulation of the game with the military and hyper patriotism intensified.  The singing of God Bless America was added to the pre-game pageantry alongside the Anthem.

I sometimes went to a Party—my brother in law used to host one.  But except for Super Bowl XX when the Chicago Bears won I had next to no interest in the games themselves.

Since 2002 I have worked nights at gas stations as a second job on Super Bowl Sundays, the first few years on second shift during the game, and now on third shift meaning I sleep through the contest.  Perhaps that has contributed to my alienation.

During those years Super Bowl Sunday really became an all-purpose spectacle.  In addition to the high voltage entertainment, watching and rating the parade of clever new advertising became a major attraction.  So did stunts like the Bud Bowl, Puppy Bowl, and Lingerie Bowl as well as counter programing on other networks provide entertainment even for those not interested in the game.

This year in Super Bowl LI—that’s 51 to the Latin illiterate—the Atlanta Falcons are playing perennial powerhouse the New England Patriots.  I am told that outside the environs of the Hub of the Universe, New England is despised because Quarterback Tom Brady was caught up in something called Deflategate involving tampering with game balls and has a hot foreign born former model for a wife like the Pumpkin in the White House.  Also Bill Belichick in his record breaking 7th appearance as Head Coach with four wins is widely reviled as a cheater.  Atlanta will be led by the apparently virtuous journeyman quarterback Matt Ryan and underdog coach Dan Quinn who beat another perpetual power, the Green Bay Packers to represent the NFC.

Lady Gaga's activist politics could spice up the Super Bowl half-time show this year.

The always provocative Lady Gaga will be the much talked-about star of the half-time extravaganza setting off speculation on if the outspoken defender of Gay Rights, anti-bullying activist, Democrat, and Trump critic will bring any or all of that to the game produced by the notoriously homophobic NFL and the Trump supporters among most of the game’s ownership and management as well as many—mostly White—stars, and flag waving fans.  That could be interesting.

But ask me if I have a pick in the game itself, and I would frankly have to answer, “I don’t give a rat’s ass.”