Bear Affection

SUPER BOWL XLI: BEARS VS. COLTS

In sickness and health, Lydia Granda finds a way to display her love for the Chicago Bears.

Since Jan. 3, she has worn a different Bears shirt, along with team earrings, to her job as a teachers aide at Farragut Elementary School in Joliet. She flies Bears flags on her car.

Granda is one of many area fans who are displaying their support for the Bears in the National Football League's ultimate clash today -- Super Bowl XLI -- in which the Bears and Indianapolis Colts vie for the championship.

Since August, Granda has clipped newspaper articles about the Bears, and, with the help of fifth-grader Jeremy Kollross, posted them on a bulletin board outside a Farragut classroom.

From Monday through Wednesday of this past week, she was at home, sick. But she nursed herself to health by creating Bear cutout jerseys.

Granda returned to school Thursday, wearing a jersey of a former Bears player, James "Big Cat" Williams, and she put about 40 blue and orange jerseys on the wall around the bulletin board. The jerseys have the numbers of star players on the Super Bowl team and popular players of the past.

"It has been a work of love for us," she said of the display. "When the Bears win, it is probably going to be up for a few months so we can gloat.

"And if the Bears should by some miracle not win, I'll leave it up anyway," Granda said, laughing. "We're so proud that they got to the Super Bowl."

Ken Goffinet has dedicated the basement of his Romeoville home to the Bears, starting with a sign that welcomes only Bears fans. He has painted the basement orange, assembled a collection of 115 hats of all shapes, sizes and types.

A fan since 1984, he dedicated a wall to legendary running back Walter Payton, with five pictures. Goffinet also has numerous Bears items, from a neon sign to a lamp and a blanket, pillow and rug.

"My basement is a perfect setting for any Bears fan," he said. "I don't look at this as a collection. I look at this as my own home, the home of the Windy City, the Chicago Bears."

On Tuesday, employees of a Joliet auto financing business, J.D. Byrider, changed the marquee to promote the Bears. General Manager Tom Gorman had the sign say that "Da Bears" would win 84-0 over the Colts.

Gorman said that the 18 employees, including a fan of the New England Patriots, would be cheering for the Bears. They chose the lopsided score as a spoof of the popular feature of "Saturday Night Live," the Super Fans, who always predicted a big win and showed their love for coach Mike Ditka.

"To true Bears fans, there is no doubt that they are going to win," Gorman said.

"We just picked a number, and 84-0 was it," he said when asked about the Bears trying to stop the high-powered offense of the Indianapolis Colts. "Peyton Manning is good, but we have the defense to stop him."

At their Joliet home, Tom and Betsy Doud run a spotlight on the side of the house at night, with the message sometimes promoting a holiday.

Instead of having a Valentine's Day display, the couple last Monday night turned on blue and orange lights, with the team's logo and "Go Bears." Tom is predicting a 24-17 win.

"We have a different one ready when the Bears win the Super Bowl," said Tom, who attended both Bear victories over the Seattle Seahawks at Soldier Field.

In Plainfield, Steve and Kathy Scent have bathed their home in blue and orange floodlights. She said the couple, who are Bears season-ticket holders, wanted to show their love for the team to their neighborhood.

"We wanted to show our support for the Chicago Bears as there is so much negativity from the media and fans," Kathy Scent said. "We wish them all the best, and this was one way to show that we believe in them."

Meanwhile, one former Joliet resident has put his love of the Bears on display in Denver. Joe Hanks, a 1981 graduate of Joliet Catholic High School, has ordered a menu full of Chicago foods for a Super Bowl party at a friend's home.

He ordered pies from Gino's East restaurant in Chicago and Jay's potato chips, and the guests will enjoy Chicago-style beef sandwiches. Hanks said the friend's home will be decorated in all things blue and orange, of course, for the Bears and not for the Denver Broncos, who have the same colors.

"My 11-year-old daughter, Casey, has already been put on notice that it could get a little crazy," Hanks wrote in an e-mail.

"Like her dad, she is more a Bears fan than a Broncos fan. God willing and the creek don't rise, we'll be Super Bowl champs once again come Sunday night."

Meanwhile, Granda, the Joliet teachers aide, took her display skills on the road. She went to the Joliet Grade School District's administrative building and decorated the office of Troy Whalen, the assistant superintendent for business, who is a Green Bay Packers fan.

Employees in the administrative office suspected Granda when they arrived at work on a recent day to find signs promoting the Bears. Granda and Whalen have razzed each other all season over the National Football Conference rivalry.

"For the sake that they are an NFC North Division team, I'll be putting my support behind the Bears," Whalen said. "But I won't be upset if they lose."

Granda, however, expects a Bears victory, pointing to a picture on the bulletin board that shows two grizzlies about to sack Manning, the Colts quarterback.

"It will be 42-3," she said, laughing. "It is going to be a good game."

Contact reporter Ken O'Brien at (815) 729-6119 or kobrien@scn1.com