Super Bears! Super Bowl!

My kids at the tailgate.

Chris Daughtry singing the National Anthem, on the big-ass TV. I couldn't see him from where I was standing, as I was waiting to try to get pictures of the team coming out of the locker room. He was actually pretty good. On-key, at least!

mmmmm.....Calico Soup. That'll warm you up before the game.

Oh, we're reachin', baby! And now? We're on our way to Miami!!!!!
This guy held up this sign almost constantly, and I was close to killing him. He only pulled it down right as every play started. It was a little annoying.

These two must have spent a fortune in money AND time on their face paint. The orange guy's head was completely orange, all the way around to the back. They were sitting in the row in front of us, next to four Saints fans (who left in the middle of the 3rd).

Bear down, Chicago Bears! Make every play clear the way to victory!
Bear down, Chicago Bears! Put up a fight with a might so fearlessly!
We'll never forget the way you thrilled the nation with your T formation.
Bear down, Chicago Bears, and let them know why you're wearing the crown
You're the pride and joy of Illinois. Chicago Bears, bear down!

This is one of the best pictures I took all day. Notice the score.

Plus, I sang the Bears fight song more times today than I have in the last 20 years put together. I'm a little hoarse.

After the game, waiting for the platform to be assembled for the presentation of George Halas NFC Championship Trophy.

I'll just start this off by admitting that I am not a sportswriter. This isn't going to be some post detailing every play. No Grossman did this, Thomas Jones did that.

I am a Bears fan. I've been going to games for more years than 20 than I care to admit. I'm not going to ramble on about the game. I'm going to ramble on about being at the game.

This day did not start this morning. It started last night, around 4:30 p.m., when I began tailgate preparations. I got up this morning at 7:00 a.m. to heat up the Calico Soup and the Sausage and Peppers (made for superstitious reasons; I made them for the inaugural New Soldier Field game, and my Sausage and Peppers were featured on WGN news). It took us a while, but we managed to load up the car with our food, our booze, our kids, my father, my nephew, my brother and his wife, and every warm piece of clothing we own, and we were on the road at 9:30 a.m. The parking lot opened at 10, yet we pulled in at 9:55, and promptly set up the tailgate.

By 10:30, the bloody Mary's were flowing, the hot chocolate was steaming, and the Calico Soup (recipe to follow...SO GOOD) was bubbling. By noon, the sausage and peppers were exuding steam, and we'd wiped out half a bottle of peppermint schnapps (tasty with the hot chocolate), almost an entire case of beer, and enough of the Calico Soup to entitle us to a quadruple bypass.

Meanwhile, we, along with every other fan in the parking lot, were trying to ignore the feeling. The anxiety. The FEAR that we would end up back at our cars at the end of the game in tears of sadness. And, we're trying not to hope too hard, because that just might jinx it.

But by halfway through the fourth quarter, we were all looking at each other. Some fans were screaming "Super Bears! Super Bowl!" yet I was afraid to get in on that chant. Not quite yet, I was thinking.

Then the snow began to fall hard. We weren't expecting it. The snow had been falling during the tailgate, but had stopped for a while, and the weatherman had predicted it would stop by 1 p.m. Yet, there it was, a near white-out. Chicago Bears weather. You cannot beat it. Snow. Cold. Mud. Screaming, delirious fans.

And once we knew we'd won it; once we knew there was no way in hell that the Saints were going to get a couple of touchdowns and a field goal in the three minutes remaining, we started to grin. We stopped being tense and started being happy.

There's something extraordinary about the swell of emotion at a game like this. Every member of the crowd is connected. It's just...damn. For once, I'm at a loss for words.

I'm praying for a Bears-Patriots rematch. The Super Bowl happens to fall on my 12th wedding anniversary, so I'm pretty sure I'm buying a new, gigantic, flat-screen television before February 4th.

I have in no way done justice to all of the thoughts that flowed through my head today with this post. But I knew if I didn't post tonight, I might never do it.

GO BEARS!!!!!

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