Bears fans deserve better from players
I was shocked to learn the other day that Chicago Bears fans actually thought Brian Urlacher cared about what they think.
The faces of the franchise are sour-faced Jay Cutler and Brian “fan-unfriendly” Urlacher.
A good friend of mine and two of his buddies each own companies that lease a skybox together. He was complaining to me about shelling out another $80,000 next year and the year after. According to them, they would love to get out of it.
I told him the team isn’t that bad. He replied he knew that, but he wanted to know when did the Bears become so cool that a guy like Urlacher can demean anyone who pays for the product.
He was pretty hot, and he bellowed on: “They can’t stand there and talk to the media; we are paying a lot of money to see them play and the fans and the media deserve answers.”
The blue bloods running the franchise and some of their employees don’t get it. You have to be accountable — especially when you stink up the place. And if you’re not, then NFL means Not For Long.
It’s a message I hope Lovie Smith, Cutler and Urlacher find out before it’s way too late.
New York Jets flop:The New York Jets failed from top to bottom. Mark Sanchez, Greg McElroy, and Tim Tebow were all casualties and participants in one of the most misguided and bungled seasons ever in the NFL. Picking up Tebow and not using him, benching Sanchez and bringing him back only to bench him again, and having McElroy on the nonperforming list 13 of 14 weeks spelled disaster. General manager Mike Tannenbaum should be let go, and Rex Ryan#146;s act has gotten old. Ryan has been exposed as a head coach who is more than challenged on the offensive side of the ball.Hockey is dead:It was said the other day the hockey season may not happen this year and that the sport may end up like pro bowling. No way #151; because bowling is on TV every week. They have a nice deal with that four letter sports network that actually dropped the National Hockey League. Imagine that #151; they couldn#146;t find room for hockey on their network. Wow! Maybe it#146;s because 58 percent of Canadians who were polled said they didn#146;t care if there was a hockey season, and it#146;s their game. What has happened to hockey over the last quarter-century is really sad. They took a wonderfully popular sport and through greed, expansion, poor marketing, lack of leadership and #151; oh, did I say greed #151; forced me not to care about the sport. It isn#146;t baseball, the NFL, college football, the NBA or college basketball. I need those sports; hockey is as relevant as the stagecoach.NFL picks:I went 0-1 last week, so my season record is 14-14-2. This week I#146;ll take the Baltimore Ravens (+2) over the New York Giants, and Philadelphia (+4 frac12;) over Washington.Ÿ Mike North#146;s column appears each Tuesday and Friday in the Daily Herald, and his video commentary can be found Monday, Wednesday and Thursday at dailyherald.com. For more, visit northtonorth.com.