Post Super Bowl Musings

Well, the Bears lost. While I went into the game knowing that I'd be happy no matter which team won, I've always been a Bears fan. Why? When I was in kindergarten, my friend (who is also named Mark) and I were playing football in his backyard. He said "I'll be Dallas and you be Chicago". Ever since I was assigned that team, I've been a Bears fan. (Do team affections ever have more rationality to them than that?)

I remember gettinga Bears jersey in kindergarten that I still have -- mainly because Santa brought a XL instead of a Small, so it had to be hemmed, which meant the "60" on the jersey was completely cut in half. I ended up wearing it in high school.

I also got a Bears helmet that year, too. That came too small, so my dad had to cut off the foam padding over the ears so I could get it on.

Needless to say, I was super excited in 1985 when the Bears won their only Super Bowl appearance before tonight.

I've liked the Buccanners (pardon the spelling..it's late) from Tampa, too. I think I was always drawn to them because they were the biggest losers EVER in the NFL. Kind of like how people like the Cubs or Red Sox because they always lose and you like to root for the underdog. When I was young, the Buccs were a new team, and lost every game one season. In a weird way, I can very much relate to the Buccs more so than, say, the "America's Team" Cowboys. Call me a Charlie Brown, but I think all of our lives have more failures than we care to admit, and as such, I could easily relate to the losing of the Buccs.

So you can imagine my excitement a few years ago when the Buccs won the Super Bowl.

In an interesting twist, the coach of the Colts, who won tonight, was the coach of the Buccs until the season before Tampa won it all (he got fired when he couldn't get them to the Super Bowl). So while I'm sad the Bears lost, the Colts victory is kind of a victory for my Buccs, too, and that's OK.