Don’t blame the Bears
Oh, the agony of being a Chicago sports fan! If it isn’t one thing, it’s another. All the teams are responsible for this perpetual state of angst at some point in time, even when they’re winning, like the Bears are this season…barely sometimes, and ‘ugly’ usually. Now, Chicago fans are in a hand-wringing predicament for the New Year’s Eve Bears game, and it’s not Rex Grossman’s fault.
The NFL announced late Monday that the Bears-Green Bay game would move from a noon start to 7:15 p.m. Sunday, meaning 60,000 or so fans will stream out of Soldier Field and into the middle of the city’s New Year’s Eve party as midnight approaches.
Really. Can you believe this?
The announcement upended long-settled plans for every Bears fan with a ticket or television–and for loved ones who don’t necessarily share their football enthusiasm.
Schedules for large portions of the Chicago Police Department’s force were rewritten to handle the expected converging crowds. Restaurants are bracing for an early afternoon surge. Bars near Soldier Field face an identity crisis shared by an entire city: How do you balance the biggest party night of the year against an obligation to watch a winning home team take on its hated rival?
Hated is a strong word. I think lots of folks like Brett Favre, even though I (and comedian Ben Stiller) think it should be pronounced as it’s spelled, instead of like the ‘r’ is in front of the ‘v’. But it is a big game around these parts. Any Bears game is right now. But so is New Year’s Eve.
Across the city Tuesday, the consequences began to dawn on people who at this time of year expect football at noon and New Year’s at midnight…
Fans kept phones ringing all over the city, including at the Halas Hall switchboard, which was besieged by angry callers asking why the team had changed the game time.
The decision was definitely not the Bears’, one team official assured anyone who asked. Callers were told it was a league matter over which they had no control and limited input.
Chicago fans are used to that part.
