Week 11 Bears Recap: I Walk The Line, The Betting Line
I saw "Walk The Line" this weekend. We've all seen enough previews to know the whole story by now. Johnny Cash play good music. Johnny Cash say funny one-liners. Reese Whitherspoon say "baby, baby, baby, baby." Johnny Cash and Reese Whitherspoon do it. Despite my sarcasm, it actually was a good movie.
Anyway, in the movie, Johnny Cash likes popping pills and drinking beer. Who can blame him? It takes his mind off the hollow stardom and his unrequited love for Reese "I'm so cute you want to punch me in my angular jaw" Whitherspoon. He generally enjoys himself while drinking Bud's and consuming handfuls of speed, crank and what-not.
But eventually the drug addiction starts to suck and securing a good woman like Reese is clearly the better option. Johnny cleans up his act and he and Reese live happily ever after.
The man-woman-addiction love triangle makes perfect sense to me. Because after the Bears stunning 13-3 victory over the NFC powerhouse Carolina Panthers, I no longer care about wagering on other NFL games on Sunday afternoons to liven up those once drab days. The Bears are enough. I've kicked my gambling pseudo-addiction thanks to the love of a good woman, er, team.
Today was the last day, I swear it. Well, actually tonight. After the Texans cover against Chiefs, I'm done, baby. Baby, baby, baby.
I love watching the Bears. I really do. They are all I've ever needed. But this season I've enjoyed making other games interesting as well. 10 bucks here. A seven game parlay there. Just to spice things up. Even the heartiest Bears fan has to admit some of the wins this season have been somewhat anti-climactic.
Otherwise, why would I get up from my comfy chair with the Bears in front of me, a plate of wings, a Miller Lite, water and Diet Coke (that's right, I drink diet. Screw you) at my table, to check the score of the Cleveland-Miami game? I wouldn't. Dolphins at Browns sucked. That game will always suck. That game was guaranteed to suck eight months ago when the schedule came out.
But the Bears have struggled the past few seasons and I've gotten into the bad habit of spicing things up with other games. I let my eye wander from my true love.
No more. I don't need that drama in my life. The Bears are now marked men, and every week our opponents will aim to knock us down a notch, to prove the naysayers right. Beating the Panthers today in a dominating performance raises the Bears to a new level. We're not the Colts, Broncos or even the Giants probably, but we did shut down the best team in the NFC on Sunday and sacked everyone's sleeper quarterback Jake Delhomme eight times.
As the game wore on and an unthinkable win started to look more and more possible, I felt the junk leaking out of my system. I wasn't noticing what the Jags were doing in Tennessee. Would Thomas Jones hold up consumed me. Arizona-St. Louis you ask? Couldn't care less. Could we continue to keep Steve Smith out of the endzone was my concern. I only knew what was going on with the Eagles and Giants because of the obnoxious amount of those cities' fans clogging up the bar.
Even at the end of the Panthers game, with the Bears up ten and a minute left, I was pulling the hair out of my head, unconciously standing up with frayed nerves every time the ball was snapped. It's getting to that point. The Bears MIGHT be for real and now every play becomes huge. And during those tense moments, my silly five-game parlay involving 10 teams I really didn't care about became unimportant to me. What mattered became clear.
Before this win, I have to admit, I wasn't sure. We beat some bad teams and the ugliness of the victories was a bit off-putting. Making Sundays exciting was my right. "I'm a man,"I told myself. "I need this extra action to unwind. It's totally under my control. I can quit any time I want."
But I don't know if I could quit, not without the help my Bears,
Now that we've proved we can hang with some of the big boys in the league, to take a step backwards would be hard, harder than losing to a crappy team a few weeks ago when every marble-mouthed analyst on TV just knew the Bears were pretenders.
So who needs distractions and sideshows like the first half line in the Vikings-Packers game when the national media is going to simultaneaouly jump on OUR bandwagon AND scrutanize the Bears' every move? My team rescued me today. Now it's time to pay them back.
Do you have time to look around the bar to check if the Jets can manage to lose by less than 14 to the Broncos when the Bears are fighting for HOME FIELD ADVANTAGE in the playoffs? I certainly don't.
What if I relapsed, threw a little something on next Sunday's games and lost the Bears? Or worse, the Bears lost. I just couldn't forgive myself. They make me a better fan and I owe it to them to devote myself entirerly. No more parlays, progressives, or five-game teasers. No more second half lines and over-unders. Just me and my lady, er, team.
Anyway, in the movie, Johnny Cash likes popping pills and drinking beer. Who can blame him? It takes his mind off the hollow stardom and his unrequited love for Reese "I'm so cute you want to punch me in my angular jaw" Whitherspoon. He generally enjoys himself while drinking Bud's and consuming handfuls of speed, crank and what-not.
But eventually the drug addiction starts to suck and securing a good woman like Reese is clearly the better option. Johnny cleans up his act and he and Reese live happily ever after.
The man-woman-addiction love triangle makes perfect sense to me. Because after the Bears stunning 13-3 victory over the NFC powerhouse Carolina Panthers, I no longer care about wagering on other NFL games on Sunday afternoons to liven up those once drab days. The Bears are enough. I've kicked my gambling pseudo-addiction thanks to the love of a good woman, er, team.
Today was the last day, I swear it. Well, actually tonight. After the Texans cover against Chiefs, I'm done, baby. Baby, baby, baby.
I love watching the Bears. I really do. They are all I've ever needed. But this season I've enjoyed making other games interesting as well. 10 bucks here. A seven game parlay there. Just to spice things up. Even the heartiest Bears fan has to admit some of the wins this season have been somewhat anti-climactic.
Otherwise, why would I get up from my comfy chair with the Bears in front of me, a plate of wings, a Miller Lite, water and Diet Coke (that's right, I drink diet. Screw you) at my table, to check the score of the Cleveland-Miami game? I wouldn't. Dolphins at Browns sucked. That game will always suck. That game was guaranteed to suck eight months ago when the schedule came out.
But the Bears have struggled the past few seasons and I've gotten into the bad habit of spicing things up with other games. I let my eye wander from my true love.
No more. I don't need that drama in my life. The Bears are now marked men, and every week our opponents will aim to knock us down a notch, to prove the naysayers right. Beating the Panthers today in a dominating performance raises the Bears to a new level. We're not the Colts, Broncos or even the Giants probably, but we did shut down the best team in the NFC on Sunday and sacked everyone's sleeper quarterback Jake Delhomme eight times.
As the game wore on and an unthinkable win started to look more and more possible, I felt the junk leaking out of my system. I wasn't noticing what the Jags were doing in Tennessee. Would Thomas Jones hold up consumed me. Arizona-St. Louis you ask? Couldn't care less. Could we continue to keep Steve Smith out of the endzone was my concern. I only knew what was going on with the Eagles and Giants because of the obnoxious amount of those cities' fans clogging up the bar.
Even at the end of the Panthers game, with the Bears up ten and a minute left, I was pulling the hair out of my head, unconciously standing up with frayed nerves every time the ball was snapped. It's getting to that point. The Bears MIGHT be for real and now every play becomes huge. And during those tense moments, my silly five-game parlay involving 10 teams I really didn't care about became unimportant to me. What mattered became clear.
Before this win, I have to admit, I wasn't sure. We beat some bad teams and the ugliness of the victories was a bit off-putting. Making Sundays exciting was my right. "I'm a man,"I told myself. "I need this extra action to unwind. It's totally under my control. I can quit any time I want."
But I don't know if I could quit, not without the help my Bears,
Now that we've proved we can hang with some of the big boys in the league, to take a step backwards would be hard, harder than losing to a crappy team a few weeks ago when every marble-mouthed analyst on TV just knew the Bears were pretenders.
So who needs distractions and sideshows like the first half line in the Vikings-Packers game when the national media is going to simultaneaouly jump on OUR bandwagon AND scrutanize the Bears' every move? My team rescued me today. Now it's time to pay them back.
Do you have time to look around the bar to check if the Jets can manage to lose by less than 14 to the Broncos when the Bears are fighting for HOME FIELD ADVANTAGE in the playoffs? I certainly don't.
What if I relapsed, threw a little something on next Sunday's games and lost the Bears? Or worse, the Bears lost. I just couldn't forgive myself. They make me a better fan and I owe it to them to devote myself entirerly. No more parlays, progressives, or five-game teasers. No more second half lines and over-unders. Just me and my lady, er, team.
posted by David Stassen at 3:04 PM
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