Bullied at the Bears Game

If you were in Chicago in 1985, you knew one thing for sure. The Chicago Bears were becoming a serious force to deal with, worldwide. By Autumn they were winning games, all of them. I got a chance to go to a day game one Sunday. They were playing their rivals, the Green Bay Packers.

It was a crisp, cloudless sky with cool temperatures. I believe this is some of the best weather, year round, for Chicago. The Bears ran out onto the field with a stadium full of loyal fans screaming madness into the air! I generally don’t watch football, but that year I was hooked. It seemed that nobody could beat them. It wouldn’t be for another month and a half that we would see that happen on Monday Night Football with the Miami Dolphins, but for now, they were perfect.

We had seats at the 50 yard line on the east side of the field. I was there with my wife, Carrie. It was sunny and cold, perfect weather for a football game. The stadium was filled to capacity, well except for the twenty seats in front of us. They were vacant. It looked odd. Somewhere in the parking lot a bus must have arrived late and dumped 20 guys, drunk, maybe stoned. into the lot. They would be the final 20 seats to fill the arena to capacity. They stumbled in.

As they organized their territory, seat selection, beverage ordering, etc., Carrie and I watched in interest. The game itself had not yet started. They were our entertainment. I took sociology in college and was fascinated by who was leading the team and who volunteered to follow. They were now happy with seating and setting down. One particular gentleman, maybe the most sober, was taking some heat from a lot of the guys. Apparently they liked to dig at him, jabs of funny insults that suited the group more than the victim.

A whistle and an announcement interrupted our fascination with these guys. The game was about to start. It was amazing to witness this moment. Walter Payton and the Fridge were now on the field. Jim McMahon was throwing practice balls at someone. We were it in fierce now! Look out Green Bay!

The game went on as planned. The Bears were destroying one team after another and on this sunny freezing winter day, they were destroying the Packers. Hell, I jumped out of my seat when I seen the Fridge intercept a pass and run (well, do elephants run?) in the ball for a touchdown. He literally had three guys hanging on to him. P.T. Barnum rolls over in his grave.

Amidst all of this theater on the field, the guys below us began stirring. They were drunk/wasted, whatever it was, they needed food. And their runt of a friend was going to have to do all of the heavy lifting. He got the order, basically arena food for 19 hungry guys. Someone slapped money in his hand and pushed him off and on his way. I wondered how he was to carry it all. As he left, someone said something mean about him and they all laughed.

He was gone a while. Someone in their group broke out a huge marijuana joint. I watched them pass it around. I smelled the familiar aroma as it lifted into the dry winter cold air. This one smelled skunky and I suspected it was strong. They were soon to become quite stoned. Some had forgotten they were even at the Soldier Field. They laughed and carried on to the point of upsetting some of their neighbors.

Then it happened.

Stadium security arrived and surrounded the group. They were escorted out of the facility. The crowd around them which included us, broke out into applause. They were a huge distraction from the game and were obnoxious. We re-focused on the game. The Bears were really kicking it again. In 1985, they made everything look easy.

Some time later, the runt of the now exiled group returned with a concession stand assistant. They both were stacked with food stuffs of all kinds. He looked up at us and said, “Where did everybody go?” We all laughed loud and heartily. “They were kicked out!”

“Well, what am I going to do with all of this food?” He was tired of carrying it all.

“Sit with us and we will buy food from you.” And we did. He was a fascinating person. And everyone in our section ate and laughed and watched the Bears beat the living sh#t out of the Packers.

It was a sunny cold day in Chicago and one bullied man found his faith in humanity again.

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