What have you done to help the Bears win?
All the other 364 days of the year we may be microscopic blotches of the universe, making barely perceptible thumbprints in the grand scheme of time. But today, we will play vital and ordained roles. We will carry out decisive, earth-shattering responsibilities. We will shape destiny.
Well, at least we'll take part in a Super Bowl.
photos by CRAIG WATSON / STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER
Sure, the quarterbacks and linemen all play their parts, but in football, there is nothing that separates us and our team. (Other than the multimillion-dollar salaries, I mean.)
The point is, while Brian Urlacher tackles with all his heart, let us not discount Tony Melton, a Bardwell Elementary School teacher who, along with one of his fifth-grade pupils, has faithfully worn their #54 jerseys every day since the Bears topped the Saints two weeks ago.
And they will not strip off their apparel until after the fans have rushed the field in Miami tonight, lest they face the tragic consequences of tampering with fate, otherwise known as their sure-to-be-smelly laundry.
That's just typical sports superstition, Melton told me, quickly glossing over the role his jersey plays. The "coolest thing," he said, is a paper cup.
"A ... paper ... cup?" I asked after scanning his classroom, plastered with newspaper clippings from Bears games, training camp towels, "We Lovie the Bears" bumper stickers and a life-size Rex Grossman poster.
I had not noticed the little White Castle paper cup hanging above his door. The other stuff was just decoration, he explained, but the cup was where the magic happened.
After the kids started pointing -- yes, pointing -- to it before leaving class on the nights the Bears played, the home team started their winning streak.
"Honestly, I think we're a big reason why the Bears have done so well," Melton said.
Well, that's news to Paula Ellison, a North Aurora resident who has created in her front yard an entire Bears animal farm -- faux pigs, dogs, geese all donning the blue and orange. She's traditionally flown a good-luck Bears flag on game days, but the "added special effort" she put in this year really made the difference. The winning streak began after she purchased a new Bears dog tag for her puppy.
"It was like someone from above was watching," she said.
And then there are those for whom the stars really align. The ones whose efforts do not shape Bears' wins. Nay, the Bears win for them.
Last week, I was sitting on the train with a fair-weather Bears fan friend of mine. He was a star football player in high school, but as he mused about the Super Bowl, he calculated the odds with a little more certainty than statistics.
When he lived in Dallas, the Cowboys won the Super Bowl and the Stars won the Stanley Cup. When he moved to Boston, the Patriots made history and the Red Sox broke their curse. In 2005, after he moved to Chicago, the White Sox clinched the World Series title.
So naturally, he concluded, the Bears will follow suit, if not for Chicago, then simply for him.
And if not for him, then for George Galanis, who owns Papa G's Famous Cheesy Beef on Aurora's southern edge. Galanis named the restaurant after George "Papa Bear" Halas, who helped found the NFL and coached the Bears for 40 years.
Galanis was so confident that his team would win this year, that when he took out a Beacon News ad for his restaurant in October, he included a Super Bowl prediction. Sure, the defense looked strong this season, but the real reason for his premature prediction?
"It was my (restaurant's) 15-year anniversary, and I thought they were going to give me a gift," Galanis declared. "And I know they're not going to let me down. I know they're going to give me the win."
Call it ego, or call it superstition. But tonight, Bears fans will get a glimpse of destiny. And if not destiny, then at least the Super Bowl.
But let's not kid ourselves. The two are pretty darn close.
jwang@scn1.com