September 7, 2014: GameDay

There’s nothing quite like it.  Football is here.  Sundays are back.

What’s your GameDay tradition?  Whether going to the game, meeting at a bar with your friends, or staying home with family, watching the Bears game on Sunday is something special.  Traditions change over time…  while things change, things stay the same.  One thing that stays the same are Bears games on Sunday.  Even that is switched up… more than ever now, with the addition of Sunday night and Thursday night football.  It was usually only a couple times a year, they may play at 3pm or even on Monday night.  Now, it’s much more of a mix throughout the season.  Yet, in my mind, nothing really beats that 12pm start time on Sunday afternoon.

Growing up, I watched many games at home with my family.  Sometimes another “family tradition”, going shopping on Sundays, interfered with the Bears game.  When too young, I had no choice but to go.  Even then memories were created, like the 44-0 victory over Dallas in 1985.  (Bears games won out a lot that year).  Mentioned before here, we watched the entire game from Sears in Orland Park mall.  Awesome!  As I grew older, I was able to make the decision to stay home and NOT go shopping.  I watched Bears games then too.

Getting older, we gathered at different friends’ places.  One of the main stops was with my buddies from grammar school.  Another was a 3 flat, where my buddy lived on the 2nd floor above his uncle.  We watched a ton of games downstairs by his uncle’s.  Many a good times were had there; I still try to make it there one time a year.  I still try to gather with my grammar school friends once a year too.  Gathering around, watching the Bears, talking crap, getting drunk, laughing, having fun, swearing at the TV, cheering… it was all a part of it.  Those were great times.

Hence, either the father or mother or both should immediately seek pfizer viagra tablets medical help. It is great difficulty with a man, which discount levitra prevents him taking part in pleasing sexual activity every day. MED is the abnormal condition in which gentile of male cannot tadalafil 20mg cipla retain its erection and hardness in the mal organ becomes a major concern for the most men across the world. A man’s cleverness lies in fighting with the erectile generic levitra canada dysfunction wisely. Once I moved out, football day was at The Apartment.  The Apartment was above an H&R Block; so 90% of the time, we were the only people in the building.  For the good part of my 20s, that’s where the Bears games were watched, although we still made regular trips to my buddy’s uncle’s place too.  At The Apartment, we ordered the NFL package, so not only was Sunday Bears day, it was football… all day long.  We watched all the games, drank, played cards, gambled on the games, walked to the bar, played pool, back to the apartment, and more football.  The door would be left unlocked, so all day long any friends who were able to come by, could just walk right up.  Man, those were the days.

Moving to LA, the tradition changed again, but stayed the same.  Sundays growing up were not only about the Bears (and shopping), but about going to Church and listening to Breakfast with the Beatles.  I kept all of these traditions alive in Los Angeles (minus the shopping).  I would head out to 7am mass.  On the way home, I would listen to the Beatles.  Getting back meant breakfast, sometimes polish sausage and eggs with my beer, a true Chicago breakfast, while I got ready for the start of the game.  10am on the West Coast was when the festivities began.  I would be texting and talking to family and friends throughout the games throughout the season, especially the Super Bowl year when I was in California.  The biggest difference is that my apartment door was open, where I could see the palm trees swaying back and forth in the clear blue sky.  It was about 80 degrees outside; back home in Chicago, the temps were a little different…

Coming back home to Chicago, the tradition continued… it continues now to this day.  There are some differences, but much is still the same.  I still try to get to mass at 7:45, still listen to Breakfast with the Beatles, and still pop that game on at noon.  Jersey time is usually about 11:30 am.  This is when I walk to my closet to pick out the jersey I will wear during the game.  Is it my home Urlacher, my road Butkus, or my home throwback Payton?  As I jersey up, my son does the same.  He had an Urlacher jersey in year 1, and a Forte jersey last year.  We bought the Forte jersey big enough so it would fit him this year too.  And although I’m not getting hammered every weekend and yelling and swearing with my buddies, you can bet that when Forte crosses that goal line, I’m running around the house with my son in celebration.  Things change, but stay the same.

So what’s your GameDay?  Any of the above ring a bell?  It’s so great that football is back; this is one of the best times of the year.  So, I’m writing this early; the tradition will be starting again soon…today.  I remember all those times… all those traditions… all those great times watching the Bears.  It’s some of the best times of my life… it continues to be.  The Bears are back.