Players weren't only ones bearing down
Lifelong Bears fan Malachy Lacy had a ticket to the Super Bowl, and a friend in Miami was offering him a place to stay.
His pregnant wife, Carlotta, wasn't due for another 2½ weeks and was urging Malachy to go.
But something told him not to get on that plane. So four hours before Saturday's takeoff, he canceled his flight.
(Scott Stewart/Sun-Times)
"This is my son, my kid," Malachy said, cradling Cormac. "He's way more important than a game."
Carlotta, 35, likes to watch the Bears, but it's mostly a social thing. Malachy, 38, takes football more seriously. His dad took him to Bears games when he was a boy. He played outside linebacker at Marist High School and University of Pennsylvania. In the last 10 years, Malachy has attended nearly every home game, plus a few away games.
After the Bears won their first four games last fall, Malachy started thinking Super Bowl. Carlotta booked the flight. "I was really pressuring him to go," she said. "I didn't want him to miss it."
But after she went into labor around 4 a.m. Sunday, she was thankful Malachy stayed. "I wanted my husband here," she said. "He's my support and my love, and I could not imagine him not being here."
Cormac will, naturally, be raised a Bears fan. Who knows, maybe he'll play for them some day. "He's a pretty good kicker," Carlotta said, patting her belly. Sunday he weighed in at 9 pounds, 1 ounce.
It was a busy day at Prentice. Before the game, about 16 women were in labor. Many dads wore Bears shirts or hats, and at least one thought to TiVo the game.
"The cold may have kept people away from the Soldier Field parking lot, but it didn't keep moms from going into labor," charge nurse Betsy Wassilak said.