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Nonconformist faces super dilemma
1/28/2015 12:56:31 PM

By Chad Kimberley
Splash Column

I love sports. I love big-time sporting events. I love championship games and the playoff brackets that lead to said game. I love celebrating amongst friends and frenemies (depending on who is cheering for whom). I love it when the confetti flies at the end of another season, and one team walks off the victors. 

And I love it most when it is my team. 

But - surprise, surprise - my team is not involved in the Super Bowl that kicks off the beginning of February and brings a close to another NFL season.

And worse yet, everyone I interact with gets to celebrate because their team is in the big game. Every time I walk into the grocery store, pick up some fast food, sit down to eat or run an errand, I am surrounded by dozens and dozens of numbers 12 along with a sea of navy blue and emerald green Seahawk gear. 

The folks I run into are giddy to seek back-to-back titles, while I am stuck trying to get excited about another new coach and general manager combo whom, I hope, can bring back the glory of the 1985 Bears before I am forced to shuffle off to the retirement village someday. 

So I am faced with a Super Bowl dilemma. Do I cheer along with my Pacific-based friends and family for the Seahawks, or am I forced to cheer against Seattle but on behalf of the Patriots (who my Bears crushed in 1985)?

Decisions, decisions, decisions. 

I remember when I was a kid and had to make a few important sports fandom choices. I needed to pick a college team to cheer for. My aunt and uncle (for whom I bore the ring down the aisle for their wedding looking quite spiffy in my white tux) were huge Iowa State fans along with my grandparents, who lived just a few miles from Ames, Iowa, the home of the Cyclones. 

I chose the University of Iowa and became a Hawkeye fan. 

My uncle who I thought was the definition of cool was a Minnesota Vikings fan and had convinced his wife to share the same allegiance. He bought me my first set of Topps football cards. He got me my first football. 

I chose the Chicago Bears. 

I guess I am a non-conformist at heart.

Later in life, I lived in Ohio while refusing to ever shift allegiance to the Ohio State Buckeyes (and have had to endure the bravado of many friends as the Buckeyes have won a couple of championships). Then I moved to Wisconsin and have had to listen to Packers fans gloat of their success while my Bears served as essentially their welcome mat most seasons. 

Yet I stayed loyal to my team and to my deep-seated refusal to jump on the local bandwagon. 

So again I come back to my dilemma. What do I do on Super Bowl Sunday? Russell or Brady? Sherman or Revis Island? Gronk or Beast? Happy and Huggy Carroll or Gruff and Grim Belichick? 

In the spirit of "Let's Make a Deal," I am going to choose door No. 3 and refuse to bandwagon or conform. So, I am cheering for three things on Super Bowl Sunday.

First off, I want a great game. I know my Seahawk friends loved the blowout over Denver last season, as there was no doubt throughout the game that they were going to hoist the Lombardi Trophy as NFL champions. Being a fan in a blowout is great because the stress is off and you get to celebrate, but being a non-fan of the team causes a 43-8 final score to lead to channel flipping by the third quarter. If we could get a Super Bowl finish that modeled the NFC championship miracle comeback and not the AFC dismantling of the Colts by the Patriots, I would be happy to watch that game.

Secondly, I want some great entertainment. I want terrific commercials that make me laugh and immediately start trending on social media. I am hopeful for a half-time show that doesn't stink royally. I want some crowd shots that are not simply actors doing "promos" for their NBC shows - unless of course it is the cast of Parks and Recreation. I want Idina Menzel to rock the national anthem and then bust into a rendition of "Let It Go." And I would like to have a game within the game to see who gets more on-screen images, Macklemore or Gisele (early prediction: Gisele wins 4-3). 

Finally, I want the Chicago Bears management to watch and learn from both of these teams and franchises. I may not be a genuine fan of either the Seahawks or the Patriots, but I sure would like my team to follow their leads. Find a great quarterback that others may overlook. Build a strong defense, play with some swagger, run the ball effectively and most importantly win consistently each season and compete for championships. That is not asking for too much is it? 

My prediction for Super Bowl 49: Seahawks 31, Patriots 28. 

My prediction for Super Bowl 50: Bears 77, Bengals 0. 

Chad Kimberley is a local teacher and coach. He lives with his family in Liberty Lake. 

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