Da Bears kick it in Cabo with fans during hibernation
RIU SANTA FE | Mexican getaway with Bears is one unforgettable play
CABO SAN LUCAS, Mexico -- Chicago Bears return man extraordinaire, Devin Hester, laughed with me and other Bears fans as he explained how he fakes out defenders on a regular basis.
First, he breaks in one direction, Hester told us. Then, he watches as players on the other team head toward the sideline in an attempt to cut him off.
(Dave Newbart/Sun-Times)
(Dave Newbart/Sun-Times)
PHOTO GALLERY
Bears in Cabo
WHEN TO GO: Apple Vacations plans to offer another trip with the Bears next winter. Check Applevacations.com/Bears, (800) 517-2000, starting in October. In general, the winter is a great time to visit Los Cabos, where temperatures typically are in the mid-70s during the day, although it's colder at night. From January to March you'll see whales from the beach. In the summer the Sea of Cortez is better for swimming, snorkeling and scuba diving.
GETTING THERE: United and American airlines have direct flights from Chicago to San Jose Del Cabo, the main airport.
WHERE TO STAY: If you're looking for a big all-inclusive resort, the Riu Palace Sante Fe doesn't disappoint. Rooms cost about $246 a night, including drinks and food. Go to Riu.com. Be aware that the resort doesn't have Internet or voicemail in the rooms, and hotel staff inexplicably failed to deliver several important phone messages to us. In Cabo San Lucas, Cabo Inn, Caboinnhotel.com, has decent rooms for $58.
FOR MORE INFO: Go to Tripadvisor.com and search Los Cabos.
"They aren't even looking at me," Hester said. That's when he cuts back and leaves them in the dust.
It's a fascinating piece of insight for us diehard fans, who are used to seeing Hester from the stands -- not up close. But here we were on a beach in Cabo San Lucas, Mexico, with Hester, dressed in shorts and a T-shirt. It was a sunny 75 degrees while temperatures back home were ridiculously cold. And we -- 76 Bears fans and six members of the team -- were having a blast.
Fans and players traveled to the southern tip of Mexico's Baja California peninsula early last month with Apple Vacations, which started offering the weeklong trip in 2007. For Bears fans, it's the ultimate fun in the sun: meet and hang out with some of the team's top players while lounging by the pool or ocean, eating to excess and drinking like crazy.
It cost $1,368 a person for airfare and seven nights at the all-inclusive Riu Santa Fe, a four month-old mega-resort along the booming hotel corridor flanked by the towns of Cabo San Lucas and San Jose del Cabo.
The cost for hanging out with Hester, fullback Jason McKie, defensive end Mark Anderson, kicker Robbie Gould, running back Garrett Wolfe and linebacker Hunter Hillenmeyer? Priceless.
As the snow fell, our group boarded a charter flight out of O'Hare. You know it's a festive crowd when the plane runs out of Grey Goose vodka midway through an early morning flight.
The plane didn't have a first class section, so the players sat alongside us. They even picked up their own luggage. There is nothing more humanizing than watching a well-paid athlete lug his bags like everyone else. You quickly learn these guys -- except for some hard-core bling and their incredible physiques -- are pretty much just like us.
"A lot of people have misconceptions about us," McKie said later. "We're just normal people. We like to joke around." And that's exactly what McKie did on the van ride to the hotel when he snapped a shot of a sleeping Anderson, head slumped forward.
Within moments of entering the Riu Santa Fe, the hotel staff handed us drinks. From this moment forward, the resort seemed determined to make sure we consumed copious amounts of alcohol. We were happy to oblige.
Most all-inclusive resorts aren't for the faint of heart -- or those with any type of heart condition whatsoever. Picture a 24-hour tailgate, where there are multiple bars and an overloaded buffet stuffed with meat, fish tacos, salad, fruit -- you name it.
The food at Riu Santa Fe was decent but not spectacular. What was spectacular was the view from our room, where my traveling companion and I looked out on an infinity pool, palm trees and ocean.
As for the resort's entertainment, much of it consisted of Mexicans with accents singing covers of English-language rock songs, often with garbled lyrics. "I shot sheriff, but I did not shot the deputy," one crooned.
When I think of the fantastic range of traditional Mexican music and the ballet folklorico I've seen during previous trips, it's unclear to me why many hotel guests sat through this cheesy entertainment every night.
Dream come true
Later that day at poolside, a few of the players went on a little competitive drinking spree. Wheaton fan Brett Sydor, here with eight relatives, joined the athletes for a couple shots. The competition was so fierce that Anderson had to be roused from his room to make it to Friday night's meet and greet with the fans.
Most of the Bears were on their best behavior at the Friday night event, chatting with fans, posing for photos and signing huge collections of memorabilia.
Gould, here with his parents and Dallas Cowboys cheerleader Megan Fox (who he described as a "friend"), hammed it up and joked with fans and fellow players. Fox later becomes "best friends" with 5-year-old Zena Schalk, whose parents, Steve and Jennifer, are diehard Bears fans from Lake Zurich.
Thirteen-year-old Frankie Caputo, was on cloud nine. "This is the best night of my life," proclaimed Caputo, of Bensenville.
But Hester, the player most in demand, was clearly uncomfortable that night. He refused to sign more than one autograph for each fan and generally avoided us, spending most of the party watching a Bears highlight reel. Mind you, it was cool to watch Hester watch highlights of himself making defenders look foolish, but I really was hoping for more from this once-in-a-lifetime chance.
The next morning we dragged our hungover selves out of bed and headed to the beach for a football session.
Today, Hester is a completely different person, smiling and laughing with fans. He explained how he makes magic on the field, then showed clumsy fans like myself how best to catch a wobbly football. When several hotel employees tried to run after him, he juked them with virtually no effort, leading to loud cheers.
That night, the players and fans did a pub crawl through some of Cabo's hottest night spots, including rocker Sammy Hagar's Cabo Wabo and El Squid Roe. Not surprisingly, the bars were jammed wall-to-wall with spring breakers. Same goes for the resort's 900-plus rooms, which were booked solid during our stay. One conversation overheard:
Guy: "Did you go out last night?"
Girl: "No, we stayed in and had the hugest party at the pool. Four of our friends blacked out and did the dumbest things ever!"
The day after the pub crawl, Gould could barely hide his hangover. McKie ribbed him, noting that Gould "lost a 12-round bout with tequila last night."
Even so, Gould managed to be funny and engaging at a two-hour question and answer session. He noted that some residents from our neighboring state to the north also had made their way into the resort's crowded sports bar.
"Not only do we beat the Green Bay Packers on the field, but I bet this group could probably out-drink every Packer fan here," Gould said, sparking a round of applause.
The ribbing continued, with one fan teasing Gould about his pasty white body.
"When you're underneath the canopy to the swim-up bar, you can't get much sun," Gould said in his own defense.
Bears fans aren't shy, so Joe Burrow, 40, of Island Lake, used the opportunity to call out Hester for his earlier aloofness.
Hester responded by offering to sign autographs on the spot for those fans he missed. His teammates defended him, saying he's a "quiet guy" in general who's sometimes overwhelmed by his superstardom.
After the Q&A, Wolfe, McKie and Hester found themselves immersed in a dice game with Wrigleyville fan Stephanie Mierau. She walked off with $15 of their cash.
Gould played a two-man shooting video game with 13-year-old Frankie. Gould was called away, so I took over. When I quickly got killed and reached for change, Frankie stopped me and threw some pesos in the machine -- a gift from the kicker. "Don't worry. Robbie Gould's got it," he said.
On Monday, I joined a beach volleyball game that featured almost a dozen people on each side of the net. The teams were a mix of buff football players, kids, college students and middle-aged, out-of-shape Bears fans like me.
For the most part, it was a casual game. But at one point, Hester spiked the ball so hard he nearly crushed a bikini-clad spring breaker who had worked her way onto the court. He apologized. And we all got a glimpse of how competitive he really is.
During the volleyball game, the players went easy on me because of my media status and cut me some slack to compensate for my lack of talent: They let me have an extra serve when my first one headed toward the ocean. Emboldened, I promptly crushed the ball about 10 feet past the back line. Later, Hillenmeyer thankfully didn't laugh when I jumped too early, sank in the sand and missed a couple of easy spikes.
Hillenmeyer was moving a little slower than the rest. He'd just pigged out next door at the Riu Palace buffet, which he tipped me off as having better food than our resort. I later checked it out and realized he was right.
The rest of the week I found myself stuck in an endless Cabo conundrum: alcohol was free and plentiful and the infamous nightlife beckoned, but most of the best water activities -- fishing, snorkeling, scuba diving and whale watching -- took place early in the morning.
I ended up choosing to explore the city and small towns along the coast (see sidebar) rather than stay sequestered with the tourists and spring break crowd in Cabo. I longed for a little more authenticity. The resort looked like a giant Adobe village in New Mexico, which seemed out of place in actual Mexico.
And despite the temptation of the never-ending buffet, I wanted some food outside the tourist zone. That's what I found at the reasonably priced Mariscos Mazatlan, at the intersection of Narciso Mendoza and 20 de Noviembre in Cabo San Lucas, where my friend dug into an entire cookie sheet full of perfectly grilled red snapper and I ate three tasty garlic-encrusted blue crabs. On our last night in Mexico, I joined Anderson, Gould, McKie and others for dinner. I told them about a scuba diving trip where I swam among thousands of manta rays. McKie thought that was crazy. He told his tale of landing a 45-pound tuna on a fishing trip.
Later, we headed to the bar and, of course, started doing rounds of margarita shots.
After a week like this in Mexico, there might be more Patron in my blood than plasma. This Bears fan needed to go home and get some sleep.