Dent was named the MVP of Super Bowl XX. Its an extremely rare feat for a defensive player to be named the MVP of anything, what with our fascination with scoring, but to be named MVP of the Super Bowl is extremely rare, and gives an indication of the team's focus on defense. This of course was the year of the legendary '85 Bears. Many still consider Buddy Ryan's "46" defense to be the greatest defense in the history of the NFL. They shut out both of their opponents on the way to the Super Bowl and then crushed the Patriots to claim their first (and still only) Lombardi Trophy.
I would not be a Bears fan if not for the '85 Bears. I was about 8 years old during this season, quite impressionable, and being from Oregon, without a home team. With characters like Mike Ditka (the Head Coach), Jim McMahon ("The Punky QB") and William "The Refrigerator" Perry, stunts like "The Super Bowlk Shuffle", and legendary players like Walter Payton (probably the greatest player in NFL history, and certainly the greatest Running Back) and Mike "Samurai" Singletary, I was easily seduced. I'v been a fan ever since.
Unfortunately while football in 2011 has been resurrected, it came too late to save the Hall of Fame Game. Bummer. That's about the only chance to see your team play in the preseason live, but NFL network re-plays all the games, so I can evaluate the undrafted free agents and provide my input to Bears management via the Chicagobears.com message boards. I'm sure they take my input very seriously. I've just been reminded while I type that I'm not the only Bears fan in the house. I have a neighborhood friend that almost always shows up to watch Bears games with me, and he's staring at me right now. Here he is watching Devin Hester (23) chat up Julius Peppers
(90):
Anyway, this post is about real bears. The kind Stephen Colbert is afraid of. Our local neighborhood bear paid us a visit yesterday. We go way back (let's just assume its the same bear that visits every year). One night during our first summer in Evergreen, we were lying in bed when we started hearing noises. I could swear they were footsteps, but that would be crazy since we live in the middle of nowhere and have nothing worth stealing. But then we heard a loud crash and we knew we weren't just imagining things. Like brave former soldiers we snuck out the back door and cowered behind the barn, barefoot and virtually naked, waiting for the intruder to depart. Eventually I heard footsteps heading up the driveway, so I figured it was safe for me to scope things out while Kate waited for the "all-clear". I went into the house and immediately noticed my wallet, which usually resides on the kitchen counter, was still there. Then I saw the garbage can knocked over, and some garbage strewn across the door. We had had pizza that night, and I noticed the leftover pizza was gone, and at that moment I knew our intruder was furry and had four legs. I looked around outside, and sure enough, there were scratches on our door and bear prints in the mud at the end of the driveway! In addition to the pizza, he also took a bag of Kate's oatmeal, apparently he didn't care for it too much as it was left at the end of the driveway. The door leading into the garage doesn't latch very well, so he must have been sniffing around and pushed it open.
I was lying in bed early yesterday morning, trying to use the Force to turn back the clock so I could get a little more sleep when I heard Kate hollering about the bear. We all raced out to see him frolicking through our meadow. He pretty much circled our house, first appearing near the southeast corner, heading north, then west between the house and the barn, then turning back south towards the driveway. He laid down for a short bit near the driveway, but he must have heard Buddy's whining, beacuse he quickly got up and scampered away up the driveway. Its my life goal to get a decent photo of him, but I guess I'll have to wait till next year, as this is the best shot I got yesterday:
It seems like whenever there's a bear around, the camera is lost, the battery is dead, the flash won't turn off and for some reason its set on "wide angle" so the digital zoom won't engage. Oh well, maybe next year. I included the washed out view of the barn since this blog is named after it. I got a pretty good shot last summer though. That year we saw him stand up on his hind legs, but of course, no photo of that!
Looks like he's gained weight. 
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