All superstition aside
City quietly mapping out repeat of '86 celebration
Twenty-one years ago, nearly 500,000 delirious Bears fans braved single-digit temperatures to celebrate their Super Bowl champs with a ticker-tape parade down LaSalle Street that ended with a rally at Daley Center Plaza.
If the Bears beat the Indianapolis Colts in Super Bowl 41, it'll be deja vu all over again Tuesday.
City Hall is putting finishing touches on plans for an 11 a.m. parade and noon rally at Daley Center Plaza.
(Sun-Times)
PHOTO GALLERY
Super Bowl countdown
Monday, Jan. 27, 1986, 2:30 p.m.
Temperature: 8 degrees
Wind chill: 25 below
TENTATIVE 2007 DALEY CENTER PLAZA RALLY*
Tuesday, Feb. 6, 2007, noon
Projected temperature: 2-8 degrees
Skies: Partly sunny
*This is not intended to be a jinx or bulletin board material.
Ticker-tape machines are expected to be positioned along the route so Loop office workers need not open their windows on one of the coldest days of the year. But spontaneous tossing of shredded paper and old phone books is virtually guaranteed.
The slow-moving motorcade is expected to end with a lunchtime rally at Daley Center Plaza.
The speaking program is almost certain to include head coach Lovie Smith, but the lineup of Bears players was not known. Also unclear is whether the Bears will be transported by bus or car.
At the Bears' request, City Hall has been trying to keep celebration details under wraps for fear of providing bulletin board material for the Colts.
"First and foremost is the game. ... If you start talking about [the celebration], you seem a little more arrogant," Mayor Daley said earlier this week. "We don't want to get that in the eyes of the Colts fans and players that [in Chicago], they're already doing something without having a victory on Sunday."
If Tuesday's outpouring is anything like the Jan. 27, 1986, version, it will warm the hearts of frostbitten fans.
The Bears were supposed to ride down LaSalle in 30 convertibles that day, but because of the massive crowd and 8-degree temperature, they stayed in the nine buses that carried the team's 375-person entourage from O'Hare Airport.
It was the biggest ticker-tape crowd the city had seen since Neil Armstrong visited Chicago after walking on the moon. Fans pressed against the Bears buses, beat on windows and perched on fenders, stopping their passage. A block into the parade route, a dozen Bears climbed through a trapdoor in the roof of the lead bus and greeted fans.