You can say many things, both positive and negative, about ESPN, but one thing is true -- their "30 for 30" film series is often brilliant. I saw a good portion of their most recent film, about the 1985 Chicago Bears, last night. It's brilliant.
It always seemed at the time that those '85 Bears were a force of nature, but one of the many things the film makes clear is that nature was only part of it. These guys were a highly intelligent group. People might remember that defensive back Gary Fencik is a Yale man, but the other players, particularly on defense, were successful because they were able to combine their physical skills with the functional intelligence necessary to make football plays, and to make them consistently.
The other thing that people remember about that team was how they were also a cultural phenomenon. Who could forget this amazing bit of in-season braggadocio:
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| I may be large, but I'm no dumb cookie |
I would assume that ESPN will re-air the movie several times; I didn't get to see the second half of the movie, but I'm going to watch it as soon as I can. While it's fun to troll Bears fans obsessing about this team, it's easy to see why they do. It really was a magic moment and the men who made it possible were a hell of a team. More than 30 years on, I tip my hat to them.
3 comments:
Yes, good, good times....I'd argue that the most remarkable thing was how guys like Payton and Singletary kept some rather unstable individuals on more or less good behavior so they wouldn't implode...and of course a couple did somewhat later.
I would have to say they were the best team I have ever seen. They could destroy teams at will and even though they had one loss (which I do not remember why that happened) they were just scary.
Bad day against the Dolphins, of course, aided and abetted by a Jim McMahon injury and a brilliant game by Dan Marino and the rest of the Dolphins.
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