Sports
Chicago Bears quarterback Caleb Williams is the franchise’s latest dream trader
I used to be born and raised on the South Side of Chicago and was a Chicago Bears fan until I used to be 18. Everything modified after I was 19. Not only did I resign the Bears, I renounced the fandom altogether and decided to grow to be a hired sports journalist with no emotional ties.
However, my younger brother Girard kept his faith and stays a loyal fan of Chicago sports teams, especially the Chicago Bears. He is a die-hard fan, and like many Bears fans, my brother has been over the moon since April 25, when the Bears signed quarterback Caleb Williams, a player some call the messiah. Fans are highly hopeful that 22-year-old Williams will lead the team from frustration to stardom.
“I feel like this is a new time for the Bears,” my brother told me on Sunday morning from his home in Germany, where he has lived and worked since 1989 as an opera singer. “I think there are a lot of positive things happening for the Bears.”
Girard and I actually have been talking about the Bears for a really very long time. Every Monday during the season, my brother laments lost leads, late-game losses, and surprising victories. For the past two seasons, talk has focused on Justin Fields, the recently departed quarterback who was drafted by the previous Bears regime in 2021. In March, after months of speculation, the Bears traded Fields to Pittsburgh, where he’ll compete with Russell Wilson for the starting title work.
My brother believes Fields is in a significantly better situation in Pittsburgh, and Williams – due to changes in the Bears front office and training staff – is in a significantly better situation in Chicago than Fields in 2021.
He emphasized that in 2017 the so-called brain trust Bears passed on quarterback Patrick Mahomes to draft Mitchell Trubisky.
“If Mahomes had come to Chicago back then instead of Trubisky, I don’t think we would have ever heard of Mahomes,” he said.
My brother, ever the optimist, believed in Fields. I used to be an agnostic, but I did throw some shade at the young quarterback because I enjoyed watching a Bears fan’s frustration after yet one more quarterback failure. “Justin Fields is playing on a much better team in Pittsburgh now than when he came to Chicago, and Caleb Williams will be in a much better situation than Fields,” he said.
It is true that the Bears have not had a terrific quarterback since Sid Luckman, who played for the Bears from 1939-1950 and led the team to 4 NFL titles from 1940-1946. Since then, there was a parade of quarterbacks, some higher than others, although only two have led the Bears to the Super Bowl.
In 1985, the Bears won the championship under Jim McMahon, who wasn’t stiff, but handed it over to Walter Payton, one in every of the best running backs in NFL history. Those 1985 Bears also had what some say was the best defense in NFL history.
“Jay Cutler was the last talented Bears quarterback,” Girard said. Cutler played for the Bears from 2009-2016. He leads the franchise in passing yards, passing yards, touchdowns, attempts and completions, but has no championships. Not close.
“He had a really good set of receivers,” Girard jogged my memory. “He’s the last successful Bear quarterback.”
Rex Grossman was the starting quarterback when the Bears reached the Super Bowl in the 2006 season and lost to the Indianapolis Colts. The game was notable since it was the first time two Black coaches – Tony Dungy of the Colts and Lovie Smith of the Bears – faced one another in the Super Bowl.
Grossman barely talks about the Bears’ great quarterbacks.
“McMahon had charisma, swagger and several division titles,” my brother said. – He may not have been a terrific quarterback, but he did his job.
My brother believes McMahon was the last Bears quarterback “to have the mystique and aura of winning.”
That is, until Williams.
Williams involves the party with credentials and glitter. He is a Heisman Trophy winner and an NIL-era quarterback who decides the fate of the team himself. At least it does for now. Williams spoke to the media at the NFL game but didn’t practice, work out or take part in the dog-and-pony show for the 32 NFL teams.
“I’m not being romantic and I’m not picking the Bears for the Super Bowl, but I just think it’s a good situation,” Girard said.
Beyond Williams, there is a deeper story about fandom and attachment. There is a spirit of hope that enables fans like my brother to make an emotional investment of their teams.
I withdrew from investing, but there was a time after I cared about it.
I used to be 13 years old on December 29, 1963, when the Chicago Bears defeated the New York Giants to win the NFL championship. This was a much-needed healing tonic for the Rhoden family. My mother died of breast cancer in August 1963. Her death ripped an enormous hole in our family and left my father a 44-year-old widower with a 15-year-old daughter and a 12-year-old son (me) and my 7-year-old little brother.
The Bears’ 1963 championship was a welcome distraction.
Girard doesn’t remember much about the Bears’ championship – he celebrated his eighth birthday five days earlier. He would must wait, wait and wait. And wait until he did, never losing faith.
The Bears won the Super Bowl in 1985. Girard lived in San Francisco, doing what singers do, working on his craft and waiting for a break. By 1985, I had long since fallen off the fan train.
I bounced back for good in the tumultuous yr of 1968. The assassination of activist Martin Luther King Jr., the civil rights protest, the Black Power movement, and the Vietnam War made sports fandom appear to be an opiate, a distraction. Deeper evaluation by journalists revealed that many skilled and college sports teams were guilty of racism. In 1968, Gale Sayers, the Bears’ great young running back, blew out his knee. Athletes were pieces of meat, treated like cattle by team owners who had an iron fist over the players. This is a degree that one in every of my favorite players, center fielder Curt Flood, made when he accepted MLB’s reserve clause.
Who had time to grow to be a fan?
Now I root for issues and individuals. I care about Bears general manager Ryan Poles succeeding because I’m old-fashioned enough to imagine that when one black man does well, the community advantages. Poles is a former player whose job is to make the Bears competitive.
As fans, Girard and Chicago Bears Nation encourage Poles because they need the Bears to be relevant and competitive. “My hope is not just for Caleb Williams, but also for the general manager and what he has been able to accomplish,” Girard said.
As a hired sports author, I used to be only excited by the stories I wrote, the individuals who read them, the athletes and the issues I wrote about – no loyalty to the team. The downside to being a hired sports author is that sometimes I do not appreciate how much the people we call fans care. My brother is very concerned about this. “When I was a kid, when the Bears lost, I just had a bad day,” he said. “It doesn’t happen anymore, but I just love rooting for them and I enjoy the struggles they went through – constantly losing to Green Bay.”
In 1989, he moved permanently to Germany, starting his opera profession. His devotion to the Bears has never waned and has only grown stronger.
“Being a Chicago Bears fan has strengthened my connection to the place I grew up in,” he said. “It’s something you can keep alive at least once a week during football season.”
After a Super Bowl appearance in 2007, the Bears made the playoffs once in 11 years. Bears fans like my brother have had one disappointment after one other with a string of quarterbacks, some good, others higher than adequate: Kyle Orton, Cutler. The Bears traded for Trubisky in 2017 and chosen Fields in 2021.
Bears fans know this story all too well. I mention it in moments of wonder, only to ask why it is going to be different this time.
“We learned a number of things from Justin Fields. We learned that you could’t herald a brand new man and expect him to be the messiah,” Girard said. “You have to have a really solid foundation. We don’t expect him to do it alone.”
Fans of the movement in hope. They work this manner: when it rains, they see the sun, when it is sunny, they see the monsoon.
Now the Bears are telling fans they finally have their guy. Williams is the franchise’s newest dream salesperson. He can be the one to steer frustrated Bears fans to the promised land. Williams is the best potential point guard they’ve drafted in franchise history.
I remind my brother that the Bears have finished in the bottom half of the NFL in scoring in 25 of the last 31 seasons. Girard jogs my memory that last season, the Poles received winger DJ Moore from the Carolina Panthers, who in March exchanged for Pro Bowl winger Keenan Allen. On April 25, the Bears took over Washington winger Rome Odunze with the ninth pick in the draft.
The only thing I can say to my brother is what I at all times say: “Keep the faith.”
He at all times does it.
Sports
NFL star Terrell Owens signs a contract with Michael Strahan’s talent agency
NFL Hall of Fame receiver and podcast host Terrell Owens has signed with a talent agency to further strengthen his claims within the entertainment game.
According to , Owens was signed by SMAC Entertainment, headed by host and NFL Hall of Famer Michael Strahan and his business partner Constance Schwartz-Morini.
NFL insider Jordan Schultz has also joined SMAC Entertainment.
“We are excited to add TO and Jordan to the SMAC family. They are both at the top of their game and set the standard in their industry,” Schwartz-Morini said in a written statement. “TO and Jordan have already brought an infectious energy to our team, and we are excited to help them realize their vision for careers in media, business and branding.”
A five-time first-team All-Pro and six-time Pro Bowler, Owens played for the San Francisco 49ers, Philadelphia Eagles, Dallas Cowboys, Buffalo Bills and Cincinnati Bengals. In 2018, he was finally inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame.
A member of the 2000 NFL All-Decade Team, Owens finished his profession with 1,078 catches for 15,934 yards, 14.8 yards per catch and 153 touchdowns, rating third all-time in receiving yards and touchdowns.
Since retiring from skilled soccer in 2012, Owens has already made several moves. He has appeared in several movies and tv shows, including “,” and in addition had his own reality show, “, on VH1.
He currently co-hosts the podcast with former NFL player and sports analyst Shannon Sharpe.
SMAC Entertainment is home to stars similar to rapper and actor Common, Wiz Khalifa, Strahan, Deion “Coach Prime” Sanders and current NFL players similar to Stefon Diggs and DK Metcalf.
Sports
Phoenix Suns guard Devin Booker brings an NBA championship desire with his Olympic experience
The gold medal went to the USA Basketball team. Mission completed on the 2024 Paris Games. U.S. men’s basketball coach Steve Kerr just answered his final query during his final news conference on Aug. 10 after his team defeated France within the gold medal game.
However, before leaving the stage of the press conference in Paris, Kerr stopped to deliver an unsolicited message to media around the globe.
“Devin Booker is an amazing basketball player. Nobody asked about him. He was our unsung MVP. I just desired to say that,” Kerr said.
The “underrated MVP” compliment meant so much to the Phoenix Suns guard.
“It meant everything. No one really asked him,” Booker recently told Andscape. “That was probably something that was weighing on his mind throughout the entire process. A 12 months ago I said what I desired to do for this team and what we desired to do for the country.
“It was a lot larger than all of us. Survival was something we’d discuss for the remainder of our lives.
The USA Basketball team was centered around NBA star icons LeBron James, Stephen Curry and Kevin Durant. There has also been some discussion amongst media and fans in regards to the lack of playing time for Jayson Tatum and, to a lesser extent, Tyrese Haliburton. Lost within the shuffle was the all-around, unselfish play of sharpshooter Booker wearing the armband.
Booker was fourth in scoring for the U.S., averaging 11.7 points, 3.3 assists and a couple of.2 three-pointers made early in all six Olympics, and likewise had the perfect plus/minus (plus-130) for an American. Kerr was impressed with Booker’s deal with a difficult defense, regardless that he is thought for his offense, ball movement and the way he has adjusted to not being one in every of the highest options on offense.
“I just understood what was at stake,” Booker said. “I’m proud to be from this country. I’m happy with playing basketball. Even though it wasn’t invented in America, we dominated for a very long time. Obviously the world is incredibly talented and the sport is growing, however it was just one other message to allow them to know who we’re.
Booker said he also learned in regards to the preparations from his all-star team, watching the preparations on and off the court. The 28-year-old added that he gained lifelong friendships.
“It’s cool to see that everyone has their own issues,” Booker said. “In my 10 years in the NBA, I’ve learned that you have to choose what you can use for yourself. But the level of detail, the attention to detail, the intensity – it’s all consistent across the board.”
As for Durant, Booker said the bond between the 2 Sun stars “is close and grows stronger every day.” They live about five minutes from one another within the Phoenix area and commonly spend time at home and on the road. Most recently, Booker had to steer the Suns without Durant, who was sidelined with an injury.
The amazing Durant averaged 27.6 points, 6.6 rebounds and three.4 assists, which were tops for the Suns. However, the 14-time NBA All-Star has been sidelined since November 8 with a left calf strain. Suns players Bradley Beal (calf) and Jusuf Nurkic (ankle) were also sidelined. The Suns are 1-5 without Durant, which incorporates 4 straight losses.
Booker and Suns sans Durant’s next rivals shall be the New York Knicks on Wednesday evening (ESPN, 10 p.m. ET). Over the last six games, Booker is averaging 24.1 points, shooting 43.2% from the sphere and making 16 of 43 three-pointers. Suns guard Tyus Jones said there was numerous pressure on Booker offensively due to the injury.
“We’re asking a lot of Book,” Jones said after Monday’s 109-99 loss to the visiting Orlando Magic. “It’s numerous pressure for him. We are very focused on it. They are physical with him, holding him and grabbing him, throwing two or three bodies at him all night long. So he’s got so much on his plate and we just need to proceed to seek out ways to get him open within the moments we will and proceed to assist him when other players are taking shots and making plays.
Booker currently has two Olympic gold medals, 4 NBA All-Star appearances and one NBA Finals appearance. The only thing missing from the Suns’ second-leading all-time scorer is an NBA championship. Since the Suns joined the NBA as an expansion team in 1968, they’ve yet to win a title.
After experiencing the joys of winning a gold medal, Booker as an NBA champion wants the gold Larry O’Brien NBA Championship Trophy much more.
“Most of the guys that were there did it,” Booker said of his Olympic teammates who were NBA champions. “They were champions. This is standard for them. Anything lower than that, they need nothing to do with it. It’s contagious…
“That’s all I want. That’s all I want.”
Sports
New Unrivaled Women’s League Reveals Team Rosters and Coach Allocations
After months of introducing the players and coaches who will participate in its inaugural season, the brand new Unrivaled 3-on-3 women’s basketball league announced its team rosters and coaching assignments on Wednesday.
Founded by WNBA players Napheesa Collier and Breanna Stewart, Unrivaled consists of six teams of six players each. The league was created to offer WNBA players with a substitute for playing overseas in the course of the offseason.
Although initially announced as having 30 players, the league has since expanded to 36, which Collier attributed “above financial forecasts”. The league has announced 34 players publicly up to now.
The inaugural season of Unrivaled will begin on January 17, 2025, with all games going down in Miami. Here are the official teams for the inaugural season, as well season schedule.
Vinyl Basketball Club:
– Coach: Teresa Weatherspoon
Rose Basketball Club:
– Coach: Nola Henry
Mgła basketball club:
– Coach: Phil Handy
Lunar Owls Basketball Club:
– TBD: wild card
– Coach: DJ Sackmann
Phantom Basketball Club:
– TBD: wild card
– Coach: Adam Harrington
Laces Basketball Club:
– Coach: Andrew Wade
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