Bears vs. Packers. I made a bet I'm sure to lose...

[RetroLounge]

Monday Night football is The Bears vs. the Packers. National TV. Grand opening of the new Soldier Field. My kids' teacher is a big Packer Fan and give the kids Packer gear for their birthdays, etc. (which I promptly give to good will). We have a long-time friendly rivalry between us, and like to tease. I gave her a Bears ornament for her tree last X-mas, and a Bear's Poster for her wall, and she gave my wife a Packer's sweatshirt. You get the picture.

Well, I bet her that if the Bears win, she has to wear my Bears hat all day at her job. If the Packers win, I have to wear her Packers hat all day at my job.

Not a big deal, but I know I'm gona lose, and suffer the humiliation of green and gold on my head all day next Tuesday, in an office filled with Packer fans.

Oh, the shame...

(maybe the Bears can pull and offense and a defense out of their collective asses by Monday night. Maybe...)

[kanrok]

1. Maybe Favre

will get bitten on the ass by one of those snakehead fish, thereby prematurely ending his career. One can only hope.

[bearfan454]

11. Hey love your big C

Can you send it to me. I would like it as my avatar.........bearfan454

[newyawker99]

18. Congrats kanrok!! 300 posts

:toast:

[XNASA]

2. So, RL. Are you an FIB who moved to Cheeseland, or......

are you like my Dad in reverse? He's native to Chicagoland, but he cheers for the Pack. Not really sure why he does that other than to be obstinate.

BTW, I think that bet's gonna haunt you. Got a green shirt to go with the hat?

[RetroLounge]

7. I'm a Chicagoan, born and bred, moved to Cheeseland

following a skirt...

[Catshrink]

3. I hope it isn't too humiliating

my boss and my brother are big time Packer Backers. I'll be dead meat if the Bears lose bad.



What have you done to my team?

[ScreamingMeemie]

4. Don't give it to goodwill, give it to me...

on bets, I have a $50 that Packers will end up on top of Vikes in the division. Hope they get their act together.

[lynndew2]

5. I hope for your sake the bears win 63-62

Farve is my fantasy QB....lol

[fishnfla]

6. NEVER EVER DOUBT THE POWER OF CHEESE!!!

Cheese on your head makes you strong. Ummm I had the same bet with a gal at my office last year and she lost, word of friendly advice, did you specify which hat you'd have to wear?, because you should've seen the one I had for her (it was one of that Cat In The Hat ones)

There's a chance you could win the bet, so look around for a goofy hat for your friend.....

[RetroLounge]

8. The bet specifies Bears Hat and Packer Hat...

eom

[fishnfla]

12. Yes, but...

There are all different KINDS of team logo hats these days. The one my friend had to wear was green and gold and 2 feet tall. My point is you could look around for a novelty bears hat that would really stand out like a sore thumb, make the bet payoff even more painful:)

[bearfan454]

13. I would do something like that.

It would be funny.

[KharmaTrain]

9. Nary A Buzz In Chicago...

I know this is a big thing to our friends to the North, but there's about as much buzz about the Bears/Packers around here as for getting herpes.

Cubbie fans are still raptured with the concept of life after 162 games (stay tuned), us Sox fans are ready to impale Jerry Manuel and will be too drunk/stoned until after the playoffs (make it a double if the Cubs dare make the playoffs) to care about anything and the Bears' crappy start means shopping malls need not fear a drop off of business on Sunday Afternoons.

I've probably watched 2 full quarters of this team and have seen just as good at our local high school (and our team is defending a stellar 0-9 season). Personally I hate what they've done to Soldier Field...it looks like a bad 70's ELO concert dropped into the place.

While it'd be nice if the Bears beat the Pack (yep, those cheeseheads can be real obnoxious this time of year) but we give these people some slack...at least you've got Russ Feingold in your state.

Cheers!

[RetroLounge]

14. it looks like a bad 70's ELO concert dropped into the place

Yes, I had made that same connection!

It is a horrible design, at least from the outside, and no one seems to like it...

[KharmaTrain]

15. Call Me A Snob

While the old Soldier Field was a crumbling relic (I used to go to games with my father there in the 70's and the place was on its last legs ten), it still had a distinctive look that fit into the Lakefront...especially when they moved Lake Shore Drive to the west, making that entire area an open campus.

Last Spring I saw the first signs of that new overhang (155 feet!) and how tacky it looked hanging over the old collonade. It just looked so cheesy against the classical decor of the Field Museum across the street or McCormick Place. Had this place been built from scratch somewhere else I wouldn't have felt as turned-off as I do.

I'm sure those who paid the big bucks for those luxury boxes and PCLs will surely enjoy this new place. I'm sure it'll be nice to go to a bathroom where there's not a cattle trough and that "aroma" or the nice replay screens. For me, I've enjoyed my "skybox" seats in front of my Sony Trinitron for years...especially when the Bears fall behind in the first quarter and it's time to see what's on Animal Planet.

[greatauntoftriplets]

16. The new Soldier Field is an architectural travesty.

Did you read the article in the 9/15 Crain's Chicago Business about how the skyboxes and luxury seats have a separate entrance so the well-heeled don't have to encounter the riffraff? Even Crains referred to it as "economic segregation".

[KharmaTrain]

17. The Sun-Times panned it as well...

Welcome to modern sports...there's not a venue anywhere where economic segregation doesn't exist. Long gone...except when the teams stink so bad no one shows up (like most Sox games) are the days you can walk up and buy a ticket or that the only difference between the seats was how close they were to the field.

Now those who attend games expect to feel as "at home" as possible...and will pay big bucks for it. Last May I took some friends to a Sox game. We got club section tickets ($40 a throw)...great seats and a waiter at the ready (I have always been tempted to ask for a bedpan). It was a cold night and my friends (from Oregon) couldn't take the combination of 40 chill and another dreadful Sox performance. We ended up spending most of the game sitting on couches watching wide-screens in the lobby. And we weren't alone either...so was our waiter. LOL.

I don't care what teams charge or the outlandishness of these modern stadium...as long as it's not my money that's paying for it. The McCaskey family has long benefitted from the riches owning the only pro football team in this city has to offer (or misfortune...depending if a McCaskey was actually in control of the team) and could have financed a stadium on their own...thus I will never spend a dime attending a game or patronize any place that is an "authorized" sponsor. Recently I closed several large accounts at Bank One and moved them to other institutions based (among many, many reasons), their foolish multi-million dollar deal to be the "official" whatever of the team.

If someone wants to spend $500 to $10,000 a game, bless 'em, but it's time sports teams aren't pampered as some social or civic necessity...especially in a city as rich and diverse as Chicago, that our tax money is used to create these monstrosities.

The good news is now that the Bears have their stadium, the Bulls, Hawks and Sox theirs and the Cubs stuck in Wrigley, hopefully it will be at least a couple decades til we have to replace these eyesoars with even gaudier ones.

Cheers!

[StaggerLee]

10. In this division anything can happen

I am actually looking forward to this game.